While most retailers have moved quickly to leverage social media to enhance their customers’ journeys, more than four out of five admit that their efforts have not yet caught up with their goals and expectations. A new report from consulting firm Boston Retail Partners (BRP) indicated that 81% of retailers using social media to engage with customers say their processes need improvement.
The report, titled Enhancing Customer Engagement Through Social Media, identified five key areas where retailers can use social media more effectively to improve the customer journey:
- Experience: 69% of retailers see opportunities to utilize social media to enhance the customer experience;
- Interaction: 75% of retailers support customer interaction via social media;
- Endorsement: 59% of retailers plan to utilize brand advocacy/social endorsement as a source for identifying their most valuable customers within three years;
- Satisfaction: 59% of retailers utilize social media comments as a means of measuring customer satisfaction; and
- Insight: 60% of retailers capture customer feedback and insights from social media and online comments.
“Social media provides retailers with unprecedented visibility into their customer base,” said Brian Brunk, Principal at BRP, in a statement. “It provides a venue where retailers can directly communicate with their customers and it can be an extremely powerful tool for collecting and using customer insights to improve planning decisions. Retailers can understand who the customer is, what she wants, when and where she wants it, and even why she wants it based on social media postings and feedback.”
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