Yesterday, I started an Adpulp story with this lede: “Expectations. Many American shoppers have learned to let them go, begrudgingly.”
I was being facetious. Shopper’s expectations are sky high. According to a new report from BRP Consulting, customers expect engaging and relevant interactions and conversations across all channels and they don’t have any tolerance for unsatisfactory shopping experiences.
Customers want a personalized experience and if they are treated well, they will reward the retailer through additional purchases and brand loyalty.
“Engaging the customer through personalized and relevant experiences is the key to attracting and keeping your customers happy and continuing to shop your brand,” said Perry Kramer, SVP and practice lead at BRP.
Keeping loyal customers happy is critical as it only takes one unsatisfactory shopping experience for 63% of consumers to stop shopping your brand.
Personalize the Customer’s Experience, Or Else
One way to create customer happiness is to successfully and consistently recognize returning customers with personalized greetings and rewards.
Know Your Customer
- Customer expectations: 64% are comfortable with retailers identifying them via their mobile phone when they enter a store, as long as it means they are offered a personalized experience
- Retailer capabilities: 63% are unable to identify their customers prior to checkout and 20% can’t identify them until after checkout or not at all
Reward Your Customer
- Customer expectations: 26% want credit or discounts towards future purchases as an incentive to allow retailers to identify them when they walk in the store
- Retailer capabilities: 13% offer credit or discounts towards future purchases as an incentive to
customer
The fun thing about shopper marketing today is how demanding it is. You can’t make an end-aisle display and call it good. To create happy customers, a store has to connect mobile, one-to-one, direct, in-store advertising, price promotions, customer service, and loyalty programs and make it all work seamlessly and on-demand.
About BRP
BRP is an innovative retail management consulting firm dedicated to providing superior service and enduring value to clients.
