Article

Benchmark in-store experiences to define, measure and boost results

Customer experience programs established in the first quarter can pay dividends year round.

January 30, 2010

This commentary comes to us from Brendan Sullivan, Vice President of Retail Services for VF Corporation, a global leader in lifestyle apparel with a diverse portfolio of jeanswear, outdoor, imagewear, sportswear and contemporary apparel brands. Its principal brands include Wrangler, Lee, Riders, The North Face, Vans, Reef, Eagle Creek, Eastpak, JanSport, Napapijri, Nautica, Kipling, John Varvatos, 7 For All Mankind, lucy, Splendid, Ella Moss, Majestic and Red Kap.

The New Year provides retailers with the perfect time to evaluate customer service so that they can benchmark where they stand and set a path for future growth and improvement.

If your stores didn’t measure up during the holiday season, now is the time to find out why. And if locations did hit it big with customers, then managers and associates at all levels need to understand why so they can share their successful methods for others to repeat.

Most retailers say they want to be best-in-class when it comes to customer service. Have you ever heard anyone say they don’t care about customers or their experiences? However, there are recent indications that retail customer service is not at as high of a level as one would expect. The Retail Service Quality Index (RSQI) by the SALT & Pepper Group found that 2009 produced a mediocre score of 48.2. Factors dragging the index down include retail associates' greeting skills, failure to recognize when shoppers need assistance and a lack of leadership presence on the sales floor. The index measures 39 separate service opportunities in retail settings, presents benchmark data on a scale from 0 to 100 and is based on studies carried out at 73 retail outlets in six states.

As consumers continue to tighten purse strings and watch their spending, the results of the index reinforce the idea that customer service is more paramount in today’s climate. You want to be sure that when your customers are spending money, your brand is top of mind.

Prices always will fluctuate. However, trust – built upon a reliable and repeatable customer experience – should be rock-solid during any economic climate. Delivering outstanding customer service deepens relationships and shows consumers why you stand out from the competition.

Whether formally or informally, most retailers collect some sort of data and research on their customers. Where many businesses fall short is successfully analyzing the data and then translating the findings throughout the company hierarchy, especially to the frontline associates who interact with customers daily. Some retailers also miss opportunities to collaborate with their customers on formulating the store’s or brand’s best customer experience, namely, because the retailer doesn’t ask.

Establishing benchmarks to measure

While retailers often cite customer service as a top priority, are they actually capturing interactions and measuring the data? At the very start of a customer-relations initiative, defining a consistent customer experience is a must.

For example, a retailer may decide that the standard for customer experience consists of a greeting, suggestion of additional items to purchase and a thank you to each consumer. While this may be an adequate strategy, not many retailers interview customers to find out if it matches their expectations. Shoppers may reveal that what’s really important to them is that they receive assistance at specific points during the visit – for example, at the fitting room, but not while they’re browsing throughout each department. Further, once at the register, they may want seamless efficiency at checkout so that they can be out of the store quickly.

This type of deep knowledge surfaces only during research that takes place throughout all stages of the customer experience – seeking feedback before, during and after a transaction. The knowledge gained from these interactions helps the consumer and retailer jointly chart a course for proper customer service, yet many retailers don’t conduct this kind of valuable research. So how do you put a research program in place? A few helpful guidelines can get you started:

Incentives Work:It is appropriate and necessary to include incentives for participating in research. An incentive could be a coupon that can be used in the store – something that’s above and beyond what’s available to the general public.

Solicit Loyal Consumers:When deciding who should participate in your survey, consult existing data to ensure you are soliciting opinions from truly loyal brand customers and those top segments that spend money in the store. Many retailers know that the top 10-20 percent of their shoppers account for a significant portion of overall revenue, so insights from this segment provide relevant points when benchmarking for customer service.

Gather Internal Insights: To capture starting measurements, a solid technique is to use multiunit managers, store managers or corporate managers to gather on-the-ground insights. For instance, during their store visits, district managers can make it a part of their regular checklist to observe customer behavior and interaction with associates. Or, store managers could visit each other’s stores and conduct a peer review. Finally, the corporate office could conduct surveys of associates’ knowledge of the brand’s customer experience, with rewards given for correct answers.

Use Third Parties: Internal examinations should be complemented by external observations, like those conducted by third parties who perform “mystery shops,” providing feedback and observations on the overall store and brand experience.

The key in combining both an internal and external perspective of a store’s customer service performance is that the two provide a check and balance of sorts; if a retailer uses only one form, it may receive misleading or inaccurate data. For instance, if only customers are polled, they may know store associates quite well and might be reluctant to provide candid assessments. Further, they may represent only a narrow segment of the customer population.

If only corporate or store managers form the basis of the research, genuine interaction is missing. From their customers, retailers can gain valuable insights, like trends in key categories and preferences for the placement of merchandise within a store. The most valid data comes from a holistic view of customer service.

Scoring, communicating results

Once interactions have been reviewed, retailers should consider taking a scorecard approach to explaining the findings. The scores should be aligned against the desired customer experience so that associates can plainly see what attributes advance the brand and enhance its reputation, and what behaviors detract or hinder customer service.

Some third parties use sophisticated tools that allow managers to review real-time customer feedback or even listen to verbal comments. Whatever feedback is captured should be open to everyone in the retail operation so that the learning touches all segments of the business. It’s the best way customer-service measurement can be demonstrated to store managers and associates alike.

The start of the first quarter is an ideal time to begin this process, because it can pay dividends throughout the year, including the next holiday season. Establishing, observing and scoring internal benchmarks does not have to require a significant investment. All it takes is a change in approach and priority. Perhaps it becomes part of an employee review process, where someone not only is scored in key performance indicators like sales growth but also on customer-service scores.

The current economic climate provides an opportunity to stand out from your competitors and enhancing customer service can be that important differentiator. Retailers, their managers and associates should never lose sight of interacting with, surprising and delighting customers – now or in the future.

Photo by Elsie esq.