Strategies to Win the Experience Revolution in Retail
Dr Melanie Van Rooy, CMO at Clicks Group discusses the CX challenges in the retail industry and how innovative strategies and emerging tech will create better shopping experiences.
Topics
In the retail industry, customer expectations have reached unprecedented levels, reshaping how brands must engage with their audiences. The abundance of accessible products and information has shifted the focus from the products themselves to the overall customer experience as the primary differentiator.
“This expectation for a superior experience extends throughout the entire purchase journey, from awareness to advocacy, requiring retailers to continually and rapidly enhance these customer journeys in a highly competitive market where everyone is vying on experience,” says Melanie Van Rooy, CMO at Clicks Group.
Melanie focuses on the retail side, responsible for marketing and brand strategy across beauty, health, and wellness, in alignment with the “Building a Healthier Future” ethos at Clicks. Her role also includes digital marketing and design, overseeing the Advanced Data Analytics Centre (ADAC) to leverage advanced customer analytics, and managing the ClubCard loyalty program and partnerships.
Melanie talks to Martechvibe about the challenges that retailers face, modern metrics for success, how CX teams can be more data-driven and more.
Excerpts from the interview:
How are customer expectations changing in the retail sector?
Customer expectations in the retail sector are evolving, with an increasing demand for personalised experiences tailored to individual preferences. There is also a growing expectation for a seamless shopping experience, driven by convenience, and a need for consistency and integration across all channels, including web, mobile, social media, and in-store, emphasising the importance of omnichannel strategies. Furthermore, a significant segment of consumers now prioritises sustainability and ethical practices in their purchasing decisions, focusing on how products are sourced and the environmental impact of their production and shipping.
What are the challenges that retailers face?
Retailers today face the challenge of meeting these heightened customer expectations, as easier access to products and information has commoditised products and shifted the focus to the overall experience as a key brand differentiator. This expectation for a superior experience extends throughout the entire purchase journey, from awareness to advocacy, requiring retailers to continually and rapidly enhance these customer journeys in a highly competitive market where everyone is vying on experience.
What new and enhanced CX metrics would you recommend to increase customer loyalty today?
To increase customer loyalty, it is recommended that retailers go beyond standard metrics like NPS, CSAT, CES, and churn, by incorporating a more comprehensive approach that includes understanding the impact of employee experience (EX) on the customer experience (CX). Metrics such as eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) will become increasingly important in the overall CX metric mix. Other valuable CX metrics include retention rate, which measures the percentage of customers retained over time; customer lifetime value (CLV), which predicts the total revenue generated by a customer throughout their lifetime; social media sentiment measurement, which tracks online conversations about the brand; emotion analytics, which goes beyond traditional metrics to gauge emotional engagement and sentiment for deeper insights into customer loyalty and satisfaction; and Customer Health Score (CHS), a composite metric that evaluates various customer interactions with the brand to determine their overall ‘health’ or likelihood of remaining loyal.
What advice would you give brands wanting to re-imagine their CX stack for better customer engagement and retention?
Brands aiming to re-imagine their CX stack for better customer engagement and retention should consider partnering with an experienced agile CX partner to guide them in rethinking their CX strategy. It is important to select CX management platforms that cover as many management and engagement points as possible, from incident management to third-party voice of customer (VOC) integrations. This ensures that there are no gaps between collecting feedback, analysing it, and taking action for closed-loop management. The same holds true for Digital Experience Platforms (DXP).
Rigorous proof-of-concept phases should be insisted upon before finalising any decisions. Simplifying the stack is crucial to avoid complexity and potential compromises in the customer experience. Additionally, leveraging AI and machine learning is essential for predictive analytics, personalised content delivery, and automating routine interactions, freeing up human agents for more complex queries. Lastly, prioritising the mobile experience is critical, given the growing use of smartphones for shopping. This includes ensuring that the CX strategy enhances mobile user experience, including mobile apps, responsive design, and mobile-first customer support.
READ MORE: The Customer Experience Strategy at iGA Istanbul Airport
How can CX teams be more data-driven? Will behavioural data help to make deeper connections with customers?
To make CX teams more data-driven and foster deeper connections with customers, it is essential to have embedded analysts and the capacity to manage the vast amounts of data required for assessment. Otherwise, businesses risk having large volumes of data without the ability to derive meaningful insights from it. AI plays a significant role in processing behavioural data, enabling personalisation at scale and triggering 1:1 interactions, which enhances relevance to the customer and improves their experience with the brand. Partnering with an experienced CX company can also help in collecting and analysing key data such as customer purchase history (transactional data), browsing behaviour, engagement data (interactions with advertising, emails, social media, web content, etc.), and in-store experience. Additionally, a thorough analysis of customer feedback and reviews is necessary to gain a comprehensive understanding of customer behaviour and preferences.
Which emerging trends or tech do you see having the largest impact in the way retail does business?
Emerging trends and technologies set to have a substantial impact on the retail sector include the integration of AI across the retail chain, which allows for AI-driven personalisation to create shopping experiences tailored to individual preferences, thereby boosting engagement and loyalty. The development of the “phygital” journey, where digital and physical experiences are merged, is also gaining traction, with technologies like Augmented Reality offering new ways for customers to evaluate and experience products and services.
Other notable trends include the rise of voice commerce, which provides a hands-free shopping experience through voice-activated technology, and blockchain technology, which offers transparency in the supply chain, appealing to consumers who prioritise ethical and sustainable practices.
