Product protection options are increasingly in demand in retail. As more and more industries offer protection plans, customers have grown accustomed to being offered the option to safeguard their purchases. Product protection options can be a valuable addition to your ecommerce retail brand offerings and an investment in your customer relationships.
If you're considering if it's the right timing for your company to add a protection option, there are a few key things you can look for. Here are some indicators that your company would benefit from adding product protection:
1. Your CX team is overwhelmed with file requests for product issues or accidents
Your team is committed to providing great service for customers throughout the customer journey. Managing your manufacturing claims for customers can require a lot of bandwidth from your company, including a lot of dedicated time and resources. If your CX team is overwhelmed with handling claim requests, it can be difficult to keep up a consistent, quality experience for all of your customers.
In order to make sure your customers have a quality retail customer service experience, make sure to partner with a warranty provider. They have the expertise and full resources to dedicate to managing and handling requests. This frees up your team to focus on your customers and your product, while ensuring that your customers are consistently receiving great customer care.
2. You’re in a fiercely competitive retail industry and want to differentiate your brand
In retail, manufacturing imitation is easy and common. There’s nothing to stop other companies from making cheaper knock-offs, and they often do. Product quality is integral to your brand, so it’s important to maintain your quality standards rather than dropping them in an effort to compete with cheap imitations.
You can avoid this endless price drop battle by adding ways to differentiate your product. Differentiation strategies are key to allow you to provide the best value to customers at the best price. Product differentiation aspects include durability, reliability, and warranty of your products. Adding product protection options as a differentiator is a smart way to add retail brand value that is unique from your competitors.
3. You sell high end products that you want customers to rely on for a long time
With high end products, customers expect that they're making an investment in a product that will last. With product protection that covers accidental damage, your customers can get value from their purchase for years to come, even if something happens on their end.
Product protection goes beyond the length of a standard manufacturer’s warranty, and that’s great for your customer relationships. When partnering with an extended warranty provider, you extend your relationship with that customer. This option ensures that customers are able to use and rely on the products for as long as you intended.
4. You see too many abandoned carts at checkout
Customers spend a long time searching and comparing products before purchasing—an average of 20 days from search to purchase. This period leaves a lot of time for researching and comparing competitor products. Customers who make it to checkout and abandon their carts are deciding whether they want to go through with their purchase or continue searching elsewhere.
If a customer is at the point of adding the product to the cart, they’ve already seen value in your product. Offering product protection at checkout is an easy option that immediately increases the product order value. It reassures customers that they’re making a smart investment by completing the checkout process.
