During the holiday season, customers value ease and convenience more than ever. Cultivating a smooth and seamless shopping experience is essential to any business hoping to create loyal shoppers. This is where UX comes in. UX, or User Experience, is defined as “the overall experience a customer or user has when interacting with a product, system, or service” (IBM). By fine-tuning your user experience, both online and in-person, you can guarantee a holiday season that is effortless and genuinely customer focused.

“UX is more than just aesthetics,” said Lisa Dance, UX consultant and founder of ServiceEase. “It’s how easy or difficult it is to interact with a website, app, in-person interaction, over the phone, at a kiosk, etc., and complete the tasks or goals a person needs to achieve.”

These simple and straightforward interactions are crucial during the holidays, when higher amounts of customers, busier schedules, and added stress can increase friction at points of contact with your customers. During these months, and really, all year long, a smooth online checkout process or clear business information can make all the difference, while missing details or poor interactions can leave your customers doing their holiday shopping elsewhere. With the help of Dance, an award-winning UX expert, we have outlined a few simple ways you can leverage UX to improve your customers’ experience this holiday season.

What Holiday Shoppers Value Most

During the holiday season, customers look to businesses that provide a simple and straightforward consumer process. Throughout her career in UX, Dance has seen firsthand that customers value a business that is easy to work with on a regular basis. The simplest way to do that?

“Show respect for customers’ time by providing clear information about your products and services, pricing, and convenient ways to make a purchase or do business,” explained Dance.

By offering quick, intuitive interactions and keeping information consistent across both online and in-store touchpoints, businesses can create an effortless holiday shopping experience that respects customers’ time and builds credibility for their business.

Improving Your Company’s UX

Enhancing your company’s user experience is often less about significant changes and more about making thoughtful adjustments to existing customer touchpoints. Dance suggests that one of the easiest ways to do this is to fine-tune your holiday shopping process. Sending effective confirmation emails, providing helpful alternatives if ordered items are unavailable, ensuring “order ready” emails have clear instructions, and offering clear signage that guides the shopping and pickup process are easy ways to create a customer-focused shopping experience. 

Providing a seamless customer experience online is equally as important as a customer’s in-store experience. Showcasing easy-to-find information about your hours and location, as well as answers to frequently asked questions, can help consumers navigate your business digitally and in person. Confirming your website is both easy to use and visually appealing across desktop and mobile devices helps customers to easily interact with your business from anywhere.

When adjusting your company’s UX, Dance recommends focusing on the most used experiences.

“Test anything important that you put out to eliminate any friction customers may encounter,” said Dance.

Whether it’s an email, a registration form, or a purchase process, there is always a potential for minor issues to go unnoticed. By having friends, colleagues, or a UX professional test elements of your user experience, you can guarantee that your customers will have a smooth experience interacting with your business.

Communicating Key Holiday Details Through UX

When it comes to communicating with customers during the holidays, Dance says it is best practice to communicate key details early and often. Because customers interact with your business in various ways, it is essential to communicate effectively across multiple channels. Providing clear messaging that aligns with your brand across touchpoints both informs your customer and creates credibility. Placing information such as your hours, location, promotions, or events in areas where customers frequently interact with your brand enhances your visibility and helps create a seamless customer experience.

In-store touchpoints might include signage, receipts, handouts, phone systems, or shopping bags. Providing clear information across your online platforms is just as important. Along with your website, Dance recommends placing key details on social media, emails, newsletters, texts, and Google listings. When updating this information, don’t forget to update your Find Local listing, so that Richmond shoppers can discover and support your business.

Key Takeaways

Dance’s best advice for enhancing your UX this holiday season is simple.

“Utilize your metrics, feedback channels, and employee knowledge to understand the problems customers are currently experiencing,” Dance said.

Once these gaps have been identified, develop a plan to fill them through the use of clear communication, simple touchpoints, and streamlined interactions. Your business’s user experience is a key part of a customer’s overall satisfaction. By simplifying the holiday shopping experience through an enhanced user experience, your business will stand out to customers, and they will return to your business long after the holiday season.