How Smart Brands Improve Customer Experience

There’s been volumes written about the need for brick-and-mortar retailers to enhance their customer experience.  Guess what?  Not many retailers have been up to the challenge.  Two recent research reports produced by Forrester and Nunwood found that in the last two to three years, across multiple industries, customer experience has barely changed.  In a recent Brainfluence podcast, Colin Shaw, CEO of Beyond Philosophy and author of four books on customer experience opined about why customer experience has not improved. 

Shaw explained that most organizations don’t understand what drives and/or destroys value in their businesses. One big reason is there is a huge difference between what customers say they want and what they actually do.  Shaw illustrated this point by pointing to Disney.  If you asked customers what they want to eat at Disney World, many would recommend adding a salad option. However, Disney knows that most people don’t eat salads when they go to Disney World - they eat hot dogs and hamburgers.

The danger, according to Shaw, is that people too often tend to focus on the obvious things such as price.  In all the research Shaw has performed for clients over the past two decades, he stated that price is never the key issue.  We suspect that this is also the case with decorative plumbing and hardware, because if price were the issue, your customers would be shopping at Lowes, Home Depot or some online discounter.  Just like theme park attendees who say they would like to eat salad, decorative plumbing and hardware customers who tell you that price is the main issue generally have not been convinced of the value of your offering and recommendations.  

Shaw also explained that the human touch drives value and very few brick-and-mortar retailers focus on that. However, those same retailers don’t believe that is the actual case.  When someone calls your showroom, can they speak to a human? When callers are put on hold, how long does it take to speak to someone who knows what they are talking about?  When someone enters your showroom for the first time, is there a standard operating procedure for welcoming them, goals set for the initial meeting and standardized processes for follow up?  

Think about your showroom and your competitors. Everyone claims to deliver exceptional customer service. What do you actually do for customers that your competitors do not?  What do you do to earn your customer’s trust that is distinctive or different?  What drives value for your showroom? What drives value for your customers?  Answer those questions accurately and you have the framework to truly deliver incredible customer experiences.