What is included in the customer experience?
Many believe that the customer experience begins with a customer visiting the store – and ends when a purchase is made. But the experience is so much more! Both physically and digitally, and what they experience before and after the actual shopping. Here are some examples of what is included in the customer experience:
- How the customer perceives your brand – what you stand for and your tonality
- The way you market yourself – including advertising and social media
- Presentation of goods – how do you display products in store?
- Availability – are the store staff attentive?
- What type of shopping bags you offer
- Your return policies
- How you treat customers when it comes to supporting issues
- How you communicate with your customers after a purchase
- Your loyalty program and its benefits
Why is the experience so important?
It's no secret that the competition in retail is huge! Customers today expect smooth, personal, and good experiences that stand out from the crowd. When they get that, they will recommend you to friends and family. And when they love your brand, they will come back and buy from you again. From a customer retention and brand loyalty perspective, the experience is absolutely crucial.
The resources you need to offer the best customer experience.
We’ve divided the experience and what is required to create a really good one into the in-store and digital experience.
The experience in store
When a customer visits your store, it’s important to pay attention. Greet them early and show that you are available for questions at any time. And when a customer wants to pay – ask if they have found everything they were looking for and if they are registered for your loyalty program. If the answer is no to these questions, help them find what they are looking for and then come up with all the best benefits of them becoming a member! It’s when they are registered that you can collect customer data and start analyzing customer behavior. Plus, send relevant and personal communication that builds loyalty.
And always say thank you and goodbye with a smile – it means more than you think!
Resources
You need a mobile POS system that offers all the functionality you need – for example reports, back office, and the ability to handle logistics (like sending goods between different stores). With an integrated loyalty platform, like Voyado, you get information in the store about the customer's previous purchases, and can, among other things, see which products they have looked at online. This will help you sell more!
Read more: Samsøe Samsøe choose mPOS platform from Front Systems in global unified commerce strategy
Tip!
• Do you offer self-check-out? It is a convenient payment option for the customer who doesn’t want to wait in line or who prefers to help themselves with the payment.
• Offer the customer to help them order products from your collection that are not available in the store. It’s a great service that also ensures that the order is actually placed, and not forgotten by the customer.
The digital experience
When a customer shops online, the same as above applies – but availability means a chatbot, live chat, or ease of finding contact information on your site. Be sure to show good, relevant images of your products and a specific product description. Offer delivery and payment options to fit different needs.
Resources:
When it comes to communicating with customers, you need to get to know them to be personal and relevant. You do this via a loyalty platform. In Voyado, all customer data is collected in a CDP, which also allows you to segment lists to send niched communication. For example, send an email or text message to welcome your new members with a nice offer so that they quickly want to shop again. Or create an email, text message, or social push to promote coffee cups to all customers who have bought other products from the same series in the past six months.
Tip!
• Do you work with marketing automation? It is a goldmine when it comes to personal and relevant communication – that is sent out at the exact right time! In Voyado, you can easily create unique criteria that automatically add a customer to a feed. For example, a customer who has just bought a fishing rod will receive an SMS after 20 minutes with instructions on the correct casting technique for that particular fishing rod.
• Allow the customer to order online – but pick up in-store. It’s easy for the customer and it encourages more sales opportunities because the customer enters the store and can be inspired to make further purchases.
Hope you got some inspiration on how you can offer your customers a really good customer experience in the future! Good luck.