Nowadays, eCommerce is showing rapid growth. Hence more businesses are coming online to sell their products. Apart from that, the global pandemic of Covid-19 also plays a vital role in the growing eCommerce business.
Magento 2 is a widely adopted eCommerce platform building an eCommerce website. But still, it does not come up with all the elements required to improve the customer shopping experience for different businesses.
And we need to add such elements/features to the respective Magento website. Thanks to the large Magento developer community, we have a huge collection of ready-made modules to overcome this concern.
Now, businesses can opt for the same for an improved shopping experience for their customers. Below are some of such factors and the solution for the same :

Surprise your shoppers with a discount

A surprise for an online visitor of your website or an old customer can be a key to the sale. And there are a couple of ways to do the same :

Free shipping -

Customers love to get their products shipped without paying any extra fee for the shipping. You can provide free shipping to the customers as a promotion.

Spin to win -

It is also a form to surprise the first time visitor. In this, you can ask the visitor to spin a wheel and can offer a form of discount.

Abandoned cart -

Instead of sending a regular "We miss you", you can provide a discount coupon to motivate toward the purchase.

Engage with the customers

Reachability of the store can be a deciding factor between a bad or a good shopping experience. Hence, a business must have options in the store where a customer can quickly reach you and can get the answer to their queries. Some of the options are as follows :

Live chat -

Live chat is a good option for businesses having a large customer base. With this option, a customer can quickly connect with the support agent and can get the answer to their queries.

Chatbot -

A chatbot is a suitable option for small businesses. Where they can not put a large workforce to engage with the customers. Instead, a chatbot can answer the most basic customer queries.

Build a community

The success of a business comes from the customer's advocacy. When a customer starts advocating for your products, then it will attract other customers as well. Also, it will improve the organic traffic of the website. Some of the ways of community building are as follows :

Social sharing -

Providing an option to the customers to share products over social media gives a boost towards the organic traffic. And the programs/activities where a customer can share their association with the product/brand will be positively received by other customers.

Product QNA (Question and Answer) -

Before purchasing a product, a first-time buyer may have some queries about the product. If a customer has such an option available, then he/she can put their questions on the site.
And guess what, a customer who used your product is the best person to answer a query about the product. In this way, the other customers will also benefit from the available QNA and can address their questions as well.

Product FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) -

FAQ is also a way to provide information about the product. But it is not bidirectional as product QNA.
But still, the website owner can put FAQs about a product to provide the answer to the customer's queries.

Blog -

A blog is another way to engage with customers. Here, you can allow the customers to write blogs on your website about your business and products.
Apart from that, a business can have its team providing information about the new products and the announcements in form of a blog.

Get the right information from the customer

To improve the shopping experience, a business needs to collect the right information from the customer. And later on, that information can be utilized to improve various business processes. Some of the ways to collect customer

information are as follows :

Magento 2 order attribute extension -
Magento 2 order attribute extension allows the shop owner to create custom attributes for an order. And it is very useful for the businesses which need to collect certain information during the order process.
Ex. - A food order may require additional order inputs like any extra food preparation instruction, packaging, utensils selection etc.
Another example of the Magento 2 order attribute extension is to create an order attribute for order delivery date and time. Here a customer can provide the delivery timing to the business.

Custom registration form -

There are businesses which require additional information about the customers as per their unique business requirements. In this case, the modules like the Custom registration form allow the business to get additional information during the registration process itself.
In case, the required information is very large for a single page form, then it can be divided into a multi-step registration form as well. Here, the required information is divided into different steps. Each step combines the similar, where similar information will be collected in a single st

Quick checkout process

Magento comes with a multi-step checkout process. And can be a tedious and time taking process for some of the customers. To overcome this, the One Step Checkout module is the right module.
It allows the customer to enter all the information required to check out in a single form only. And that reduces the checkout time of customers.

Reward the loyalty

A loyalty program is a good move by a business to improve customer retention. Here, a business will reward its loyal or long associated customers.

Reward points -

Reward points extension can provide reward points to the customers based on different activities on the website. It can be from registration over the website to purchasing a certain value.

A mobile-friendly website

Nowadays, a large number of customers prefer to use mobile to browse the website. Hence, a business must have a mobile-friendly website. The elements can be improved by the following points :

Responsive website theme -

The website must have a theme which is responsive and can adjust to the different screen sizes.

Get the mobile application -

Having a proper mobile application is also a way to adopt mobile availability. Here, a business can build a mobile application for Android and iOS.
Now, a customer can download the mobile application from the Play Store or App Store and can purchase within the mobile application.

PWA (Progressive Web Application) support -

If an eCommerce website supports PWA then a user can install the PWA application from their browser itself. Also, a user need not worry about app updates.
Apart from that, it is an economical option as well for the business to adopt m-commerce.

Improved product presentation

The presentation of the product in front of the customers is very important. A product which is having good images will receive a positive response from the customer.
Apart from adding proper images to the products, there are some ways to improve the presentation as well :

Product 360 degree -

It allows having 360-degree images of a product. With the help of this, a customer can have a complete view of the products from all angles.
Introduce AR(Augmented Reality) and VR(Virtual Reality) -
A business can introduce AR and VR as well to their products. Here, a customer can place the product in their place with the help of AR to get a detailed experience of the visibility.
Whereas VR is widely used in virtual try-on to experience the product before making the purchase. Ex. on a spectacles website, a user can try different frames virtually and can purchase a best-suited product.

Provide complete information to the customers

During the sales process, a business can provide different kinds of information to the customer about the product and the orders. Which helps to build trust with the business. Some of the ways are as follows :

Out of stock notification -

If a product is out of stock then a business provides the option to the customers to subscribe to the product for its availability. Hence, when the respective products become available, the interested customers can make the purchase right away.

Preorder -

Preorder is also a useful tool for a business to predict the demand for a particular product. And it gives the option to the buyer to book the product in advance, to get the product once available in the market.

Estimated delivery date -

If you provide the estimated date of delivery upfront on the product page then a customer will be aware of the delivery dates. Hence, a customer can plan the purchase accordingly.

Estimated shipping cost -

Shipping is a critical part of the online business. Hence, if a business display the estimated shipping cost on the product page itself it does not give shock some of the customers. Hence, it reduces the cart abundance due to high shipping charges.

Order tracking -

Providing order tracking information to the customer is very helpful towards trust-building.
If a customer is getting the order tracking information and regular updates then it reduces the customer's communication towards the order status as well.
And in case, you are in a hyperlocal business where the order needs to be delivered within an hour, then the option to provide the live tracking of the delivery boy also gives a better experience to the customer.

Final Words

The customer's shopping experience is essential for a repeat purchase. Apart from that, it helps to attract new customers as well.
With the help of the above-listed methods, a business can start the process to optimize their Magento website to provide an improved customer shopping experience. However, there are a lot of other ways as well to accomplish the journey.
Being a business owner, you should always move forward to find ways to improve the website. In this way, you can find yourself ahead of the competition.
And if you do not have the expertise to do it on your own, always seek the help of an expert. As Magento has a huge community, you will easily find the right person to do the job for you.