5 Ways To Transform the Customer Experience

For many retailers, the customer experience begins and ends with “Hi sir/ma’am, can I help you find anything?” Some retailers take this to the next level and train their employees to actively follow shoppers around the store. While there is nothing wrong with introducing customers, following them around often makes them feel uncomfortable. If your in-store customer experience tactics do not extend much pass the greet and follow, your strategy can benefit from a serious overhaul. Fortunately, transforming your customer experience doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. Below are a few steps you can take to improve the in-store experience today.

Begin With Your Employees

Your employees are the face of your retail business, and without happy employees, all other retail solutions you implement will fall flat. From properly training your sales associates to equipping them with appropriate uniforms to ensuring they are informed and educated on your products or services, you have the responsibility to ensure your employees have the tools and knowledge they need to succeed. Ultimately, however, you need to make sure that your associates are happy, as if they are not, their discontent will come across in their customer interactions.

Make Your Store Kid Friendly

This is a tactic that so few stores employ yet that is a complete game changer. When stores cater to kids — whether that means offering a secluded play area, a table with coloring books, a train table or a television set to a kid’s channel — parents feel welcome. Non-parents do not understand how rare it is to feel at-ease out in public places, much less stores with high-end electronics, clothing, shoes, home furnishings, etc. In addition to ensuring that families with young children feel welcome, stores that cater to children boost their sales rates. Individuals with happy kids are happy parents and are more inclined to shop. Individuals with screaming, crying or pouting children, on the other hand, are likely to run from the store without a parting glance.

Inspire Customers

Smart brands today realize that they’re not selling a product or service — they’re selling a lifestyle. These stores inspire customers through immersive technologies and engaging customer experiences. For instance, North Face uses virtual reality to give customers a world-class hiking experience. In the process, customers learn more about themselves and the products that may best suit their needs. Rainforest Café (admittedly, it’s not a retailer) evokes fake thunderstorms, employs sounds of the rainforest and mists tables to make diners feel as if they’re truly in the tropics.

You don’t have to have a huge budget to inspire customers. Use your content, posters and advertisements to create real connections. Lowe’s, for instance, uses in-depth how-to videos to educate consumers. Airbnb markets experiences. Goodlife showcases everyday heroes in its advertisements, each of which is geared toward encouraging consumers to “Live Your Good Life.”

Make Shopping Fun

Part of improving the customer experience involves bringing the fun back to in-store shopping. To do this, many of the major grocery retailers throughout the nation have created bars in their liquor sections. In addition to tastings, shoppers can snack on hors d’oeuvres and socialize with others. A Chicago-based Nordstrom has followed suit and added a bar to its menswear department. Now, while shopping, men can sip on whiskey while lingering over a tie selection.

Make Shopping Convenient

Shoppers today prefer convenience over anything else. In today’s go-go-go society, no one has time to mingle in the aisles of a home goods store, wait for the deli-meat to be cut or wait in line while the cashier slowly rings up five cartloads of food. Find ways you can save your customers time. Whether that means allowing them to place orders for pickup online, visualize themselves in a pair of jeans without actually having to try them on, speeding up the checkout process or implementing a “shop while you wait” service (much like many grocers do with prescriptions), implementing convenient features can go a long way toward driving customer engagement and satisfaction.

Though its true that major online retailers are stealing business left and right, their success does not have to put you out of business. Use the five tips above to adapt and overcome, and to remain relevant in the digital age.