A new study shows that 90% of retail purchases are made in physical stores. What's more, 95% of retail sales are made by retailers who have physical stores.
An estimated two-thirds of customers will go into your brick-and-mortar retail store prior to making a purchase, if only to ask a few questions. The trend works the other way as well: Customers do research at home and bring their smartphones into the store in order to compare prices and check out customer reviews.
In-store Professionalism Hugely Important
All of this underscores the importance of having a sales staff that are friendly, gracious, and knowledgeable about the newest products. It's important to know where everything in your store is located, how everything is organized, and how your products and services work. Nothing loses a sale faster than a customer seeing a staffer who can't figure out how an appliance fits together.
The ability to use positive language is also critical for improving the shopper experience. Language and persuasion are really two sides of the same coin when making a sale. Just consider how differently these two statements sound even though they're conveying the same fundamental information.
"We won't have the product in stock until later next month. If you can't wait that long, then checking in with location X might not be a bad idea." That's a lot of negativity. Consider this alternative: "The product will be in stock as soon as next month. In the meantime, it might be a good idea to check if location X has it in stock. Do you want me to check for you"? There's a world of difference there.
CRM for Your Staff
Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are a powerful way to improve the effectiveness of your service agents. A CRM allows your customer service agents to pull up a customer's previous questions and purchase history before engaging with customers on the phone, through email, or on social media.
The nice thing is that the conversation is bound to get off to a good start since your customers may have already indicated how they would prefer to be contacted. If you haven't done so already, consider giving customers a survey to find out how they'd like to be contacted if they have issues or questions down the road.
A CRM like Salesforce can help you create online communities where customers can hang out and learn more about your company.
Customer relationship management systems are also proven to enhance customer loyalty and retention. One way that a CRM can do that is by sending out promotional offers at just the right time in the buyer's journey.
Whether a customer recently made a purchase and you're looking to cross-sell or you're hoping to attract back a customer who hasn't made a purchase in a few months, a CRM can time things perfectly to present the right offer at the right time.
Focus on Online Customer Service
Aside from creating online communities with the help of customer relationship management systems, you might consider adding a comprehensive FAQ section to your website. This lets customers answer their own questions and it allows your customer service staff the chance to focus on truly hard-to-solve problems.
Providing more detailed information on your product pages can also obviate the need for customers to call or email your company in the first place.
On the topic of emails, try sending out a confirmation email to a customer telling her that you've received her email so that she won't get frustrated thinking that your company is being unresponsive. Emailing or calling customers back within 48 hours is also recommended.
Summing it all up, good customer service starts with friendliness and knowledgeability about your products and services. A CRM and FAQ page on your website can certainly help your customer service staff too.
Mikkie
