Comprehensive Guide to Building a Customer-Centric eCommerce Website

Each day, a multitude of new eCommerce businesses enter the market. However, only a select few truly adopt a customer-centric approach right from the start.

By ‘customer-centric,’ we mean the genuine essence of prioritizing customer behavior and preferences, leading to enhanced experiences and improved business outcomes. This principle applies across various sectors and business sizes. According to Forbes, companies that put their customers first outperform their competitors by a staggering 80%.

While customer-centricity may sound appealing in theory, many companies struggle to put it into practice, often falling short of true implementation.

That’s where our quick guide comes in, aiming to help you create a customer-focused eCommerce website. So, without delay, let’s delve into our first question:

What is Customer Orientation?

Customer orientation is a mindset that revolves around organizing your entire business based on the demands and preferences of your customers. It involves aligning processes, staff training, and product development to effectively respond to consumer behavior.

This approach contrasts with sales orientation, which prioritizes the interests of the business, or product orientation, which focuses on creating superior products.

While related disciplines like customer experience management (CXM or CX) often intersect with this concept, it’s important to note that CX serves as the means through which customer orientation is realized.

Being customer-oriented represents the overarching philosophy guiding the organization. And this should be your approach while creating your eCommerce website.

Steps to Create a Customer-Oriented eCommerce Website

When building your eCommerce website, it’s crucial to empathize with your customers and consider the questions and concerns they may have.

Your website design should proactively address these queries and provide solutions. The goal is to ensure that customers can quickly find their desired items, access comprehensive information, and effortlessly place their orders.

Undoubtedly, achieving this level of customer-friendliness may seem challenging, but there are effective ways to do it.

Let’s explore a few approaches that can assist you in crafting a more user-centric eCommerce website:

1. Understand Your Ideal Customer Profile
2. Map the Customer Journey
3. Understand Your Technology Needs
4. Choose the Right Platforms
5. Prioritize Omnichannel CX
6. Don’t Compromise with Security
7. Plan Your Site Structure
8. Design a Responsive Layout
9. Enable User Ratings and Reviews
10. Simplify the Checkout Process
11. Offer Personalized Product Recommendations

Let’s delve into the details more about a customer-centric eCommerce website.