By Rob Maille, CommerceCX
As retailers look to improve the
shopping experience for customers, a top priority is removing friction while
delivering on quality. In the past, many brands thought this meant going
mobile, but mobile doesn’t always level up the shopping experience. It works well for a lot of retailers
(case in point — Amazon), but self-service is not the only way people want to
engage and make purchases.
Great experiences are about
using tech, or digital innovations in general, to remove friction and exceed
customer expectations. In some cases, this might mean a customer can easily
shop online or order via mobile, but in other cases this could mean making the
experience in brick-and-mortar stores more seamless, engaging and enjoyable.
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Consumers want frictionless
experiences, but brands are still struggling to understand the best way forward
in delivering this. How come? Let’s explore this further and how brands can
deliver frictionless experiences to shoppers, regardless of how they are
shopping.
In a recent survey from RSA, a key finding discussed how although prior studies have
proven that personalized experiences increase user engagements and purchases, insights
gathered from those surveyed by RSA showed the opposite. Findings revealed that
consumers don’t think companies can offer better, more personalized products
and services by having more data.
These sentiments
aren’t surprising. As more data becomes available, businesses across industries
are leaning on customer insights to stay competitive. A major problem in this
pursuit is that brands end up asking for too much
information from customers — some of which is not relevant for personalizing
the experience. Because of this, customers feel overwhelmed and in turn, brands
likely aren’t getting the insights they need.
The approach to
collecting customer data and how brands use technology to appeal to each
individual consumer needs to change. Instead of capturing
as much information as possible by asking an endless stream of questions, companies
should look at the kind of experience their customers want to have with their
brand and ask questions that are relevant to those specific journeys. In addition to asking a tailored set of questions, using
tools that leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence makes it
easier — and more secure — to deliver personalized shopper experiences by
analyzing behavior, rather than simply collecting customer data.
All too often brands struggle to
differentiate what is and isn’t important to each kind of customer they may
engage with. As a retailer, companies need to understand how to approach each
engagement with a customer and how to prioritize the different ways we shop — from
in-store to online to mobile to subscription services and beyond.
Another missing piece is that brands often
fail to maximize on the opportunity to have a more unique, one-on-one conversation
with their customer. This is a big miss because these kinds of exchanges make
the shopping experience feel like a conversation with a trusted friend for the
customer. This type of engagement builds trust in the brand, which keeps the
customer coming back beyond just one purchase, while also opening the door to
options the consumer may not have been thinking about.
We’ve seen some successful efforts along these lines happening
lately, with Microsoft and Kroger’s recent retail-as-a-service (RaaS) product
serving as a good example. It shows how big box stores are embracing digital as
a way to better engage with customers and enhance the shopper experience while
they are in-store. On the flip-side, Walmart’s struggle to be successful with its own grocery delivery service
shows there are still some serious disconnects between brands and consumers
when it comes to meeting consumer wants and needs and delivering on good shopper
experiences.
A lot of businesses are still trying to treat all
customers the same no matter how they are choosing to engage. Understanding
customer priorities and preferences in any scenario that they choose to shop is
mission critical for providing shopper experiences with the right amount of
personalization — and being successful in these efforts.
Rob
Maille is Head of Strategy and Customer Experience at CommerceCX, as well as one of the co-founders. He is a
seasoned entrepreneur and CX expert with over 25 years in digital strategy,
enterprise application development and user experience. Maille’s primary role
at CommerceCX is to inspire, create and define digital solutions for clients.
