Anybody who follows Retail rather consumer preferences and insights cannot emphasize enough on the importance of Customer Experience. In present times, when every purchase starts online one definitely cannot deny the significance of online presence. But is it just enough to be present online? What are the things that keep the customer hooked and what makes them miffed? How Digital Customer Experience makes a difference?
As a customer my expectations have only risen in the past years. Recently I ordered something via app and it got delivered within 2 days, but the twist in the tale is I forgot to change my delivery address. Due to WFH I am working from my hometown and the app took my default address. The fault was mine and I did not even realize it until it was delivered. Thanks to the delivery person who called before delivering, was kind enough to cancel my order, and saved me trouble. Point being I have taken this convenience as my right and had it not been this convenient I would have given an angry review probably expecting them to be aware of my location. Therefore, it is all a game of customer’s expectation. Making Retail more of Me-Tail. I expect a seamless journey through multiple touchpoints and even post purchase my expectations do not end. If at all there is a glitch, I would not return.
It sounds cliché like a love affair and irony is the minute you end it with one there are numerous other options and platforms to choose from for every customer, every persona. In times like these, what can a Retailer do to not end the affair? The struggle here is Digital Customer Experience is not one single activity. It comprises of multiple engagements and interactions. It not only constitutes web but also social and mobile commerce. One customer journey involving multiple small ones, involving pre purchase, purchase and post purchase. Multiple factors like pricing, offers, promotions, returns and the list goes on. Here is a list of things that a Retailer might want to look at to understand and improve the Digital Customer Experience –
1. Understanding Customer Journey – According to Forrester, 82% of consumers turn to mobile to help make a product decision. Consumers prefer digital, web or mobile self-service support for support outranking speaking with an agent over the phone. To understand the customer better, one needs to trace their path and observe them closely. Diving deep into the touchpoints to understand where your consumer is enjoying the experience and where he drops will enable you to fix the journey and gain brand promoters.
2. Product Discovery/Information – The online channel should not be a maze for the customer. It needs to be simple and intuitive in terms of design as well as product search. Right from the homepage to category pages keeping it simple is the key. The Product categorization, filters and product pages should be customer friendly and informative. Right product description and attributes are as important as the product itself in determining whether the customer will go through with the purchase or not. For a great experience, even the suggestions for upsell and cross sell should make sense to the customer.
3. Importance to Customer Feedback – Product reviews are highly beneficial especially with so many social influencers present. A new launch or a new version with feature changes and the customer wants to understand in detail the difference between the two variants. For a customer it is easy to believe a customer testimonial rather than the brand’s own marketing and advertising. In such a case if the customer feedback is verified and strong it does help in winning over new customers
4. Making it Personal – Personalization has become the key to customer’s heart indeed. The affinity of customer towards a brand can be easily increased by providing personalized experience. Data plays a major role here, understanding customer’s past purchase and using the data to guide them to the products they might be interested in with a special promotion makes a lot of difference. Behavioral targeting is impactful but is definitely under-utilized weapon by retailers. Using the right tools here can take a retailer long way.
Customer Experience is a sea of multiple things and factors and summing them up is not easy. The above four factors can be taken as a starting point for planning out a Customer Experience Strategy and moving forward one needs to drill down deeper into every possible aspect of the customer journey. The perfect flawless customer journey is achievable but it does need a lot of understanding of the customer’s point of view, trust and innovations that make them keep coming back.
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