There are many things retailers can do to provide the best service to their customers. Building connections, personalizing the moment, and identifying what makes your customer tick is key to connecting with customers and fostering those relationships.
This year, show your customers you care and are committed to giving them the best customer experience with these 5 things:
1. Personalize the Moment. When customers are in your store (and even before they enter), use the moment to make them feel important. The more you can make customers feel like they are your favorite customer, the more likely you are to win the moment and earn their loyalty. To do this, take time to truly understand and know your customer and their personal preferences. Through tracking their spending habits, retailers can gain better insights and anticipate what products and services will most interest a particular customer. The more you can personalize their shopping experience, the less chance you have of them going to a competitor.
2. Turn a Negative Into a Positive. Diffuse a negative situation by taking time to listen to your customers and their complaints. Even if there is nothing you can do at the moment, customers, in most cases, will be grateful you listened and are willing to do what you can to rectify the situation in the future. The most important thing to remember when dealing with a negative situation is sometimes people need to feel their concerns are being heard. The more you work to solve problems, the more your customers will feel like you care.
3. Train Your Employees Properly. Take time to ensure everyone is trained and has a thorough knowledge of the sales and promotions being offered in the store. The more your employees can answer customer questions accurately and efficiently, the better service they’ll be able to provide to your customers. Plus, your customers will be grateful not to be given the run around.
Remember your employees are working hard. Thank them and acknowledge all they’re doing to provide the best customer service possible. Employees are the ones who have deal with unhappy customers and are more prone to get yelled by a unhappy patron so take a moment to thank them and let your employees know you appreciate them.
4. Learn from the Past. Mistakes happen—it’s part of life. Sometimes things happen that are out of your control, but many mistakes are avoidable. Take a look back at last year’s mistakes and see where you can improve and anticipate what might go wrong. While reviewing the mistakes of the past, review the successes too. What can you repeat? What can you improve upon? Not only will this improve the customer experience, but will also save you from a lot of additional stress when things happen.
5. Help the Community. Promote giving back to the community. Match contributions your customers or employees make to specific local charities, community events, or brainstorm with your team to decide what your store wants to do for the community. There are so many great ideas to give back and help the people in your area.
Providing customers with the best customer experience is important. Not only for standing out from your competitors, but for building loyalty and strong customer relationships. People want to shop at stores where they feel valued. Let your customers know you care about them through taking time to understand them and their needs through exceptional service.