Partner Article

Customers are setting the pace when it comes to retailer engagement

It’s no secret that consumers are becoming pickier about where they shop, which brands they engage with and how they engage.

Even well-established loyalty schemes must undergo continual innovation in order to retain the favour of the most loyal consumers. The strong sales performance recorded by mid-sized retailers with a 3.2% bump from February illustrates this clearly. Much of this success was attributed to brands offering consumers what they wanted and how they wanted it. This included great products, great customer service, omni-channel buying options and flexible delivery.

Experience and interaction

Mobile devices are playing an ever increasing role in the consumer journey. A recent survey by IMRG revealed that 11% of retailers expect more than half of their online sales will be via mobile devices by the end of 2014. Consumers are no longer noticing the channel that they are using to interact with a brand, instead differentiating their preferred brands on the experience and interactions they receive via their chosen method. For retailers to achieve this fully rounded customer experience means they must adopt a multichannel perspective when it comes to both loyalty programmes as well as payments.

Putting the customer at the heart of interaction

To hold their own in the increasingly competitive marketplace the leading brands must ensure they align three key elements:

Data and insights: Like the seasons, consumers are ever changing. Whether it is their minds, priorities or circumstances, consumer habits can change very frequently. Retailers should move with these changing habits in order to retain customers and continue to offer engaging experiences that drive loyalty. This is where data and insights come in. Retailers are increasingly looking to engage with consumers in a more insightful, informed and relevant manner, to build emotional equity with the brand. Retailers who successfully pull customers in through an emotional connection, will be more likely to have a strongly loyal customer base. Traditional loyalty schemes can be complemented with out-of-the-box loyalty initiatives. From email engagement on a customer’s birthday, to relevant coupons at point of sale; each thoughtful interaction, built on information, insight and relevance helps foster consumer loyalty.

What mobile technology is delivering to the consumer experience: Mobile technology is slowly and surely becoming a greater part of the consumers’ shopping experience. For example, almost a quarter (24%) of UK shoppers, used their mobile in store to compare prices in the run up to Christmas 2013. And this stat will only grow as retailers find more innovative and exciting ways to incorporate mobile devices into their multichannel strategy. Brands must start to collect knowledge about mobile behaviours – which devices their customers are using and how they are using them to interact. Understanding the adoption curve of new technology from a customer base will help retailers optimise their marketing plans and better serve customers who want to have digital experiences with the brand.

Individualised service will be a differentiator: Retailers need to be able to deliver a more individualised service, on a 1-to-1 level. Retail experiences should appeal to consumers’ varied shopping preferences, historic behaviours and the broad beliefs that they hold. Whether this be on mobile, online, in store or click and collect, these will be the areas where retailers can really differentiate themselves in 2014. This will be achieved through leveraging customer preferences and transactional data, as well as by tapping into social media data. Combined, this can deliver an integrated multichannel consumer experience that recognises a consumer’s needs and offers them a tailored and personal engagement.

Consumers continue to engage with well-designed loyalty programmes that provide tangible benefits and insight-led propositions across different segment groups. These range from focused communications that leverage sophisticated customer insight, to perhaps simpler yet rewarding stamp card solutions. Consumer loyalty is alive and kicking, but the retail environment is changing and this is affecting how consumers want to engage with them and what they expect in return.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Susan Binda .