How retailers can get started with CX

Start your CX journey with a W.A.V.E 

CX (Customer Experience) is a hot topic in 2020, and is fast becoming a key differentiator influencing where customers decide to shop. And how.

Why? Because customers are all starting to share one commonality – high expectations.

This is down to digital disruptors such as Amazon and Asos who have long raised the bar with their focus on making the purchase journey simple, informed and friction-free.

But we’re not all ASOS. Or Amazon. 

Lessons can be learned. Their experiences can be applied. So if you’re just starting out on your CX journey, don’t be overwhelmed. Set yourself achievable goals by following our 4 steps.

All good relationships start with a hello.
All good relationships start with a W.A.V.E.

Welcome

Step 1: Welcome your customers.

First impressions count. Offline and online. 

Your website should feel welcoming and leave a positive first impression. The same attitude you’d take to a brick and mortar store should be applied online.

Because your customers will subconsciously have emotional reactions to your site. Instinctively, they’ll be ticking off their expectations in their heads – comparing your clunky or slow website with their other online experiences. 

Each visitor has built up a model of how the online world works based on their prior experiences with other sites. Immediately they will start ticking off their expectations in their head

• How fast did the site load? What’s taking so long?
• Is this the website/product I was looking for? 
• Do they sell the product I want? How do I find out?
• Does it look trustworthy? Who even buys this stuff?

If you have a clunky or slow website, they’ll have a negative perception from the get-go. It’s humans using your website after all. They feel, they react and will make judgments. The challenge is knowing what judgment or reaction is driving your customer away, or making them pay.  

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like…Design is how it works.”

Try these easy wins:

• Make your website visually appealing
• Ensure products are easy to find
• Stick to your brand guidelines
• Prevent elements crashing into each other
• Use a consistent tone of voice and simple terminology
• Make your delivery services clear to understand
• Fix any bugs to functionality
• Turn off functionality that doesn’t work until fixed

Analyse

Step 2: Analyse who your customers are and get to know them.

First and foremost, If you are currently spending money on features you think your customer would like, stop. It’s a waste of resources. Period.

Instead, allocate a budget to getting to know your customer and how they engage with your online store. Then invest your money in features you know will help your customers accomplish the tasks they’ve come to do – which is buying your product.

Too often, brands make costly development changes blindly, and never stop to check if they’ve added value. If you want to see results, implement changes that will help them.  

You can’t improve something you don’t understand. You can’t improve an experience for people you know little about. So, adopt a mix of qualitative and quantitative UX research methods and start analysing their behaviours and attitudes.

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”

Where to start:

• Google Analytics (GA)
  • There is a wealth of information in GA that can help you identify what is happening. You just need to know how to find it.
  • This can only happen if GA is configured correctly and tracking the information you need to know. Vanity metrics mean nothing.
• Customer Surveys (on-site) – give customers the opportunity for feedback.
• User Test to identify barriers to sale and pain points in the purchase journey
• Monitor your social mentions to fully understand your brand equity
• Review feedback and complaints into your customer service team – learn from them
• Run regular performance audits – optimise them
• Establish and benchmark your Customer Lifetime Value
• Collaborate and share insights across departments – siloed information is useless.
• Competitor benchmarking – they’ll be watching you

Value

Step 3: Add value to your customer’s experience to create value for your business.

Value for your customer

Now you’ve analysed your customers, action the changes you have identified that add value.

For example:

Improving usability, usefulness and desirability of your site will instantly add value. 

Or the accessibility of your products and site navigation will make interacting online a delightful experience for your customer.
Delight equals value.

People buy from Amazon as they can easily find what they are looking for, they know the orders will arrive quickly and can checkout quickly.  

Amazon understood, listened, and acted. So can you.

Value for you

Stop spending money on guesswork. This is not going to make you money.

Alternatively, understand the value of the customers you are attracting and appropriately proportion budget between your marketing strategies. 

Routinely measure which of your CX implementations is generating value (probably financially) and compare against the areas you want to improve. Define goals and have a clear set of KPIs. Record how you are performing today, and use that as a benchmark moving forward. 

Make steps to becoming Customer Focused rather than Company focused and have the data to back up your decisions.

Evolve

Step 4: Nurture your relationship and make sure it is long-lasting.

Learn. Act. Repeat

Adding value to your customer experience is never complete. There’s no instant fix.

Always make sure you continue learning about who your customers are and stay in sync with them and stay relevant.  Customers always change, with cultural and ethical shifts influencing their shopping habits. Staying up to date with changes in shopping trends will help you. Where possible be proactive. Take the initiative.  And evolve with your customers.

When you know who your customers are you can Strategise for the Baby Boomers. Strategise for the Millenials. And strategise for Gen-Z. The way they behave, the value they bring, and the money they spend is going to be different. One thing is for sure, optimise their experience and tailor their individual journeys you will start seeing results. 

Customer experience is a journey. Start yours today.