Content -scratch that- the customer is king!
Rest assured, whether you run your retail business physically (brick-and-mortar) or you run it online, your business will still serve customer’s needs significantly and has a bright future ahead of it. However, customers only stay loyal to businesses that deliver a memorable customer experience.
Now, you may wonder, why does customer experience matter? This article will explain why, and explore outline strategies for optimising customer experience in your brick-and-mortar or online retail businesses.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: WHY IT MATTERS
Customer experience is the total of the customer’s journey with your brand, from the initial brand or product awareness stage to after they have made a purchase. Customer experience therefore matters a lot to your brand’s profit. Research has shown that companies that prioritize customer experience enjoy a significant increase in growth, loyalty, and profits, unlike those that do not prioritise customer experience.
In the past two decades, retail businesses have evolved from brick-and-mortar businesses to e-commerce retail businesses. This was a result of technological advancements that forced retailers to rethink new strategies for getting their business to thrive online, and reach a wider audience. Customer engagement also played a big role in the success of online retail businesses. Let us examine how optimising customer experience strategies differ between retail brick-and-mortar businesses and online retail businesses.
OPTIMISING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE FOR BRICK-AND-MORTAR BUSINESSES
The experience that shopping in a physical store gives is the reason why many people still shop in brick-and-mortar stores. Although e-commerce is steadily on the rise, brick-and-mortar businesses are still very much vital to our economy. Here are some strategies for delivering the best customer experience in your walk-in store:
- Create the right atmosphere:
The right atmosphere is an inviting one, that makes use of the senses to appeal to the customers. This involves music, cleanliness, ambiance, interior decor, and layout.
- Justify prices that may seem overboard:
Customers are always benchmarking the price ranges for goods. If they come into your store and see a certain product is higher than your competitors, make sure there is an added benefit that justifies the priceyness. Such as free/fast delivery, easy return, or a warranty.
- Coach employees:
Your employees are your brand ambassadors aka the face of your brand. When your employees are well-informed about your brand, products, and services, it relieves customers who may not know what to do. Customers will find it refreshing to be able to get all the right answers, helpful assistance, and empathy, which will encourage them to make the best purchasing decisions.
- Leverage technology:
Certain technologies are quite useful when implemented in brick-and-mortar businesses. These include displaying QR codes that can help customers access product reviews and descriptions, in-store signage to draw shoppers’ attention to promotions, as well as checkout equipment to reduce wait time.
- Organise in-store events:
Events such as slash sales, or holiday (like Christmas) promotions foster a sense of community and attract new customers. If possible, hand out free samples of certain products during these events.
- Speed up the checkout process:
Long queues are very discouraging. Ensure that you have enough tills and hands to speed up checkout in your store.
OPTIMISING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE FOR ONLINE BUSINESSES
- Adopt personalization strategies:
46% of customers expect more personalized communications to trust a brand (HubSpot). Customers need to feel considered and included in your website or mobile app elements. Personalisation efforts include product recommendations, personalised follow-up emails for abandoned carts, etc.
- Simplify checkout:
When your website or app checkout process is smooth and simplified, such as adding checkout options and card payment options, customers are encouraged to return to shop again another time.
- Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly:
Most people access websites from a mobile phone. Ensuring your website is mobile-friendly means that you pay attention to loading speed, layout, social proof, checkout button, etc.
- Ensure your website loads fast:
Test your website to check it’s loading speed. Does it load for no more than 3 seconds? Then you’re good to go. Customers often get frustrated with slow-loading websites. If your website loads slowly, it is hard to make conversions because many people will abandon ship before the website has even loaded fully.
IN SUMMARY
Optimising customer retail in business is an evolutionary practise as customer behaviour and preferences are constantly changing. Customers pay for the experience more than the product, therefore invest in delivering the best customer experience to build brand loyalty and drive sales. By implementing the strategies provided above for your brick-and-mortar or online retail business, it is guaranteed that you will see big results!
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