Customer Experience Enhancement for Retail Businesses
In today’s thrive to survive world, businesses must go above and beyond the norms of the past to create an experience that will attract, convert, and retain customers. There are countless ways to achieve this goal, ranging from simple promotions like back-to-school sales, to thoughtful in-store policies that make shopping a more pleasant experience.
Before attempting to improve customer experience, it is vital for all members of the organization to share a clear definition of what customer experience means. By definition, customer experience is a qualitative value that sums each of the interactions that occur between a customer and a business throughout the lifespan of the relationship they share.
Improve Customer Experience with These Tips
The interactions that make-or-break customer experience does not occur exclusively in-store, however. Digital interactions like TV commercials, radio spots, print ads, email campaigns, and social media all make significant contributions to the overall customer experience. Businesses must be mindful of this when creating a customer experience enhancement program.
Make a Good First Impression
Making a good first impression sets a solid foundation for building a positive customer experience. In general, the goal should be to make the customer as comfortable as possible. In return, the customer can more easily be guided to an appropriate purchase that he or she will make with confidence. This can be accomplished through both in-store ambiance, as well as with well-trained customer service professionals.
- Use a color scheme that resonates with the goal of your business. If you are a travel agency, vibrant colors and earthy décor can aid in creating the “escape” experience that your customers desire. For banks and financial institutions, however, a cooler color scheme with blacks, deep blues, and graphite accents can promote feelings of safety and confidence.
- Maintain a professional appearance. Use floor mats, signs, and other safety products to promote a clean and professional appearance during business hours. During fall and winter months, offer customers an easy way to stow their wet umbrellas with wet umbrella bag stands.
- Focus on comprehensive employee training. list (clear protocol for handling specific types of customer interactions, ongoing training to improve service, training to learn about new products/ services, etc) To create an excellent customer experience, employees must be prepared to handle customer complaints—both the common and the rare.
Maintain a Safe Environment
Creating a safe and professional environment is just the starting point. Once created, management must devise practical strategies for maintaining a safe in-store environment.
- Regularly clean floor spaces along heavily trafficked areas, like entryways and elevator lobbies.
- Designate specific members of the maintenance team as responsible for reporting and responding to dangerous conditions, like puddles, faulty product displays, illegible warning signs, and other potentially hazardous elements within the retail space.
- When offering wet umbrella bags to customers on days of inclement weather, make sure dispenser stands are properly deployed and remind maintenance staffs to check them throughout peak hours, re-stocking with additional bags when necessary.
Focus on Touch Points to Enhance Customer Experience
As we’ve seen, enhancing customer experience in today’s digitally connected world requires businesses to identify and connect with customers in both real-world and virtual. While in-store promotions attract customers to physical storefronts, it’s digital channels like social media and email that often nurture customers until they are ready to make a purchase. By considering, business professionals can devise a comprehensive strategy for delivering a higher level of service that ultimately leads to a better experience, both in the store and online.
Visit Umbrella Bagger for additional information on wet umbrella bag dispensers, disposable bags, and other safety products. For order information and assistance, call toll free 1-855-328-8100.
For follow-up reading, visit this article on customer experience via Forrester, a global research and advisory board.