In today’s competitive, omnichannel marketplace, the customer is always right. So what better way for retailers to ensure shoppers have a great experience than to ask them directly for ways to improve?
Tommy Bahama is enhancing the in-store and online shopping journey by listening to customers firsthand. The lifestyle brand has implemented real-time Customer Experience Management (CEM) technology from Medallia to help build out its Voice of the Customer (VoC) strategies and extend them across the entire organization.
“We’re always looking for ways to improve the experience of our guests, so why not go directly to the consumer to find out how we can improve?” said Michael Barrow, VP of Retail at Tommy Bahama. “Medallia gives us opportunity to hear from a wider array of guests than in the past.”
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Customer feedback now is collected in Tommy Bahama retail stores, outlet locations, and through in-store kiosks. The CEM software from Medallia captures insights, integrates them with POS system data, and sends feedback to employees in real time. This quick and efficient approach empowers store employees to rectify issues and complaints, and improve overall brand loyalty.
“While we love to hear from our fans, the feedback we get from casual guests gives us insight into what we can do to engage them more deeply with the Tommy Bahama brand,” Barrow said. Prior to Medallia, Tommy Bahama used secret shoppers across locations, but did not have a formal Guest Experience Management program in place.
Although the secret shoppers offered valuable insights, they didn’t have a closed-loop process for delivering immediate feedback, Barrow explained. “Wefelt it was necessary to create a lasting relationship with our guests. However, we didn’t have a developed program to hear the voice of our guests.”
Now, closed-loop alerting enables Tommy Bahama associates to immediately communicate with guests who want to be contacted.
“By proactively embedding the Voice of the Customer inside our business,” Barrow explained, “we can directly take action on the issues and services that are most important to our guests and to us.”
With instant access to a vast pool of customer feedback, Tommy Bahama is able to quickly filter data into actionable items for the entire business.
Barrow said: “We now can respond much more quickly to trends and guests’ impression of the brand. If we’re not creating memories and lasting impressions, we’re not marketing the Tommy Bahama brand to its fullest potential.”