The new 3 P’s of retail customer experience
When thinking of what it is that makes up the customer experience, it can really be narrowed down to the 3 P’s: People, Product, and the newcomer to the group, Presentation.
Why Presentation? While process is and remains an important element in delivering a good experience, is not something that the customer technically sees when visiting your store. What customers see, hear, and feel is what we believe to have true impact on the customer experience, and that’s why we’re introducing Presentation as the new third P.
When a customer walks through your door, the first things they see are your products, the [store’s] presentation, and your people [staff]. The connection to the customer experience is established by the way these 3 Ps makes them feel as they move along the shopping journey. As stated in the famous quote by Dr. Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
When looking into improving your customer experience – as you should in these hard economic times – you need to figure out what is affecting each P and which actions will give you the quickest and most impactful improvements. After all, customer experience can be a differentiator when price competitiveness and intensified competition hits you.
Using customer feedback to improve operations
When times are tough, speed is also essential. Therefore, you need to be able to take quick action to improve operations and keep customers happy. But quick should not mean random. The actions should be data-driven and informed, and focused on your key target segments to really be able to make a difference. It’s a surefire way to win against the competition.
So how do you make quick, but meaningful, operational improvements? You need to get feedback that’s easy to understand. Looking into the feedback will tell you: Are your people [staff] properly trained? Does your product offering meet customer wants? Is your store presentation turning customers away?
The new 3 P’s: People, Product, Presentation
Let’s drill down into the 3 P’s:
People
When thinking of people–aka your frontline staff–there could be several matters impacting the customer experience, and so it’s imperative that you understand the core problem so you can figure out how to solve it.
Let’s say customers leave dissatisfied feedback on the speed of service. This will prompt you to investigate your shift scheduling and footfall to discover potential correlating factors, such as not having enough staff available at peak times of the day or day of the week to provide quick customer service.
Another example could be negative customer feedback on staff knowledge, meaning that the level of expertise is an issue. in this case, initiating training programs will help to not only fix the customer experience issue, but also be a motivational tool for employees by investing in them.
The main point is to make sure your team feels they are enabled and empowered to deliver great service to your customers every single time.
Product
Customer feedback can also give insight into problems with your products. Typically, categories of product-related issues come down to availability, quality, price, or that the product simply no longer adheres to the values of your key target customer segments.
Having trustworthy data helps you to determine where to start and the actions to take. For example, it could be as simple as rearranging your merchandise or adjusting stock levels. Alternatively, it could be that you need to reassess your positioning, or do new market research on what products your target audiences prefer and refresh your product selection.
Whatever the reasons, and the actions you take, should be driven by insights uncovered through the customer experience feedback.
Presentation
Sometimes, even when your staff service performance is superb, and you have the perfect products for your customer base, it’s imperative to not underestimate the impact that presentation has on the customer experience.
The store layout, product displays, cleanliness of the facilities, clarity of price tags, visibility of special offers, or other practical issues can ruin the experience and turn customers away. You want to make sure your store is inviting, clean, and easy to navigate so customers can quickly find what they need (and maybe a little more!) and will want to return again and again.
Also, don’t forget that these things can be valued differently by different customer segments, and so it is about knowing what your main target customers see as the key drivers to visiting, and returning, to your store.
How HappyOrNot helps
We at HappyOrNot are passionate about customer experience and have been serving retailers across the globe for years by providing them with instant and actionable customer feedback.
Our solution unveils the highlights and pain points of your service performance. It tells you what it is that happened, when it happened, where it happened, why it matters, and who it happened to. Empowering your staff with this information empowers them to take responsibility, meet customer expectations, and deliver great experiences that keep your customers coming back!
Want to learn more? Contact us today!