The VIP code: Embracing personalised services for customer loyalty

Building consumer trust and competitive edge with personalised and curated customer engagement

As the retail tech capabilities of digital-first retailers have accelerated customer expectations, consumers now expect brands to engage with them in a highly personalised way – to make them feel special. This includes relevant product recommendations and broader choices for payment, delivery and return.

Hyper-personalised shopping experiences are not only the secret to making sales, but to effectively cross-sell, upsell and build brand loyalty. In fact, a staggering 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands who recognise, remember, and provide relevant offers and recommendations.

The most advanced customer experiences are being presented by brands in exclusive destinations, such as the UAE, where the luxury ‘VIP treatment’ has become an everyday commodity accessible to everyone. Influenced by global travel and technology, first class experiences are no longer the domain of designer brands, but a universal expectation for all brands to attract, engage, and retain customers.

Central to this, effective store associate engagement has become vital to store reputation. Customers expect the store associate to be proactive in their communication, with the right information to hand while advising.

What personalised services means in 2023

In today’s terms, true personalisation isn’t just targeted advertising – it means being able to share a lookbook via email to customers, allowing them to join the product waitlist on the website or recommending products which are suitable in a video consultation. Or it could be enabling shared baskets which allow a customer to complete their purchase once they’ve left the store, or to choose how they pick up their purchase with BOPIS or BOPAK. All of these scenarios are now table stakes for a high performing brand.

But it’s not just tech that retailers will need to deliver in 2023. Store associates that can effectively hand hold a customer through their browsing and buying experiences are vital to provide these truly personalised services. Despite the availability of self-service features, customers strongly prefer support from human agents. A survey by Capterra revealed that receiving customer support via the phone is the preference for 42% of customers, followed by 39% saying live chat with a human agent via a website or apps such as WhatsApp.

Clienteling, the tech-based retail strategy of providing one-to-one customer support through customers’ purchases, both in-store and online, can enable brands to meet consumers’ changing purchase expectations based on social responsibility, inclusiveness and environmental impact.

The role of clienteling in building customer loyalty

Adopting a clienteling solution as part of an omnichannel strategy allows retailers to empower store associates with the right product and customer information to create better customer experiences as well as boosting their productivity. Red Ant’s OnePoll survey of 1,000 store associates with access to clienteling tools reveals that 63% say the tools have helped them increase sales.

With the harnessing of customer and product data at the core of game-changing retail strategies, brands can share relevant products, support questions around sustainability and other product details, communicate progress of a delivery, and cross- and upsell suitable products through in-app communication. Clienteling can also help optimise the retailer’s stock management and prevent inventory distortion, where under- or overstocking of products can result in loss of profit.

Streamlining conversational commerce with a unified chat screen allows a brand to send messages via each customer’s preferred channel, including video calls, push notification, email, text and WhatsApp. New collections and inspiration boards can be shared through 1-to-1 or group communications, and customers can build wish lists for in-store appointments and virtual consultations. Integrated video consultations allow in-store retailers to connect with customers wherever they are.

Retailers that effectively adopt clienteling can transform their brands and elevate their CX within a short space of time, for long term benefits. This might reap rewards such as a 400% increase on repeat purchases or up to 250% year on year growth.

Using AI for proactive customer engagement

Interactions must be seamless as customers pivot from smartphone to online and chatbot to human advisor. But success is about far more than being reactive. Reaching out to engage customers using dedicated technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics is becoming essential. As a market sector, AI in retail is anticipated to reach $24.1 billion globally by 2028, increasing by a compound annual growth rate of 24.4% - the majority (83%) of leading retail executives surveyed by Research Management Group had “substantial plans” to adopt and leverage AI.

Data rich retailers can use AI to improve search and recommendations for customers, enabling them to find the exact items they want as quickly as possible. It’s the secret to hyper-personalisation, and to support sustainable retail strategies which are snowballing in priority for retail leaders.

Data is the key to personalising customer experiences

Key technology focus areas to drive retail customer engagement should include clienteling and virtual consultations, assisted sales, omnichannel point of sale (PoS), and click and collect/BOPAK (buy online pay at kiosk).

Building more curated purchases will reduce returns and create memorable shopping experiences that turn consumers into powerful brand ambassadors and impact the bottom line. Brands ready to adapt to shifting consumer demands through tech tools and innovation will embrace retail success.

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To find out more about Red Ant and the services they provide to the retail industry, click here.

This article was also published in The Retailer, our quarterly online magazine providing thought-leading insights from BRC experts and Associate Members.

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