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Halfords Auto driving customer experience with feedback program

August 8, 2012

Halfords Autocentres has hired Empathica to run its new customer experience management program. The platform, which replaces a mystery shopping program, invites customers to provide feedback online through printed cards handed out by staff at Halfords Autocentres and retail stores, and through e-mails sent after they have visited a garage or store. The data is then analyzed by Empathica and fed back to Halfords in the form of focused reports tailored for each garage and store, to identify areas in the customer's experience that need improvement, according to a company press release.

"It's crucial that we understand what customers really think about our service," Rory Carlin, marketing director at Halfords Autocentres, said in the release. "As we continue to develop our brand personality under the Halfords umbrella and align our proposition to match customer needs, the Empathica platform will provide us with vital insights from thousands of our customers to help us make informed decisions. Essentially, it will help us raise the customer service bar by providing the best experience possible and deliver on our Helpful promise every day."

In the eight weeks that Halfords has been running the program, it's already received more than 10,000 responses. The retailer will also soon implement GoRecommend, Empathica's social networking application, which will enable satisfied customers to make personal recommendations of the brand or service to their networks via Facebook, Twitter and email.

Read more about customer experience.