It’s easy to imagine that once a transaction is complete, focus on customer service can fall away.
In an age when consumers are far more retail-savvy and demanding, this is far from the case. Especially as they also have so many ways to share their frustrations and dissatisfaction online!
Do you care about product satisfaction?
Modern consumers expect companies to provide highly individualised service these days, including ‘caring’ whether they’re happy with their purchase.
In fact, research shows that poorly explained returns policies can be substantially off-putting, with 26% of survey respondents citing this as a reason they would avoid a store brand in future.
Customers are more aware of their consumer rights than previous generations
Having someone detail a brand’s policy on exchanges, refunds and other post-sale information is viewed as a central plank in a company’s ‘contractual’ accountability and transparency.
The immediate post-payment relationship
Even those customers who don’t need to bring or send goods back don’t appreciate it when the level of assistance ‘drops off’ as soon as payment is received.
In physical stores, just because the ‘deal is done’ and they’re ready to move away from the card terminal, doesn’t mean they accept being ignored as the assistant focuses their attention to the next customer.
When using online payment services, they also expected some ‘warmth’ in follow up notifications.
The same study mentioned above found that over half of shoppers questioned (54%) felt a basic level of service post-payment was crucial, and 22% saw this as part of the retail ‘contract’. Yet a shocking 34% felt that most retailers simply stop caring about them as soon as transactions are complete!
For bricks and mortar retailers anything that leaves shoppers dissatisfied to this extent is cause for grave concern.
The cost to retailers of relationship breakdown
Attracting and retaining shoppers to physical outlets now hinges on retail experience, and the level of personal and caring assistance provided by visits in-store.
It’s extremely insidious to invest large amounts of marketing spend on attracting new customers when relatively inexpensive tools and techniques can be used to keep existing shoppers loyal – buying more, and more often.
This includes installing POS platforms that streamline and automate transactions, providing sales assistants with more opportunities to engage with customers and provide additional information and support.
The same is equally true of online payment systems that provide plenty of follow up communication and clarity for eCommerce retailing.
In a nutshell, leave the customer smiling, and your future sales potential becomes more assured.
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