Adopt a joined-up approach to the customer experience

Customer experience may impact on a brand’s loyalty and bottom line (MW 3 November), but too many companies fail to recognise that the way we shop has changed and do not offer a joined-up customer experience.

Just over a quarter of UK adults and almost half of teenagers own a smartphone, and 70% of these use their smartphones in store. Customers want to move between channels as they shop – from store to website to app – and retailers need to adapt.

Research by Head reveals a correlation between a strong integrated customer experience and positive sales growth. Between 2007 and 2010, retailers with a poor multichannel offer lost £500m in potential revenue by failing to turn consumer interest into actual sales.

Meeting consumers’ needs, wherever they are, whatever they want to do is now the benchmark for success.

Lola Oyelayo
Director of user experience
Head London

Today’s savvy and “autonomous consumer” demands a more data-driven and holistic approach to customer services (Data Strategy, 10 November). They want quality and efficiency and to communicate via the channel of their choice and switch without having to repeat the same information each time.

A joined-up and personalised cross-channel experience begins and ends with knowing the contact history of the customer and using it to make them feel like they’re an individual. Immediately identifying the customer and their reason for contact opens the door to brand-enhancing, proactive responses.

Only by adopting a strategy where data isn’t just collected, but also analysed and acted on, is it possible to make the difference between a good customer experience and an exceptional one.

Simon Loopuit
CEO
VoxGen

It’s not just in-store that is important to provide a great customer experience. We recently evolved our annual ecommerce usability report to focus on the multichannel commerce experience of top UK high street retailers and the result was that Boots came top, ahead of Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and Waterstone’s.

In-store is clearly important, but it is also crucial that whatever channels customers choose to shop through, retailers harness the innovative technology available to provide the most desired experience.

Trenton Moss
Director
Webcredible

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