How To Make Your Customer In Store Experience Not Suck

In a digital world it would be easy to think that in store experience is becoming less and less important. According to a new study from Accenture titled “Digital disconnect in customer engagement” this isn’t the case. The company’s annual Global Consumer Pulse Research survey, which collates marketing, sales and customer service thoughts from over 20,000 consumers across 33 countries, found that digital is important, but that human interaction is too. That consumer’s buying habits may be predictable online but that they, as humans, are not.

We’ve seen it in action.

What upsets us more, even than screens that are turned off, are screens that don’t think about the viewer or their in store experience at all. Only last week, I was in a popular high street chain buying summerwear while screens all around me portrayed messages of their Autumn Winter 2015 best sellers. Completely irrelevant and slightly annoying, but more importantly - not linked to my current experience at all. Even if the screens were showing the updated collection, why would I need to see it? I’d already made the decision that their clothes were worth shopping.

If a customer’s already in your store, it’s likely your advertising or your storefront display have done their job. The role of your staff and in store digital channels is to bring together an in store experience that’s just as persuasive.

Digital in store signage should reward customers. Give them something more than a digital view of the clothes on the rail in front of them. Here are five ideas on how to do just that and put the needs of your customer first and foremost based on the findings of the report.

1. Products in action

Your products are awesome, of course they are. If they weren’t, your customers wouldn’t be in your store in the first place. You know what would make your customers more likely to buy? Ideas on how to use them when they get them out of the store. Use your screens to showcase how your latest camera has been used by war correspondents to capture moments of human emotion. Display fashion bloggers wearing the latest products in a multitude of ways. This content is interesting and more importantly - it adds value. It makes an investment of the product and who doesn’t love an investment? It’s not just showing the products (that your customers can already see) it’s showing what the products could be and how they could transform the customer's life, if only they reached out and bought them...

2. Customer support

According to Accenture’s report, 73% of consumers will choose a human over digital capability when seeking advice or looking to resolve a service issue or complaint. Instead of using your screens to tell your customers how you have a 95% customer satisfaction rate why not help them to be more satisfied. If your customer service desk on the first floor is closed that day, make it known. Use your digital signage screens as a way to help visitors move past any annoyances and get to checkout faster. Display their position in the queue and the estimated waiting time until they might be served. Display the names of your on-shift staff members so they can call out until they find them. Okay maybe not, but you get my drift. Use ScreenCloud to make this easy with playsuits that can be updated and changed online at any time.

3. Unique opportunities

Even millennials, who are terrified of shopping in the real world, will enter into a brick and mortar store if what they want can’t be purchased online. The study reports that “57% of consumers highly value physical stores as a channel for tailored services they just can’t get online”. Use this to your advantage by promoting the message in store. Make it easy for customers to find the unique products they want. Introduce your team and provide titbits that they wouldn’t get online. Create a countdown in minutes until your coveted products launch. Show how many you have left in stock and in what sizes or colors. Even if your visitor didn’t want your unique product when they entered, you can be sure they’ll want it when they leave.

4. Tailored in store experiences

It’s notoriously more difficult to cater to individual whims in store than online. There’s no tracking information when a customer enters your store (yet) and you don’t know them from Adam. More importantly, tailoring customer service is hard. And shop staff are busy. Yet 65% of consumers agree that in store service is the best channel for tailored experiences. How to pair the two? We believe your digital signage screens are the way to provide tailored in store experiences. This is where the content team need to think about your customers intentions and their circumstances. For example, do they work? Is it hot outside? Are they in a rush? All can create a microscope through which you can share your most relevant content. It’s our mission to help you do this.

5. A connection point

“Customers that engage with companies through a variety of channels drive three times the volume of sales”. That’s pretty meaty when you consider that in store experience is only one channel, but that your digital screens could provide four or five. Use the screens within your store as the anchor through which to connect all of your on and offline touchpoints. This could include social media display boards, up-to-the-minute sales stats and customer testimonials. Putting the wider vibe and message of your brand front and center and letting your customers know that you’re so much more than what they see in front of them.

Contrary to common belief, physical stores aren’t dead and if anything, they are highly valued and serve a unique purpose for consumers consumed by a digital world. What customers want is a unique, helpful experience that mirrors the one they might get online. More importantly, they want their physical and digital experience in store to be joined up, relevant and actually useful. We believe that great digital signage is an important way to get this right.

For more help optimizing your in store experience to be awesome, give our free trial a go