Today, access to information and communication is everywhere and customer expectations are evolving ever more rapidly. Therefore, relying on the opinions of your customers to develop your shopping experience is essential. Combining the quantitative and qualitative data collected through the Net Promoter Score (NPS) allows you to adapt your approach and strategy to keep customers happy. Although the optimization of the customer experience has become one of e-commerce merchants main focus, the satisfaction indicator is rarely followed, because it is difficult to set it up. As brands realise they need to re-focus on the customer, the question remains: how to improve the relevance of the analysis and make use of NPS?

Poor customer experience remains one of e-commerce’s major issues. Today it is one of the crucial challenges companies and CMOs face. For 68% of marketers, investing in the customer experience is one of their main goals.

With good reason : obstacles in the buying journey represent a missed opportunity worth over 20 billion euros. Offering a satisfactory experience increases conversion rates. And the best way to improve customer satisfaction is to know what your customers think. Unfortunately, measuring cart abandonment or sales revenue is easier than the customer satisfaction.

A well-deployed NPS strategy can overcome this.

NPS Score

Before we get to how a shopping assistant can help you boost your NPS, we want to quickly freshen up on some basics.

There are generally three profiles in your customer base:

• Detractors, with a NPS score between 0 and 6: they are dissatisfied, and likely disappointed to the point they speak about your brand negatively;
• Passives, with a score between 7 and 8: they are generally satisfied but remain neutral. They can easily be attracted by competitors (promotions, free delivery, etc.);
• Promoters, with a score between 9 and 10: They are very satisfied and ready to recommend your brand to those around them, and therefore bring you new customers.

Each profile is interesting and should be treated differently. You will not invest the same efforts for each of them. Regarding detractors, you seek to reduce the potential bad publicity. For the passives, you would want to retain them. As for the promoters, you bet on their loyalty.

But what is a shopping assistant?

A shopping assistant or virtual salesperson is a AI-powered conversations tool designed to engage your potential customers at every stage of their buying journey. It helps them find the right product in a one-on-one conversation. Just like an in-store salesperson would.

With the shopping assistant you can create as many scenarios as needed (FAQs, hesitation in choosing the product, doubts in the buying journey, etc.). In addition, it is connected to your product catalog. You can hyper-personalize the experience according to the user journey and needs, recommending the right product at the right time.

How can the shopping assistant help you?

Before starting your first conversational campaigns, you must optimize your NPS:

• Be succinct in your feedback requests in order to achieve a participation rate that is fairly representative of your customers;
• Stay consistent in your requests. Each customer group is interesting and must be treated differently. To not bias your results, they should be asked similar, comparable questions.
• Analyze and develop your questionnaire: the purpose of the NPS is to know if your customers are satisfied or not. Beyond that, it is to understand why. It is necessary to study the different answers and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Once this is done, set up your various campaigns. Here are some examples:

Systematize the request for feedback on the shopping experience

The customer journey plays an important part in the customer experience and therefore its satisfaction. Like physical stores, optimizing the in-store experience and the way their customers will interact with the brand's universe, you must optimize it online. Especially at a time when omnicanales strategies are the hallmarks of marketers. Insert your request for feedback on your product pages, FAQs, using the NPS score as a gateway.

The shopping assistant makes it possible to personalize the request for NPS, and to have specific feedbacks matching your marketing and global objectives. You can thus create a specific scenario on which you guide your customers to the topics that matter to you and your team.

Activate a campaign when the person has already answered in order to complete the investigation.

Resolving a client complaint increases the chances of re-purchases by 70%. This rises to over 95% if the complaint is addressed instantly. Therefore, once a customer answers the NPS, ask an open question. It will provide information on why they give this rating and thus why they are or aren’t satisfied. “Why did you give this rating?” or additional questions to ask depending on the group of respondents:

• To the detractors: " What did you dislike? "
• To the passive: " What elements would you like to improve with us? "
• To the promoters: " Would you agree to give your opinion on ...?""

This will allow you to better know your audience and learn more about who your customers are. By monitoring their behavior and closely following your personalized NPS, you will be able to segment your target. Then you can create specific content for each segment, better engage your consumers and set up specific campaigns for each profile.

Specialize your campaigns on detractors

If someone responds negatively to your NPS requests, set up a campaign to welcome negative reactions. The purpose of it is to defuse anger in a controlled, non-public setting. Thank them for their time, take into account their arguments and personalize your messages ... You can for example, create a reduction code for a customer complaining about delivery costs. Thus, they will feel more listened to and privileged. If they are sensitive to the effort, over time they may turn into passives.

Transform your passive customers

The goal of your campaigns is to convert customers into promoters. For example, you can ask them for their opinion in exchange for an additional gift in their package during their next order. You can also offer them interesting and personalized discounts according to their purchase journey and their unique interactions. You kill two birds with one stone, as you engage with them in a one-on-one relationship while learning more about their buying behavior and preference.

Thank your promoters

We tend to focus on the detractors and the passives, but it's important not to forget those who love your brand. Taking them for granted is a common mistake and can have serious negative consequences on their long-term customer loyalty. It is therefore important to show them your appreciation by engaging them in personalized conversation. For example, you can offer them to join a VIP club with your other best customers. It helps you gather new ideas for improving your customer experience. You can also offer them to participate in the brand's events or additional advantages (VIP offers, product tests, implementation of important sponsorship offers ...) in exchange for sharing feedback, and sharing their experiences on social media.

The customer experience is at the heart of e-commerce. Beyond customer satisfaction and loyalty, there are opportunities for return visits, purchases, and product recommendation, and in the long run, all of these will increase your sales. Implementing conversational marketing campaigns can boost the NPS response rate. You will better understand the factors that directly influence customer feelings towards your brand and its services/products.

Sources : Liveworkstudio, Lee Resources Inc