Editorial Articles

With greater numbers of consumers choosing to shop via the web as well as using social networking techniques to help research their buying decisions, we believe retailers must now focus their attention on replicating their in-store customer service experience online to get the best results and maximise sales.

Online shopping is still undergoing growth despite the current economic environment. Total online sales for September last year grew eight per cent from a year earlier, according to retail research group IMRG Capgemini, online sales were up £3.9 billion, an increase of 1.9 per cent on August figures.

Because of this continued growth it’s crucial that retailers provide customers with a great online shopping experience. If businesses fail to do this they run the risk of losing customers permanently. A poor customer experience may not only result in customers deciding not to shop online but they may also choose not to return to the store, resulting in permanent damage to the brand.

What your customers want
Businesses should be looking at using a combination of marketing and technology to help build and develop the brand experience. There are simple things retailers can do to help build a better online experience for their customers. For example, customer service contact information should be easy to find on the website and retailers must provide customers with a consistent experience. Shoppers should be able to return goods to a store that they purchased online if they wish to do so, so many still do not give this service. The multi channel experience is the most effective method of engaging and selling to your customers. It’s important that businesses streamline and integrate all processes, as a retailer’s website should be its flagship store.

One area to highlight is in the emergence of mobile technology, this demands that the retail experience is completely integrated. For example if a customer can’t find a size they require in store, an option would be to immediately go onto the internet via their mobile and order it online instead. Whichever method a customer chooses to shop via should deliver the same experience every single time. Another option is using instore kiosks to allow customers to purchase instore products that are out of stock thus giving great customer service and still gaining the sale.

Making the most of technology
Retailers must think long and hard about how their customers like to be engaged with in the store environment and look to use similar techniques online.

For example, if in the store customers like to engage with staff and ask questions then companies should look to replicate this on their website. They could do this by having a community / social area on their website where questions could be posed, encouraging feedback from customers. However, if recommended advice needs qualifying they should look to use an expert on their site. For example, if you run a pet shop, your website could employ the services of a vet to respond to questions and concerns. An additional benefit of using a community is that they can help boost the long tail search ranking through the content. Ultimately a community will become a place for customers to interact and share information with each other, which may or may not be under the banner of the retailer’s brand.

Companies need to be constantly thinking about their brand. For example, if in the store environment customers like to engage, ask questions and receive plenty of support it could be worthwhile investing in a virtual store assistant. By using this service a customer gets a live response online to any questions posed, which will hopefully lead to the sale. Another option is to have a call back button online which allows the retailer to phone and discuss any issues with the customer.

Retailers can use their website to support their brand and deliver even more value back to their customers. Some designer jewellery retailers have found it difficult to translate their offering to a website from the in-store experience. Many invest in high quality photography to help the company market its products better, we are also seeing an increased interest in using Flash to enrich the users experience which has now become far more accepted with the uptake of Flash now in most browsers. Elsewhere, videos have proved very popular with ecommerce sites as an example of providing additional information to customers and thus helping to increase conversion.

A recent survey by Nielsen Online showed that social networks and blogs are now the fourth most popular online activity ahead of personal email. This marks a shift from companies and customers having one-to-one interactions to customers having simultaneous, public conversations with each other. It’s critical that companies engage with their customers via the online social techniques to ensure customers responses are being dealt with effectively within the public domain. Often the biggest customer champions emerge from what started out as a customer experiencing a problem with a purchase. A direct response from the organisation is an opportunity to thrill that customer and build a better relationship.

Mirror image
When a customer browses and purchases goods online their experience should reflect how they go about making a purchase in store. For example if a retailer’s business is about discounting and value for money the creative team has an important part to play to ensure this message comes across on the website.

It’s important that retailers use the technology available and work with experts who can realise this goal. It’s crucial that retailers build a site that will help improve their customer experience.

Businesses need to duplicate what their customers want in store and bring it online. Also, rather than adopt all types of technology, companies must focus on technology that will be relevant to them and also interest their customers. For example, do you want to create a Facebook page if your typical customer is unlikely to be a Facebook user?

The underlying trend is that customers are turning to the Internet to make more informed purchasing decisions and ultimately retailers must realise that the web is an alternative method of purchasing their goods and not a secondary one. Consumers are more demanding than ever and retailers must ensure they use a variety of measures to provide a quality multi-channel service.

Author: George Ioannou, Head of Creative & Strategy, Maginus