Yes, it is true that customer experience is an outcome of various variables. People who can solve the formula can make the right offer, to right target audience, at the right time and place. In near future it will be even more important to solve this formula. People oriented companies will create the experience of tomorrow more successfully.
Shopping experience depends on various details. Marketing world has been asking the same question for ages: “What does my customer want?” Define the potential target audience, attract its attention, raise awareness, communicate with them at the right time and right place; create the right situation to trigger sales, use purchasing process efficiently, create a unique customer experience and observe it; build customer loyalty...
Let’s have a look at the picture from another perspective to create a unique customer experience and question it with 5W1H concept like journalists.
You may know the name of your customers. Yet, it should be considered that all of us have different characteristics and roles. The same person has different characteristics when he is out for shopping as a dad, as a businessman and as a husband. His sports fan characteristic is more dominant when he goes to a store right before a football game. He has a completely different characteristic when he is on a holiday. Basically someone’s shopping experience is dependent on his current mood. In other words, each customer has mood based experiences. While people share their positive shopping experiences with their family and friends, they share the negative ones with everyone they can.
Individuals share their various information with companies depending on their trust relationship with them. Their identity, address, credit card, purchase history information and many more. Like in every trust relationship it is important to keep this shared information confidential, remember it at the right time and use it in the right way in order to make customers feel special.
Physical world meets digital and becomes phygital. On the both sides there are dozens of participants. Customers can use various platforms as a communication tool such as Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. In order to provide a unique customer experience, companies and brands should follow their customers broadly and make their customers feel special.
Shopping experience is a result of different stages. People have various expectations in each main phase namely before purchase, purchase and after purchase. Yet, whichever stage of shopping is customers expects to be understood and served well.
Today it is possible to shop everywhere. You can purchase whatever you want while you are at home, at your office, or while you are wandering around the city or waiting in your car because of the traffic, basically everywhere. What matters for a unique experience is to have an excellent service wherever you are. Customers expect consistency, flexibility and holism. Today more people prefer to have a look at the product in stores and order it on their smart phones. Therefore, omnichannel creates an ideal customer experience.
A purchase decision has various influencers: need, obligation, fun, satisfaction, prestige, opportunity, investment, limited edition. The customer experience is different for each experience. Customers can evaluate the same situation differently depending on whether it is an obligated purchase act or just for fun.