Customer Experience: Retailers Adapt To A Speedy Holiday Season

The holiday selling season certainly looks like it’s built for speed. It starts next Tuesday, Oct. 13 with sales events from Amazon, Target and Walmart, runs the middle of the course through Amazon’s proprietary Black Friday events and sprints right through Thanksgiving weekend. Regardless of the pace, retailers of all sizes need to slow down enough to communicate effectively with their customers. Because in the world of digital-first, every action contributes to the customer experience.

The process begins with the current customer base and customer retention, especially for specialty retailers and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Big retailers and grocery chains can count on engagement due to customer necessity. But for retailers whose customer communication is more occasional, starting at square one is critical.

“I think for specialty stores in particular, retailers need to lean into their loyal customer segments right now,” Erica James, principal experience consultant at Medallia, tells PYMNTS. “They need to look at customers who have shopped with them for some time and really dig deep and understand what motivates them. I think going heavy after loyalty, whether it’s customer retention or an awards program, can help secure that base.”

James also sees digital tools, even reasonably sophisticated ones, can be adapted to the selling season. Many of her clients are getting creative with lightweight apps, some focused on pushing product or promotions or sales. She also recommends refreshing website content as often as possible to be as relevant as possible to the existing product mix. All of this can go beyond simple sales, marketing and communications and become an essential part of the customer experience.

“Retail brands are really trying to focus on value-added communications,” she says. “The brands that can do that are able to stay away from the spam folder. Once in a while, schedule a communication that is really centered around empathy and checking in. You can leverage some of these communications also as a way to solicit feedback. So, by reaching out and saying ‘Hey, we’re with you this holiday season, you’ve got a lot of people to shop for on your list, a lot of things to do. We want to let you know that we’re looking out for you.’ And then the next communication can be more informational.”

James is also a big believer that front-line employees — even in the contact center — will be critical to the customer experience this year. In-store personnel have been holding down much more than the front counter as they deal with customers who aren’t interested in safety protocols. Employees should be incentivized to provide feedback, upsell and cross-sell as the holiday season plays out.

“I think in holiday that’s going to be huge,” she says. “The employee is going to need to almost serve as a very important funnel of feedback, a detective, an innovator all at the same time while focusing on delivering good service and being nice to customers. It’s a heavy load for them this year. And I think not only are brands going to tap into this, I’m saying they need to learn how to make people feel good and reward them for doing all of those things that they’re asking them to do in the busiest time of the year.”