This article from OceanX CEO & Founder Georg Richter was originally published on Supply & Demand Chain Executive as part of a series on subscription with a focus on fulfillment. Read the full article here an excerpt copied below.
Building a high-quality eCommerce customer experience can help companies increase sign-ups. Remember, your customers aren’t after only products — what they really want is an experience they can look forward to month after month.
“Customer Experience” is more than just the latest buzzword. Customer experience has become increasingly important in industries, and the subscription retail business is no different. In fact, subscription businesses might be even more affected by customer experience than others.
The benefits of making customer experience improvements include increased retention, higher customer satisfaction, more customer referrals and increased sales — key benchmarks in the subscription industry.
Many subscription companies tend to focus on having the best acquisition marketing campaigns, the best e-commerce flow, the best communication and the best customer service. These areas will lose out every time when a customer first opens the box and is disappointed.
It’s critical to understand that the experience a subscription program delivers is as important as the quality of the products themselves. Businesses have only one shot to make a first impression. A great one can lead to better customer retention, greater referrals, higher social media shares, coveted unboxing videos and more.
Subscription Commerce vs. Traditional E-Commerce
As the dominant player in the e-commerce space, Amazon has raised the bar in a number of ways. Amazon Prime, Prime Now and the Amazon Marketplace are logistical marvels — they can deliver products incredibly quickly while maintaining a price point that’s essentially impossible for smaller companies to compete with.