How to improve e-commerce customer experience

If you work in e-commerce and don't think about customer experience, you're missing out on a lot. Because today, it's not the product that wins, nor the advertising, nor even the price. It's the service that wins. What wins is the feeling a person gets when they visit your website, place an order, and receive their goods. And, very importantly, whether they will return again. We discuss improving customer experience in this publication by Arabesco Sideral Unipessoal Lda.

Why customer experience is so important

If a person has made a purchase once and had an unpleasant experience, they will not return. At best, they will forget about you. At worst, they will tell their friends and leave a negative review. A positive customer experience works in the opposite way: people return, recommend you to others, and order more. You won't need to spend three times as much money on attracting new customers because you will start earning from loyalty, from those you have already attracted. This is the lever that scales any business.

Common mistakes that kill sales

Here's what most often ruins the customer experience: an overloaded website, a confusing path to purchase, a lack of clear product information, slow responses to questions, and unclear delivery and return policies.

You can't even imagine how many people abandon their shopping carts because they can't find the ‘checkout’ button or aren't sure if the product will actually arrive. If you don't give the customer confidence, they will leave. It's simply a rational approach: why take a risk when you can buy elsewhere?

Packaging

When a customer receives an order, the first thing they see is the packaging. If it looks cheap, crumpled or damaged, their impression is ruined before they even get to the product itself. People don't just buy a thing – they buy a feeling. The managers at Arabesco Sideral Portugal advise: make the customer feel that they have received something special. Let the packaging say, ‘We care about you.’ And no, you don't need to invest millions in a designer box — just make it neat, stylish, and respectful. Even a small branded element can change everything.

Returns

Many businesses still fear returns like the plague. They think, ‘The money is gone, the profit is gone.’ But you have to understand: the speed and convenience of returns is part of trust. If the customer feels that they can easily return the product, they are more likely to buy. And if returns are a nightmare with lots of conditions, waiting for a response and stress, then you get negative feedback. A fast, transparent return system is not about losses. It's about loyalty. Make this system simple, and you'll be surprised how positively it will affect repeat sales, advise the experts at Arabesco Sideral.

Automation

You cannot build the perfect customer experience manually, especially if you have a growing stream of orders. That is why automation is a necessity. Quickly sending emails, notifications, answers to frequently asked questions, tracking parcels — all of this should work without your involvement. The less manual work you and your customer have to do, the faster everything moves. But automation doesn't have to be soulless. Even a template letter can be written with warmth. Don't leave your customer alone with bots — find a balance.

Conclusion

If you want to develop a powerful online store, forget about the ‘just get them to buy’ approach. Today, people don't just choose based on price. They want to buy from those they trust. Those who respect their time, money, and emotions. And if you give that to your customer, they will stay with you.