Retailers need to get serious about the customer experience, lip service no longer cuts it, one liners like “make their day” will not suffice anymore.
The customer experience should be viewed as a strategy that aligns with the rest of the business to ensure retailers are maintaining the right kind of interaction with their customers.
Barriers to information are a thing of the past
This has all been brought on by shifts in technology. Customers now have access to all the information they could possibly need from social media, online reviews and comparison sites, to being able to access almost anything on their smartphones. Barriers to information are a thing of the past. All of the above gives customers far greater bargaining power, you can more or less guarantee if customers are not happy they will voice their opinions to hundreds, if not thousands of other consumers via social media.
Retailers may underestimate social media yet a lot of consumers look to facebook or twitter and if what is being said is far from positive this could negatively impact upon your business. As a result it is crucial that companies are interacting through various media channels with their customers, turning a negative comment into a positive comment can generate lots of good press on a large scale.
It is crucial that companies are interacting through various media channels
Although, social media is just one example of how technology has shaped the modern customer experience. Look at Waitrose as an example, they are exploring the use of mobile phone GPS tracking for their click and collect orders to see when a customer is near by and ensure their order is ready for them on arrival.
Use of information in real-time will be crucial to providing an exceptional customer experience throughout 2013 and beyond, and if a you cannot provide the service customers expect then there are plenty of competitors who will.
Posted by Robyn
