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Loyalty & CX

Why You Can't Wait to Improve Your Customer Experience

Dec 11, 2022

Customer experience has always been an integral part of retail. The way customers view your brand and how satisfied they are in their interactions with you has a major influence on whom they decide to shop with.

With more brands competing for customers’ attention and money, customer experience is becoming increasingly important.

In fact, a survey by Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc found that 65% of shoppers in the US and Canada feel companies need to improve their overall customer experience.

At the same time, 77% said they will spend more with a company that provides a good customer experience.

Investing in building a better customer experience is a major competitive advantage in today’s retail. Notably, Gartner reported that 86% of professionals engaged in or leading CX expect to compete based on customer experience.

Personalization Matters More than You Think

One way to achieve this is through personalization. A study by PYMNTS found that one-third of consumers will spend more with brands that they have a relationship with.

Customers are actively looking for retailers to provide this. The tech that improves personalization and product recommendations was a major want by UK consumers in a survey by Klarna. In fact, 80% of UK shoppers think retailers need to invest in new technology.

Relevancy is key in all interactions with brands and retailers. A survey of US consumers by Optimove found that 63% dislike receiving irrelevant messaging from a retailer. Plus, 47% will unsubscribe from a retailer's promotional messages if they get too many messages.

This makes sense. If you send customers too many messages that aren’t relevant to them, they won’t see any value in the communication.

Unfortunately, retailers aren’t giving customers what they want. 24% of UK retailers surveyed by MoEngage said they only use basic customer data – like name or location – for personalization.

This means there is a massive opportunity for retailers to get ahead by investing in things like clienteling tools and recommendation engines to build a more personalized customer experience.

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Relevancy is key in all interactions with brands and retailers. A survey of US consumers by Optimove found that 63% dislike receiving irrelevant messaging from a retailer.

Customer Experience Is Something You Can Control

Personalization is just one element of customer experience, but it demonstrates a universal truth – the customer experience offered by most retailers and brands doesn’t fit with what customers want.

Worryingly, Treasure Data/MarTech Alliance reported that 48% of CMOs believe the customer experience their brand offers is not up to the standard consumers expect.

This chimes with research by Broadridge Financial Solutions that found that 65% of consumers feel companies need to improve their overall customer experience – an increase from 35% the previous year.

The big reason to invest in building a better customer experience in 2022 is that this is something you can control. You have the power to shape how customers feel about your brand and buying from you. When so much else may feel out of your control as a business – supply chain issues, global pandemics, inflation– your customer experience is something that you can do something about. And that will stand you in good stead to weather everything else.

Discover the four other big areas your retail business should be focusing on in our new checklist. Download your copy here.