The Forrester Wave™: Order Management Systems, Q2 2023

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Build more trust in your brand with a better digital CX

Digital experiences are more important than ever

By Michelle Soriano

Nov 1, 2022

Grow without launching new products or entering new markets

You read that right. You can grow—big—without doing either of the two most common scenarios. But how can you do so? By becoming an experience-led business.

What does that mean? It means that you improve the ecommerce experience for your customers. When you have an integrated ecommerce ecosystem, it allows you to deliver amazing experiences at every stage of the customer journey.

There is a lot of room for improvement. Only 37% of consumers say that their digital experience has improved over the past year, with a whopping 67% saying that their experience has either stayed the same—or gotten worse. And research by Adobe suggests that global ecommerce sales will reach $4.2 trillion this year. That’s a lot of sales—and opportunities to provide great experiences.

What can experience-led businesses achieve?

When you offer a great CX, customers want to shop with you again and again. According to research by Adobe and Forrester, experience-led businesses overall can expect a 1.7x year-over-year growth in revenue and a 2.3x year-over-year increase in customer lifetime value compared with other businesses. The catch? For most companies, becoming an experience-led business isn’t easy. And it is important that customers have a great experience at every stage of their journey—from discovery and shopping through to checkout and order processing. Not to mention fulfillment and returns.

How accurate inventory and optimal fulfillment improves CX

Build more trust with your brand. Your customers’ shopping experience starts long before the moment they click “buy” in a digital storefront—and extends far beyond the sale. An amazing pre-purchase CX can be forgotten if a customer tries to buy your product, only to find out it is unavailable or has no options for speedy shipping. After a purchase, if a shipment can’t be tracked or your returns process is unclear, your customer is likely to be disappointed in your brand.

Brands that deliver a great shopping experience from beginning to end can delight their customers throughout the entire buying process—and win brand loyalty. Did you know that 71% of US consumers are likely to check online first if an item is in-stock in the store? Being upfront about your product availability and location is vital.

Highlighting the available fulfillment options (such as ship-to-home or in-store pickup) on the product details page gives customers a better understanding of their upcoming purchase experience. And when items are not in stock? Your brand should offer pre-order and back-order options so that customers can place orders even when an item is not in stock, rather than leave disappointed.

Streamline your fulfillment operations from start to finish, and make returns easier, too. Can your customer return online orders—even those online-only items—to a physical location? By enabling online options for self-service returns or exchanges, as well as returns of online orders to physical stores, you can help reduce customer frustrations.

Learn more from Adobe & Partners

In order to build a connected customer experience, start with your tech stack. Learn more with free access to the eBook, Deliver an experience-led commerce experience, in collaboration with Adobe.

Access this free eBook today and explore how Adobe and partners can help you build amazing ecommerce experiences.

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