5 Ways to Enhance Your Online Experience

When customers shop for furnishings and home décor, they expect a higher level of personal service and attention. How, then, can retailers recreate the one-on-one showroom experience online?

Create a clean, clear space with hidden or hamburger menus. This makes for less clutter on the page, so you can actually showcase your desired products. But, it also puts the information a customer wants close at hand. Remember, your customer’s ability to navigate your site easily is a key component in creating a high-quality user experience.

Add chat. Since you can’t walk a customer through your showroom and discuss their personal style, put design expertise at their fingertips. Enabling chat allows you and/or your employees to guide shoppers and answer any questions they may have, in real time, for a more personalized experience.

Use your color knowledge. Apply your understanding of how color impacts emotion to help build and bolster your brand online. And, if you’re not entirely confident, know there are other color professionals available to help consult with your selections.

Consider sound. When you walk into a showroom without music, how do you feel? Could it be the same for your online shoppers? Whether you employ actual songs, natural sounds, ambient notes, or white noise, you can change your guests’ experience of your online showroom by including an aural element.

Make the experience personal with video. We’re not suggesting a Crazy Eddie sales pitch here. Rather, we're talking about making your online showroom feel a little more connected to real life. Perhaps you offer a video tutorial on furniture placement. Whatever you choose, make sure it fits your brand and that your video is professionally lit and shot.

In what ways are you trying to update your online showroom? Which of our tips resonate with your brand?