The retail customer experience (CX) is in crisis. According to a Forrester report, The US Customer Experience Index Rankings, 2023, the quality of customer experience offered by consumer-facing brands and government agencies declined for an unprecedented second year in a row. Furthermore, only 6% of brands saw a significant increase in CX quality, compared to 10% in 2022.
Rick Parrish, VP and research director at Forrester, explains, “The past 12 months have been unpredictable for consumers and brands in the US, especially as brands struggle to sustain CX quality levels achieved during the pandemic.”
And Pete Jacques, principal analyst at Forrester and co-author of the report, says “Great customer experiences hit the mark on three key criteria: ease, effectiveness, and emotion.” In 2023, the average score dropped in all three key areas as “…brands struggled to provide emotionally satisfying experiences amid staffing shortages, shifting public health recommendations, and supply chain constraints.” He continued, “Companies are struggling to deliver great CX at scale in the middle of a talent-constrained recession. And as CX leaders know all too well, customer expectations constantly increase, regardless of macroeconomic conditions.”
The fallout? Consumers are running out of patience.
Research shows that a key motivation for in store shopping is the quality of the customer experience. Raydiant’s latest State of Consumer Behavior survey found that 77% of shoppers consider the in-store customer experience either important or very important, while nearly 55% of shoppers have abandoned a brand because of one bad in-store experience.
Outlining the components of what might constitute a bad experience can open the door to finding the right solutions.
A negative customer experience may involve:
“And as CX leaders know all too well, customer expectations constantly increase, regardless of macroeconomic conditions.” – Pete Jacques, Principal Analyst, Forrester
- Long checkout wait times
- Discourteous or uninformed staff
- Out of stocks
- Untrained support staff
- Slow or lacking in-store digital connectivity
- Disconnection between online and in-store information
The survey further revealed that 83% of consumers are more likely to return to your store after a positive in-store experience . Additionally, 63% of respondents said that a positive customer experience makes them more likely to spend more during that visit!
77%
of shoppers consider the in-store customer experience either important or very important.
55%
of shoppers have abandoned a brand because of one bad in-store experience.
83%
of consumers are more likely to return to your store after a positive in-store experience.
63%
of respondents said that a positive customer experience makes them more likely to spend more during that visit.
Optimizing Customer Experience
An excellent customer experience can improve your brand’s reputation, expand customer loyalty while also increasing sales and basket size.
Improving the customer experience can give retailers a decided competitive advantage. If retailers are not “all in” for improving customer experience, it will adversely affect their bottom line. Here’s how you can go about optimizing customer experience.
Cater to an All-Channel Customer Journey
What should retailers be doing to make those incremental improvements? What strategies will be most effective at combatting slipping customer experience scores? And, because many of the market conditions that have negatively impacted the customer experience are beyond retailers’ control, what customer experiences might circumvent those conditions?
As a basis for creating a better customer experience, the most successful retail brands recognize that customer connectivity is now an all-channel activity. They don’t distinguish when and where they are using various tools to browse and buy. They are just browsing and buying—in the stores, at home, on multiple devices—in whatever way is easiest, most convenient, and most available to them.
Yet research in RetailWire’s Optimizing CX report found that only 16 percent “strongly agree,” and 46 percent “agree” that their organizations provide a “seamless online and offline shopping experience.”
In that report, Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CEO, put it this way: “Customers don’t see themselves as digital customers; they are simply customers doing what they need to in their preferred ways. Digital is part of how they behave, so focusing resources on this part of the customer’s journey will continue to be a smart move.”
“Customers don’t see themselves as digital customers; they are simply customers doing what they need to in their preferred ways.” – Jeannie Walters, CCXP, CEO of RetailWire
In fact, with staffing levels at an all-time low, digital interactions have become vital as a way for customers to gain instantaneous access to product information, conduct comparison shopping, and make purchase decisions. Giving consumers various options for connecting and getting answers to their questions can keep them from leaving a store and purchasing from a competitor.
Ready to Up Your CX Game?
What are the most fruitful CX tactics and strategies retailers should implement right now? What approaches have the greatest positive impact on sales volume, customer loyalty, and consumer happiness?
Serving a Purpose with Self Service
Self-service options help retailers manage stores with fewer employees. When there’s a long line of customers waiting to check out, giving customers the option of self-checkout provides them with a convenience they will appreciate. In addition, virtual shopping assistants can fill the information gap when associates aren’t present, by providing answers to shopper’s’ product, pricing, inventory, and order questions instantaneously.
Satisfying Cravings for Immersion
An interactive display, kiosk, or store-within-a-store can engage consumers with your brand up close and personal. Their design can be as simple or as sophisticated as budget allows. The key is to incorporate interactivity that thoroughly engages customers with your brand and creates a visceral connection.
Leveraging for Personalization
Collecting customer feedback and data is critical, but the challenge is to use it to proactively enhance CX. Leveraging data to create personalized customer experiences will drive loyalty and differentiate your brand.
Digital data collection makes it possible to know and understand each customer’s buying habits before they enter the store. This opens the door to making each customer feel welcomed as an individual. Customers may appreciate your text message, for instance, with relevant product recommendations and offers of special discounts on brands they prefer. Invite them to opt in to your brand app. Respond to questions in real time using live chat.
- 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences. – Epsilon
- 91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them. – Accenture
From the time customers start browsing to the time they buy, you can continue to capture insights from them on their buying habits. Maintain an ongoing, two-way communication with customers so that personalization is integrated into your CX strategy.
Enhance In-Store Experiences with Digital Customer Engagement
The Internet has made instant access to a world of information a given. Consumers expect to be able to easily discover new products, home in on the most attractive deals, and grasp comprehensive product information within a few clicks on their favorite device. They also want to have access to reliable reviews so they can make educated decisions before heading to a store to compare different product features to finalize their purchase.
By 2025 nearly 100 million U.S. consumers will use their smartphones to scan QR codes.
Once in the stores, customers often face the potential for two common negative experiences. One, the short labor supply often means that not enough associates are available to help them. Two, in-store associates cannot possibly be expected to have deep and, depending on the product, thorough technical knowledge of the full range of products and features that customers demand.
This is where retailers can take advantage of the widespread customer habit of using their phones and other digital devices while in store. For instance, eMarketer projects that the number of U.S. smartphone users scanning a QR code will increase from 83.4 million in 2022 to 99.5 million by 2025. QR codes give customers an instantaneous connection for exploring brands in-depth and connecting with brand experts real time.
AskMe® Bridges the Online-to-Offline Gap in the Retail Customer Experience
Technology has created opportunities for solutions that help retailers and retail brands engage customers in new and exciting ways. Some offer seamless experiences that bridge the in-store and online gap. AskMe by MarketSource for example, is a virtual brand engagement solution that allows retail sales associates and customers to connect with a team of live agents virtually anytime—including in-store—through video chat, text, or phone.
Whether assisting associates with expert product knowledge and support in the moment or advising customers through a buying experience by answering their detailed product questions in real time, AskMe empowers your sales team to reach customers while they’re interacting with your brand and products in store or online, delivering them both a great shopping experience and a simplified path to a sale.
With AskMe, you can bring brand experts into the store—or wherever your customers are—without having to staff every location. It’s the future of customer service… and may be the most powerful way to position your retail organization for long-term success.
Learn how AskMe® can improve customer experiences with your brand and accelerate your sales.
Author: Karen Salamone
Karen is Head of Marketing for MarketSource. She is a transformational B2B and B2B2C leader with a history of building marketing organizations, content teams, and demand generation centers of excellence from the ground up. She is recognized for delivering meaningful insights and fresh approaches and for earning best-in-class content, design, and multi-media awards.
