To succeed in today’s ecommerce world, it’s important to remember that the customer journey takes center stage. With the average consumer having an attention span shorter than a goldfish (that’s eight seconds, in case you are wondering), what you do to improve this process is critical to success.

Here are five important elements of the customer journey that shouldn’t be overlooked:

The Cross-Channel Shopper

The most challenging part of the cross-channel customer journey is being able to follow that journey from the customer’s perspective. While some services help you learn the analytics of a customer on a channel, few services connect all the dots for you.

Overlooking the customer’s robust journey in today’s omnichannel ecommerce world can impact your bottom line. Instead, look to connective services that provide rich analytics and tether data into one dashboard for your review.

Webroomers & Showroomers

Did you know that over 50% of consumers are showrooming and webrooming (comparing prices online and locally before making a purchasing decision)? This methodology is new to modern shopping and has created a paradigm shift in consumer behavior. To tap into this journey, you’ll need to make sure you offer price-match pledges, hassle-free returns, top-notch customer support and free economy shipping.

Power Shoppers

What are power shoppers? They are high spenders who scout luxury goods, often webrooming and showrooming along the way. They have the highest average conversion value in ecommerce. But, the catch is that they are picky, support heavy and are more likely to return an item.

Zappos does about 30% of its sales off power shoppers like these. They tap into the customer journey with amazing customer support, free shipping and no-questions-asked returns. It’s the only way to get to know power shoppers and win over their long-term business and loyalty.

To launch a successful startup, you have to come up with an innovative idea. Without a proper plan, it won’t be possible for you to make your identity in this competitive marketplace. If you already have an idea then ask yourself can it create the bridge between your customers and their needs? If the answer is “yes” then you can go ahead with the idea. If your answer is “no” or you do not have an idea yet then think about offering on-demand services that will fulfill the gap in the marketplace.

Getting to Know Customers

One of the easiest ways to tap into the customer journey is by getting to know your customers better with a cross-channel customer relationship management solution.

The After Buying Experience

Put special focus on the after buying experience. What is this, you might be wondering?

Consider these facts: the average return rate for ecommerce is about 35%. When returns are hard, people won’t consider buying from you in the future. But when returns are easy, as many as 45% of customers make new purchases during the return process.

You’ve gone to great lengths to make buying as easy as a one-click experience. But when it comes time to return, the process is often complicated and frustrated. After buying is even more important than buying. It means the difference between long-term retention or one-off customers, and that’s either money added to your bottom line or taken away from it. So, don’t rob yourself of future sales!

The customer journey is of the utmost importance during the ecommerce buying cycle. Here are seven parts of it that you never want to ignore.

Author Bio:

Simon Hopes is a renowned author and social media enthusiast. Newer services work between popular marketplaces like Amazon, eBay and even shopping carts like Bigcommerce to add CRM software that helps you get to know customers better with each order they place. It’s a simple tool that can be added to your arsenal with a minimal learning curve and maximum return.