There is no denying that the online shopping landscape is seeing a surge in competition. This means your customers have a lot of options to choose from. Recent reports depict that there is a major shift in customer loyalty.
Do you know 36% of customers are trying a new brand, and 73% continue to incorporate the new brands into their routine?
As customers become more discerning about the brands they interact with, businesses must find ways to keep them happy and turn them into loyal ones.
Product customization is the latest trend that businesses are following to keep their customers satisfied. From shoe brands like Nike to automobile companies like Tesla, product customization is everywhere.
That’s because customers love a personal touch. A study by Deloitte states that 36% of customers express an interest in purchasing personalized products or services. Additionally, 48% of customers are even ready to prolong the wait time for a personalized product.
The demand for product customization is evident. And brands leverage it to enjoy several benefits, from retaining customers to improving sales.
This post will discuss how you can keep your customers happy and raise loyalty with product customization.
How Product Customization Improves Customer Satisfaction
In this section, we will discuss 4 ways product customization can be a game-changer for your business.
1. Emotional Connection
Do you find it challenging to convince a customer to trust your company?
If yes, then maybe you are yet to develop that proper emotional connection that leads to a bond with various benefits.
Emotional connection can help you gain customer loyalty and repeat business opportunities too. Additionally, businesses that optimize an emotional connection outperform competitors by 85% in sales growth.
Let’s take a look at Apple’s brand loyalty statistics.
- According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Apple ranks the highest regarding customer satisfaction – 82/100 quality scores.
- During the pandemic, when people shifted their loyalties, around 40% of Apple customers reported increased brand loyalty.
Overall, Apple’s brand value increased from $309.5 in 2019 to $352 in 2020.
Emotional connection is one of the major reasons why users are sticking with the brand. The brand sells its products by assigning feelings to the idea of owning them. And that’s why users are willing to pay more, driven not by the actual value but emotions.
There could be various reasons for emotional connection with a brand, for instance, security, concern for the environment, etc.
Product customization satiates your customer’s desire to create something of their own. This helps establish a lasting connection with the product. They unconsciously develop a feeling of ownership and the happiness of creating something by themselves, ultimately leading to satisfaction.
2. Active Involvement in Buying Process
Customer satisfaction is an outcome of customer engagement. Highly engaged customers are a better predictor of loyalty and lifetime value. Moreover, Gallup research shows that a fully engaged customer represents 23% more revenue than average.
With brands competing for customer attention, customer engagement becomes vital in today’s marketplace.
Product customization is one of the best practices that can help you maximize customer engagement to determine how happy customers are with your service.
By allowing customers to participate in the buying process, they get the freedom to customize products tailored to meet their needs. Whether it’s choosing the color or adding an image from their photo gallery, they get the power to buy what they want. This, in turn, gives them immense value. That way, by satisfying their preferences, you can keep them happy.
Tesla is one of the best examples that use customization to drive customer engagement. The process of customization covers all details that a user needs. When you start creating your model, you go through different categories like paint, wheels, interior, etc.
The product customization software gives you all details about the car’s performance, subtotal, estimated delivery, available inventory. Such immersive experiences increase the depth of customer engagement and help a brand connect deeply with customers’ preferences.
The key to making product customization more engaging for your customers is to make it simple. If a product customization software is too complicated, it will discourage from engaging with the tool further.
PrintXpand has everything that you want from product customization software. Our tool is easy to use, has a simple design, and comes with diverse features. Check for yourself how the tool can aid your customer retention strategy by allowing them to create designs they love.
3. Increase Satisfaction by Reducing Cart Abandonment
Cart abandonment is a significant problem for a majority of online businesses.
Do you know the average cart abandonment rate across all industries is 69.57%?
This means roughly 7 out of 10 shoppers won’t complete their transactions.
The most popular reason for cart abandonment is purely behavioral. 58.6% of users say they don’t complete purchases because they are just browsing.
In a situation like this, you need to give them a solid reason to get back to your website. To ensure that your customers do not leave product customization in the middle, allow them to ‘Save’ their creation for the future. You can later remind customers about their designs by sending web push notifications or emails. This will encourage users to return. Shutterfly, for instance, gives users an option to save the design for future reference.
4. Reduce Product Returns
One of the most challenging parts of running an online store is handling product returns. If you are feeling the strain in tackling this problem, then you are not the only one. Product return is a significant challenge for many online retailers.
40% of US and UK retailers saw an increase in intentional returns. Additionally, return products cost online merchants more than $350 billion annually.
When a customer returns a product because it doesn’t match their expectations, everything goes for a toss. Apart from losing a customer, business owners incur additional supply chain costs. Overall, a returned product costs you both time and money.
By offering product customization, store owners can significantly reduce product returns. Since your customers will design by themselves, they will get a fair idea of what they will be getting. A product customization software comes with a preview option, using which customers can view the product.
Brands Doing Product Customization and What You Can Learn from Them
1. Spreadshirt
When it comes to custom shirts and t-shirts, Spreadshirt does a good job. The brand’s marketing strategy revolves around product customization. Their product customization software allows customers to express their style by making their t-shirts or other products. Their tool is user-friendly and practical, with helpful features. The t-shirt design tool also lets users add text, images, save the design, share, and more.
What you can learn – Choose a product customization software that will enable your customers to share the designs they created. This is an excellent way to engage with your existing customers and reach new customers too.
(Spreadshirt’s Product Design Tool Allowing Users to Share Their Creations)
2. Skinit
Skinit is a California based industry leader in personalized cases and skins for consumer electronic devices. The brand offers product customization on their website, where customers can customize various products, including phone cases, laptop skins, and more. Skinit also enables customers to upload their photos and create designs.
What you can learn
(a) Have clear navigation that differentiates customizable products from general products. This makes it easier for your user to take any action because how will they try it if they can’t find it?!
(Skinit Invites Users to Customized with Create Your Design Menu at The Top)
3. Nike
The trend for product customization is growing across a wide range of industries, including the shoe market. The most famous name when it comes to customized shoes is Nike. Nike By You offers a wide range of customizable options that customers can choose from. You can customize everything from the base to the Swoosh.
What you can learn – Keep the process as simple and easy as possible to offer convenience. Just the way Nike does, you, too, can enable users to view the product from all angles. That way, they will get a clear idea about how the product will look.
(Users can view the products from all angles on Nike By You)
Brush Your Idea Expertise – Rafasshop’s Designer Tool
Rafasshop is a Spain-based company that specializes in the distribution of textile products. Their customers include wholesalers, advertising agencies, sports stores, etc. They also provide printing of advertising t-shirts with a massive production of more than 10000 garments a day.
They wanted to upgrade their product customization software to make it feature-rich and responsive. We integrated the PrintXpand designer tool with the client’s website and fulfilled all their requests. With our advanced and responsive t-shirt designer tool, our client enjoyed an increase in orders from retail customers.
(A Glimpse of Rafasshop’s Product Design Tool)
The product design tool from PrintXpand is feature-rich and powerful. With our web-to-print software, you can personalize any product with a printable surface. This includes apparel, accessories, cards, stationery, gifts, skins & covers, marketing collaterals, etc.
Our tool is compatible with several eCommerce platforms like Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, Prestashop, and more. It comes with plentiful features, from varied text styles to attractive clipart. Plus, admin features like quote management, custom pricing, etc., make it easier for business owners to handle things. We shape the Product Design Software for you, and it shapes your customers’ designs— a fair deal.
Click the link below to see how PrintXpand product customization software can take your business a step further.
Are You Ready to Boost Customer Satisfaction?
“Customers have higher expectations now. They have a little more money in their pocket to spend, and they’re going to be more discerning about the quality of the shopping experience.” – David VanAmburg, Managing Director, American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).
Today, owing to fierce competition, changing customer shopping behavior, etc., customers are difficult to please. Businesses must work even harder to capture their buyer’s attention and keep them satisfied.
Each of your customers has different needs. Instead of being generic, give your customers exactly what they want with product customization.
With 14+ years of industry experience, we have contributed to the growth of businesses with our personalized offerings. More than 400 storefronts have leveraged our product design software to meet their customers’ needs. Our product design tool is modern, easy-to-use, and has everything you need to make your customers happy and win over your competition. Power-up your business operations with product customization. Let’s get in touch!
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