If you run a retail shop, you likely have some form of customer service. This is essential for many reasons.
Many customers might first come across your company’s customer service. If they have a bad experience, it could ruin their thoughts about your brand. If this happens, you could lose a significant base, especially if they tell others to avoid you.
Having excellent retail customer service is crucial because it shows you care about your customers. This in return builds loyalty. Besides this, it shows that you’re respectful toward others, which can build respect for your brand.
Below, you’ll learn more about the importance of retail customer service and four marketing strategies to alter it positively.
4 Strategies to Transform Your Retail Customer Service
1. Look at Virtual Options
When some think of retail customer service, they imagine having to walk into a physical store. But this doesn’t have to be. Instead, there could be a virtual option.
This not only keeps things moving but is often easier for both your employees and customers. Customers can quickly get answers, and your employees can spend more quality time trying to help them.
Apart from helping customers with questions, consider virtual options that customers can do themselves. This is often attractive to those who might prefer a contactless option. You could have a special area where they can check in a product for return or quickly pick up something they ordered.
If you go virtual, make sure that your technology keeps up with the demand. If your site is difficult to load, or it’s not navigable, it can deter customers. You want to make sure that your technology loads well, and it’s easy for customers to understand.
A good way to see if a virtual selection is ideal is to have people test a site demo. They can act as future customers and answer questions about the site. This will give you a better idea of how it works for others and where you might need to improve.
2. Keep Your Staff Trained
Another thing to do is ensure that your employees are knowledgeable about your products and services. There’s nothing worse than them not knowing about things and having a difficult time helping a customer.
Well-trained staff is critical to good customer service. You’ll want to ensure that your employees are open-minded and have plenty of problem-solving skills. Besides this, they need to fully understand your brand’s mission and values. This will help them better express your company’s personality as they help clients. Other crucial skills for them to have are:
- Persuasive speaking skills,
- Patience,
- Positive speaking tone,
- Creativity.
Also make sure that all of your staff, regardless of their position, strive toward good customer service. Everyone should be open to assisting customers, even managers. A happy attitude and good communication will make a world of a difference.
One of the best ways to keep your staff in the know is to have daily or weekly talks. These don’t have to be excessive, but they should reflect the plans for the day and issues that might have come up on the previous one. The more you chat with your staff and listen to their concerns, the more likely you’ll have a strong team.
3. Talk to Your Customers
Apart from your employees, don’t forget to chat with your clients. They are the ones who have to deal with your customer service. This makes their input critical.
You can start by just talking to customers at your customer service center about their experience. You might also ask them to take periodic surveys. These can include questions about what they thought of the help and where things could improve.
Some things to include in a survey are:
- What do you think of our products?
- In what ways could they improve?
- How long have you used the product?
- Do you think our product or service has improved your life in any way?
- How was your customer service experience?
It’s also good to keep customers informed about your customer services when they buy a product. For instance, if they purchase something online, send information about your customer service with a confirmation email. This should include physical locations (if any) and contact information (like email and phone numbers).
Customers often appreciate having this information, whether they use it or not. It shows organization and shows them you want them to be completely satisfied with their experience.
Another small detail to consider is remembering customer names. This is particularly vital if you have a long-term customer. This shows that you recognize their patronage and makes things more personable.
4. Don’t Be Forceful
Some companies make the mistake of trying too hard to get customers. This can turn them away because they feel you’re being too pushy.
Instead, consider unique ways to reach out to your clients. This could be special promotions or discounts for buying a certain product or spending a specific amount. Doing this helps highlight your items without coming across as aggressive.
If you’re not sure where to start, consider doing things like:
- Offering birthday wishes to your customers with special promotions,
- Exclusive discounts,
- Throwing contests.
While these might be a time investment, you’ll find they’ll make a major difference. Customers will appreciate the spotlight and the chance to get unique products and discounts.
Make sure that you’re clear customers can opt out of things if need be. This way, they don’t feel they have to stay with something if they don’t like it. This might make them more open to signing up for email promotions and similar aspects if they know they can opt out.
How Do You Know if Your Customer Service is Ideal?
As you implement these strategies you might be wondering how you can tell if they’re working or not. It will take some time for them to fully kick off, so be patient but observant. See if you notice customers and employees with a more positive attitude. Check if your profits are slowly increasing.
In most cases, you’ll notice more interaction and activity with your business. This is an excellent sign that your revamped customer service is working.
But make sure to keep it up. It’s easy to step back once you see things improving. You should always strive toward doing more and being even better. This keeps you with a good mindset and encourages you to keep things up.
Good retail customer service is a vital element that some companies tend to overlook. With these four strategies though, you can transform it to be an incredible experience.
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