For a customer to successfully complete a transaction with your company, they need the right tools. When you provide those tools, it’s called customer empowerment.
You can empower your customers by giving them the resources and self-service options they need to make informed decisions and purchases. Detailed product descriptions (in text, images, and video), comprehensive lists of all parts or ingredients, and clearly defined customization options all fit the bill.
Beyond boosting conversions, empowering your customers with the right tools and resources can also increase their customer satisfaction score and foster brand loyalty. As word spreads about the ease of doing business with your company and the services you provide beyond your core product, you can expand your customer base, too.
Keep reading to learn more about the potential benefits of customer empowerment, as well as strategies for incorporating it into your own sales funnel.
What is customer empowerment?
Customer empowerment means giving customers control, independence, and the ability to succeed on their own terms. You can do this in multiple ways across touchpoints: customer self-service tools, detailed product information and demos on your website and social media, FAQ pages, and personalized customer experiences are some popular ways to make customers feel in control during their interactions with your brand.
Customer empowerment involves viewing customers as influential individuals who can shape your brand as much as your products do.
By giving customers what they want, your brand is more likely to bring in positive feedback and ultimately, more revenue. Customer empowerment can also translate to less friction along the buyer’s journey and fewer support tickets for customer support teams.
Benefits of customer empowerment
When a brand practices customer empowerment, both the customer and the company win. Here are some of the benefits you can expect:
Improved outreach
Customer empowerment can boost your brand reputation and attract new customers. It’s a legitimate word-of-mouth marketing strategy that turns satisfied customers into brand evangelists who, in turn, draw in new customers. An empowered customer will likely feel more inclined to share the details of their positive customer experience. Given that 88% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know more than any other type of advertising, it’s well worth a brand’s time to incorporate customer empowerment into every touchpoint along the customer journey.
Increased brand loyalty
When you streamline the buyer’s journey by giving them the resources they need to make a purchase and use your product fully, you pave the way to a more positive reputation for your company. If a customer feels you have their best interest at heart, they’re likely to stick with your brand over time. Customer satisfaction derives from an experience in which your target audience feels they aren’t expending any effort to buy from you. Shopping with you feels like a breeze, rather than a chore.
Streamlined internal operations
When customers can easily interact with your brand and get all the information they need, it reduces the need to reach out and simplifies internal operations.
Instead of fielding questions that go beyond standard customer service queries, your teams can focus on strategic areas of your business.
5 customer empowerment strategies
- Provide detailed content
- Personalize your communications
- Make customer feedback simple
- Make the checkout experience more agile
- Have an efficient customer service team
To proactively empower customers and drive long-term loyalty, brands need to create a customer experience that provides value at every touch point. Here are several strategies for giving customers the control and ability to make informed decisions and complete transactions successfully:
Provide detailed content
If you want potential customers to not only complete a purchase but also commit to a product, you need to give them all the information necessary for them to determine whether the product is right for their needs, and to know how to use the product effectively. Detailed product descriptions with fabrication, size, dimensions, and information, video demos of installation and the product in use, and personalized customer onboarding for complex products like software can help customers feel confident about buying your product or service.
For example, plastic-free detergent and cleaning supplies brand Blueland uses Instagram to create detailed educational content in the form of infographics and collages. In one such post, the brand breaks down the many different (sometimes cryptic) laundry symbols. In another, it shares how often various garments need washing.
Another example is Chamberlain Coffee, which maintains a robust FAQ web page and a dedicated recipes page to empower customers to use the brand’s products in various creative ways.
Personalize your communications
Communicating in a way that will empower customers means tailoring your strategy to each platform and channel, and to your customers’ needs.
For example, you can fine-tune personalized channels, such as email and text messages, according to specific customer data around behaviors, purchase history, location, and other demographics. Keep in mind, personalized email and text messaging marketing campaigns should work in harmony to provide value to the recipient. You can use Shopify Inbox to communicate with your customers, see what’s in their cart, give recommendations, and answer questions in real time.
“Email has to be extremely contextually relevant, and SMS has to properly complement the emails,” says Adam Davis, senior marketing manager of Magnolia Bakery, on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. He also cautions against hammering recipients with the same message across both channels or too many times in too short a timespan. “They can’t be the exact same thing,” Adam says, “because most of a brand’s email audience is also its SMS audience. You don’t want to send the same email and SMS on the same day; it’s just a waste of marketing messaging.”
Make customer feedback simple
Give your audience a voice by encouraging customer feedback. Understanding how customers feel after interacting with your brand can tell you where your business excels and where it needs improvement. Offer multiple, easy-to-use feedback channels—like post-purchase surveys, review requests, or in-app rating prompts—to make sharing input effortless. Then, act on what you learn. When customers see their opinions lead to tangible changes, it reinforces trust, fosters loyalty, and empowers them to feel like active participants in shaping your brand experience.
Make the checkout experience more agile
By streamlining the checkout process, you can empower customers to complete transactions independently and with ease at whatever time they choose, contributing to an overall more positive customer experience.
A shopper who encounters a convoluted online checkout process is likely to leave the site before finalizing their purchase. In fact, the average cart abandonment rate is 70%, with 19% of people saying they abandoned their shopping cart because the site asked them to create an account. Avoid this friction by allowing customers to use guest checkout, which lets them bypass having to create an account and could nullify their wariness about sharing personal data.
Another alternative is to sync your Shopify storefront with Shop Pay, a digital wallet option that can speed up the checkout process. Customers enroll by making a purchase through a participating online store and selecting Shop Pay at checkout. Shop Pay then saves their address and payment method, and makes this information easily applicable during checkout with all participating businesses. The app also allows you to offer flexible payments and buy-now-pay-later options, so customers have even greater choice in how and when they pay.
Have an efficient customer service team
Even if your ecommerce site features comprehensive product descriptions and a smooth checkout flow, customers may sometimes still need further assistance. Maybe it’s a question about a clothing size, inventory restocking, or how to place an order. This is where your customer service team has the opportunity to swiftly answer questions, or even anticipate and resolve customer issues before they become problems in the first place.
Salesforce reports that 89% of customers are more likely to make a repeat purchase following a positive customer service experience. Meanwhile, 32% of consumers say they will switch brands after a single bad service experience, underscoring the importance of getting this part of the shopping equation right.
Remember, whether your customer service team consists of a fully staffed customer service department or a single customer service representative, they play a leading role in solving problems and providing the resources and authority necessary for customers to help themselves.
Of course, how you handle customer service depends on the size and resources of your company. In addition to an FAQ knowledge base, traditional methods include live chat support, telephone support, and email. Some brands, like leatherware maker Tracey Tanner and sustainable clothing brand Of Her Own Kind, also answer consumer questions via Instagram direct messages.
Customer empowerment FAQ
What is an example of empowered customers?
An empowered customer has both agency and self-service options. For example, an online tea retailer might allow shoppers to customize their order by choosing each ingredient that goes into their tea, letting them click on each ingredient to learn more. The company may also have video demonstrations on various ways to use their teas, and a social media post detailing ideal steeping times of popular varieties. Empowered, satisfied customers enjoy educational content, a smooth checkout that they can easily complete on their own time, and potentially, even a rewards program that can make them feel like they’re actively participating in the success of a brand.
Why is empowerment important in the checkout experience?
The more actions a site asks a customer to take before completing their purchase, the more likely they are to abandon their cart. Reducing this type of friction can empower customers to complete the purchase according to their own time frame, giving only as much information as is absolutely essential and they’re comfortable with. This increases the likelihood of a transaction and an overall positive customer experience.
What are the elements of empowerment in customer service?
Elements of customer service empowerment include control, independence, and decision-making power. This translates to providing customers with the access, tools, and knowledge base necessary to make a decision and complete a purchase on their own. For example, making customer self-service tools available (like a comprehensive FAQ page) is an example of putting these elements into practice.
