Formerly the backbone of retail was the sale of products from a physical place. Before the Internet, customers used to shop at departments, warehouses, big boxes, and mom-and-pop stores.

The world of retail, on the other hand, is changing. Technology advancements have fueled the expansion of e-commerce, making it easier and safer for companies to sell retail goods online and globally.

There are no set guidelines when it comes to providing great customer service that lasts long enough to build a deep link and imprint on your customers. Attracting and successfully offering customers what they desire requires a significant amount of effort on multiple levels.

A successful brand understands the demands of its customers; it not only sells products but also provides world-class services.

According to reports, “When it comes to making a purchase, 64% of people find customer experience more important than price”.

Customer Experience in Retail -

Retail customer experience is the complete experience a retail brand delivers to its customers and prospects, across touchpoints and channels such as in-store and online.

The smoothness of a customer’s journey from the moment they walk into a store or visit a retail brand’s website until the actual purchase, billing, packaging, delivery, and post-purchase is what defines the retail customer experience.

Customer Experience Management-

Customer experience management, often known as CEM or CXM, is a set of techniques for managing every interaction between a customer and a company. Experience management begins before a product or service is purchased and continues after the sale is finished. The goal of CEM/CXM is to develop consumer retention and loyalty.

Four key elements of Customer Experience Management:-

• Recognizing the customer.
• Creating a customer journey map.
• Developing consumer relationships.
• Obtaining and utilizing customer feedback.

Customer experience requires the collection of data on positive and negative brand interactions, as well as the implementation of management systems.

How retailers can manage customer experience?

Here are the top ways for retailer's customer experience management:-

1. Exit Survey Optimization

Many retailers employ kiosk, transactional, and post-purchase email/text surveys to collect data about the overall customer experience. With the goal of getting useful feedback, they ask a basic NPS question in their survey, “Would you recommend us to your friends?” totally the insights acquired for further refining their services.

This helps them in understanding the challenges that customers face while purchasing and bridging service gaps.

2. Provide excellent service at every touchpoint

In today’s economy, this is especially important. Under the pressure of sales and costs, the corporation must ensure that customers receive what they want rather than what they don't. Having a deep understanding of the customer’s demands is essential when developing the customer experience.

3. Totally omnichannel

While many stores claim to have an omnichannel strategy, only a small percentage actually do. Being present on multiple channels is not the same as providing a smooth, continuous experience on those channels.

Connecting these channels and providing a single brand experience is what omnichannel means. Focus on convenience when adopting this method. Customers want everything, and they want it quickly.

For example, BOPIS and the chance to check inventory online before going to the store are two of the top omnichannel methods used by physical merchants.

According to studies, “Companies with extremely strong omnichannel customer engagement see a 9.5% year-over-year increase in annual revenue, compared to 3.4% for weak omnichannel companies”.

4. Gathering feedback

Whether it was a bad or a good customer experience, it must be shared. Retailers should concentrate on providing a variety of ways for customers to provide feedback on their in-store or online experience. Create a unique app, send a personalized email, or place interactive displays so customers can express their opinions on the entire buying experience.

You will discover more about your customers this way. Customer feedback allows you to improve the shopping experience for your customers.

If you are looking to measure and optimize customer experiences, then Dropthought can definitely help!

Dropthought is a user-friendly, omnichannel, and real-time customer experience management platform. We empower companies in different verticals to create delightful experiences for customers across their journey. Get detailed analysis and insights from data to exactly know what your customers think and what actions you need to take to delight them.

With a dedicated customer success team, we would ensure that you are optimizing your Customer Experience programs and strategies to create great experiences!

Learn more by simply clicking here.