The 3 Pillars of a Successful Customer Experience
By the year 2020, successful customer experience will overturn price and product mix as a key brand differentiator says Walker Research. Shoppers will become increasingly less forgiving of brands that interact with them like new customers each time they shop. They want to be recognized for their unique interests and expect brands to build on their existing relationship. As new digital technologies continue to fragment how shoppers engage with retailers, it will simultaneously become more challenging and business critical to managing a seamless customer experience across all in-person and digital interactions. The brands that can successfully make sense of it all will emerge as leaders in their category. But where do you start? In this post, we’ll dive into three key areas your business should focus on to create a successful customer experience.
Three pillars of a creating a successful customer experience
1. Personalization
Not remembering your customer’s name or what their last purchase was would be the equivalent of reintroducing yourself to someone you’ve dated and asking them questions you should already know the answers to. It’s important to remember that your customers don’t think of your mobile site, desktop site, and mobile app as siloed experiences. To them, it’s all the same company. If they start something on one device and finish it on another, they will not only want you to remember what they did previously, but also expect you to tailor future experiences based on the information they’ve given you. Uber is a great example of a company that does this well across all devices. They remember previous addresses you’ve inputted, default to the service class you ride most frequently, and proactively predict your destination based on where you are and your previous trips. Every Uber user’s experience is uniquely suited to their needs. A 2015 Deloitte study reported that 39% of shoppers spend more when they are given a personalized offer or recommendation. That’s because personalization creates habit forming behavior, makes customers feel like you understand them, and most importantly, reduces friction so they can buy things faster and more frequently.
2. Communication
Today’s shoppers have more ways to research, compare, and purchase just about anything. As they move quickly between each of these phases, they need immediate gratification to move them along the purchase path. Instead of waiting for customers to tell you what they need, save time by proactively providing them with what they will likely be asking for. Keep their attention on you and avoid information gaps that leave room for competitors to swoop in. By owning the entire information and communication path, you’ll have a comprehensive and consolidated view of each of your customer’s touch points. Some ideas to consider:
- Transparent price comparison with competitors
- In-store inventory availability
- Instant feedback from friends and family on social channels
- Automated notices when sold out products are back in stock
- Price change alerts
- Automated shipping updates
- Product recommendations/reviews-based on recent searches
3. Consistency
As your customers adopt new technology that makes shopping easier and more information rich than it’s ever been, they will hold the power to interact with you on their terms. They will decide when, where, and on what device they want to do business with you. It’s estimated that digital interactions influence 64 cents of every dollar spent in retail stores according to a 2015 Deloitte study. That means that by the time a shopper has purchased something from you, they will have already done their homework. Since you won’t know for sure whether it was the great salesperson in your store that day or the product reviews on your site that helped close the sale, your job is to create high-quality experiences that are consistent every step of the way. Avoid making shoppers re-learn how to interact with you. That goes far beyond making sure to use brand colors and logos and digs deeper into the functionality of different experiences. Your customers should have access to the same information and capabilities regardless of where they’re shopping. For instance, if you have an inventory tracker on your online desktop experience, it should also be available on your mobile site, mobile app, and in-store experience. If a shopper saves an item to their wishlist, it should be saved across all of their devices and not just the one they initiated it on. With consistency comes familiarity and with familiarity comes favorability.
The three pillars of creating a successful customer experience are grounded in ideas that have always been present in business and relationship building. However, as the world around us becomes more complex, it becomes even more important for retailers like you to get them right. Create personalized experiences shoppers can connect with, anticipate their future needs, and be consistent at every touchpoint and your business will be poised for success and brand differentiation come 2020.
Originally published at cueconnect.com/blog/ on February 27, 2017.
