E-commerce has changed our lives dramatically over the past few decades and consumer expectations continue to increase thanks to the standards that Amazon, Shopify, and other major players have set. In recent years, made-to-order products have become increasingly popular and customers are drawn to the personalized and unique experience they offer. Top made-to-order e-commerce brands like CustomInk, Framebridge, Indochino, and others allow customers to browse products, customize their design, get a price, buy, and track order progress all online potentially without ever having to talk to a customer service or sales person.
Providing such an online experience has let these companies scale rapidly without the expensive cost of a person having to finalize or process an order via phone, email, or chat. However, many made-to-order brands still lean on quote forms for customers to get a price and multiple human touch points to customize and place their orders. This dramatically reduces conversion rates, increases operational costs, and limits the amount of revenue these made-to-order companies can earn.
Five Reasons to Invest More in Your Made-to-Order Product E-commerce Website
As a made-to-order brand, here are five reasons to invest more in your e-commerce business and move beyond an online quote request form:
- Expanded customer reach: A strong online presence means you can reach customers anywhere and at a much higher volume than a physical store. Taking that a step further, clear customization options, product examples, and pricing information available online helps potential customers research and decide whether or not they want to buy from your company without requiring a form submission, email or phone call. Placing that barrier in front of prospective customers often means they’ll simply go to a competitor that provides the information or ordering experience they are looking for online.
- Improved customer experience: The ability for a customer to explore your products online, answer their questions, and even design and buy online creates a level of ease and delight in the user experience that outshines an order form or a phone call. Made-to-order product experiences that include the ability to design and visualize the customer product online helps excite users, making them want to share what they created online with others, and increasing the likelihood that they’ll purchase the product. A modern design, price, and purchase experience will also build trust with site visitors.
- Increased efficiency: Online pricing and order will help reduce errors thanks to automation, decrease processing times, and save on operational costs. It will also increase the likelihood of converting site visitors to purchasers by reducing the friction in the brand’s purchase funnel through an engaging online experience.
- Better competitive advantage: Allowing your customers to get pricing information, customize their product, and order online will keep site visitors engaged with your brand and reduce the likelihood of them leaving for a competitor site. Similarly if a customer has to wait to get a response back from their online quote form submission they may have already found an alternative with a competitor that offers online purchasing or responded faster.
- Greater scalability: Your improved online design, price, and purchase experience for your made-to-order products will also position you to scale your business and revenue. Once your online user experience is working well and customers can answer their own question and place an order without the requirement of contacting your team, then you can begin to drive more traffic to your business through organic search and social media efforts, as well as paid ads.
Some of Our Favorite Made-to-Order E-commerce Sites
Looking for inspiration for your own made-to-order e-commerce experience? Here are a few we recommend looking at:
- Moo.com https://www.moo.com/us/ - business cards and marketing materials
- RedPaperPlane.com https://www.redpaperplane.com/ - video brochures and promotional products
- Vistaprint https://www.vistaprint.com/ - business cards, gifts, and marketing materials
- Shutterfly https://www.shutterfly.com/ - photo books, prints, gifts
- Artifact Uprising https://www.artifactuprising.com/ - photo books, prints, gifts
- Framebridge https://www.framebridge.com/ - framing
- Sculpt Neon https://sculptneonsigns.com/ - neon signs
- Crazy Neon https://crazyneon.com/ - neon signs
- Nike By You https://www.nike.com/nike-by-you - custom sneakers
- Vans Customs https://www.vans.com/en-us/customs - custom sneakers
- Rustica https://rustica.com/custom-projects/ - custom doors
- ClearMax https://clearmaxwindows.com/ - windows
