It’s no secret that the modern shopper’s expectations are higher than ever before, and that means retailers are competing for their business on multiple fronts — from customer experience to delivering last mile perfection. The customer journey has expanded to encompass too many variables to cover in a single webinar, which is why Retail TouchPoints is hosting the 2022 Connected Consumer Series from March 21-25, offering 15 webinars on some of today’s hottest topics.
This free, four-day digital event will highlight expert advice, compelling data and valuable insights to help attendees drive results today and into the future. We’ve highlighted five sessions to help give you an idea of what’s in store and why #CCS22 is well worth your time.
The New Rules of Loyalty: How to Design Data-Driven Experiences
Retailers like to talk about how they know their consumers well, but do they really? Achieving a better understanding is possible through the use of richer data sets and tools that can integrate disparate information into one unified picture. This allows retailers to achieve “personalization 2.0” — individualization as the new north star for brands.
Leading analyst Brendan Witcher of Forrester and Dawn Trenson of FILA will discuss best practices for creating a unified view of your customers, tips for designing an end-to-end seamless customer journey and reveal how a data strategy is key to bolstering loyalty. Trenson will share insights from FILA’s own journey as the brand embraced a more DTC-style engagement and selling model.
Advertisement
Learn more about the session here.
Customer Delight and Loyalty Through Digital-First Experiences
Today’s shoppers are quite particular about their shopping choices, and the quest for ever-improving personalization has accelerated retail’s digital transformation — with no signs of slowing down. With 73% of shoppers using multiple channels, according to data from HBR, retailers can’t afford to lose them at any stage of the journey. The key to true omnichannel CX is offering contextual service experiences that can eliminate virtually any type of redundancy.
In this session, Freshworks will discuss the “three C’s” of new engagement models, share how bots and AI can create customer delight at scale and lay out a step-by-step roadmap for retailers seeking to achieve digital maturity. The webinar will be led by Colin Crowley, CX Advisor at Freshworks and a veteran customer experience leader focused on retail and technological changemaking.
Learn more about the session here.
Exploring Omnichannel Retail Maturity
The pressures of the pandemic made shoppers increasingly channel-agnostic: 21% purchased groceries online and 11% used a digital payment method for the first time, according to Forrester. The growing maturity of omnichannel means that retailers must now offer seamless support from start to finish across channels, starting from that first click. The stakes are high: 61% of shoppers won’t return to a website if it fails to provide a satisfactory experience.
The sheer speed of change means many retailers acquired bolt-on solutions atop their legacy systems to keep up with these new demands. However, the risk of leaving these temporary solutions in place is reduced flexibility in the future. In this session, Rachel Henwood of Oracle Retail and Brendan Witcher of Forrester will reveal why omnichannel retail must continue to evolve, about the “4 P’s” of omnichannel and why they are critical to success, and how retailers can earn the biggest payoff for their omnichannel efforts.
Learn more about the session here.
Fraud is on the Rise: How Retailers Can Limit Their Risks
Retailers need to take seriously the rise in digital fraud generated by the COVID-19-generated rise in overall ecommerce. A majority (54%) of consumers have experienced fraudulent or suspicious encounters online, according to data from TechTarget. Every online retailer has had to deal with fraudulent credit card orders at some point, but there are still steps they can take to prevent them in the first place, or to minimize their impact when they do occur.
Shoshanah Posner of NoFraud and Bill Gustin of Shiptronix will share best practices for reducing retailers’ exposure to fraudulent transactions. This session will cover topics including how fraudsters obtain stolen credit cards and make their way to your site; methods for preventing fraud liability today and well into the future; and the latest information about both typical and emerging scams, and what to do about them.
Learn more about the session here.
Leveraging Online Communities to Achieve Commerce Goals
Shoppers in general, and younger shoppers in particular, seek genuine connections with the brands they support. The growing importance of authenticity, part of the move to “community commerce,” has enabled digital ecosystems and created online groups made up of like-minded individuals. Top retailers are using these opportunities as engines for driving real connections between brands and some of their most highly engaged consumers.
Jim Stirewalt of Marketplacer and Lisa Kennelly of Fishbrain, which has grown from angling-oriented community into a marketplace, will explore how retailers can best leverage communities to amplify their voices and generate truly authentic marketing. Attendees will learn how to use both social and owned platforms as vehicles for community expansion and engagement; how to use an online marketplace to engage more deeply with your audience; and tips for keeping the focus on community engagement by creating ecosystems where transactions are consumer-led.
Learn more about the session here.
#CCS22 Will Feature So Much More
Remember, this is just a small taste of the 15 sessions in store for #CCS22. Other highlights include Podium’s Key Trends Defining the State and Future of Local Retail, where Dan Gingiss, author of The Experience Maker, will discuss the biggest challenges and opportunities facing SMB retailers; and Salesforce and Vertex’s Reduce Fast-Rising Omnichannel Complexity with Advanced Order Management Systems, which will teach attendees about how highly integrated order management systems can reduce friction across the customer journey.
