In the past, many retailers adhered to the “customer is always right” mantra. Consumers wield a larger amount of power. Along with that, customers have hundreds of places to spend their dollars. You want to capture that brand loyalty by connecting with these customers. Retailers need to create opportunities to build their brand and provide exceptional customer service to their clients. When you have the right tools and information, retailers can develop innovative ways to engage their shoppers and keep them coming back to their establishments. Are you ready to improve your customers’ experience and boost sales? Make sure to schedule a demo of Smart Call to see how it can enhance your customers’ in-store experiences.
The Top 5 Retail Problems of 2022
Over the past two years, retailers have faced many challenges. As a result, many businesses could not make changes and had to close their doors. Even with the pandemic reducing its grip on businesses, retailers still face many problems in 2002. Here are the top five issues to consider for this new year.
1 – Customer Preference for Multichannel Buying Experiences
Many Americans enjoy the conveniences of online experiences, but they’re still spending most of their dollars in those brick and mortar stores. These customers are moving seamlessly between offline and online experiences. With that, consumers want retailers who can better facilitate between those two transitions. Think about this: many more consumers view products in-store and then go home to make their purchases online. Customers are also ordering from local stores but opting for free delivery. Retailers will want to focus on creating those second-to-none customer experiences across all channels, including brick and mortar and online stores. Creating an omnichannel express will allow the consumer to engage with a store on their own terms. Related: How to Improve the In-Store Experience for Your Customers
2 – Customer Expectations for Seamless Experiences
When customers transition between an in-store and online experience, they want the same products to be available across all of those channels. For that reason, the customer service experience must be seamless. Think about connecting your online store’s inventory with items in the physical store. You need to record the customer’s purchase, so you have the information for both online and brick and mortar stores. With these fluid online/ offline experiences, you don’t have to put your online service against the brick-and-mortar shop. A centralized database can help retailers to create a fluid experience for everyone. Don’t forget about loyalty programs. Collect all of the customer’s relevant information and make use of it. These programs will not only reward the shopper, but retailers can integrate their content and data across all of those platforms for an exceptional omnichannel customer service experience.
3 – The Need for Retail Experience to Attract Customer Loyalty
One of the biggest contributors to brand loyalty is the customer experience. When there is a negative experience, it can affect whether or not the customer will return to your online or physical store. Consumers want to feel important. If the customer is ignored or treated poorly, you will lose that customer for life. Plus, they are more likely to tell friends and family about the experience. Offers and promotions can contribute to the customers’ satisfaction levels. However, retailers will want to provide a personalized experience for their clients. You can get to know your customers from previous interests and purchases. Gain those insights from data or a conversation in the store. Never think that your business is too big to have a quick chat with a regular customer. You can deliver that personalized content via their preferred contact method. A customized email subject line guides those customers down the sales funnels by anticipating their needs and wants. Related: 2022 Shopping Experience Tips and Tricks For Better Sales
4 – The Flaws of a Siloed Marketing Infrastructure
Businesses can effortlessly engage with their customers across various channels by using modern marketing tools. Make sure to use social media, emails, and other multi-channel communications to engage with your customers. All those marketing channels lead to the perfect customer service experience. Unfortunately, with so many channels, customer data tends to become siloed. When the moving parts of a marketing department are not working together, your customers can become overwhelmed with repeated or conflicting messages. Clients bombarded with emails might feel overwhelmed with your marketing and head over to the competition (with a clearer marketing message). The proper marketing procedures ensure that everyone is on the same page. With that, you can make sure that all of your communication channels are working together.
5 – The Disconnect Between Useful Marketing and Sales Technologies
The amount of data collected by businesses continues to grow at an alarming rate, but the staff to analyze it often does not increase. Data is useless to your retail business if you don’t know how to use it. You need a technology solution that can handle all of that data to benefit your marketing efforts. Marketing will become more critical with this data-first approach as retailers create unified omnichannel services. Related: Smart Call Solutions for Bars, Restaurants, and Coffee Shops
Boost Your Sales With Smart Call
With Smart Call, you can give your retail space a better way to solve those problems with communication. When a customer needs assistance, or an associate needs an answer to a question, they can directly connect with the right person. With this system, you can improve your customers’ experience by boosting your bottom line. Our Smart Call wireless paging system is designed with the customers in mind. Check out this short video below on how it can work for you.
Final Thoughts to Keep in Mind for Retailers in 2022
If you combine seamless cross-channel customer service, personalized marketing efforts, and streamline all of the un-siloed data science, you can improve the buyers’ experience. As a result, you can combat the fickle nature of your customers. The right balance will help your retail business foster loyalty in a disloyal world. Do you want to boost your customers’ experience with your retail spaces? We can increase your sales with our Smart Call system as you provide an exceptional customer experience.
