Customer face-time is the new currency for merchants. Case in point, Amazon is renowned for their laser-focus on knowing their customers. The result is Amazon boasts best online retailer conversion rate of 74%. In contrast, the top 10% of online retailers convert at 11.45%. So why the vast difference, and what lessons can you apply in practical terms in your own retail operation to better compete with all online retailers?
Job #1: Garner the attention of your customers, while respecting their time
Job #1 for every merchant is getting their fair share of face-time from their best customers. The axiom “Time is Money” is more true than ever. Your best customers’ time budget is the most important value to capitalize upon and manage. Many customers are working multiple jobs, 6 days a week. This leaves only very limited time to visit your store. Amazon is dominating customers off-time, given their ability to profile customer needs and fill requirements where they live.
“Retailers will need to consider how to build an engaging experience for existing customers while also building loyalty with any net new customers,” said Brahmajeet Desai, Director of Marketing at Kyvos Insights. “The best way to achieve this is by maximizing the data retailers already have on hand in order to maximize the shopping experience.”
Three Simple Steps to Job #1
The good news is that every merchant CAN compete and meet the Job #1 goal of getting your fair share of your best customers face-time. Here’s three simple steps how:
1) Get their valuable contact information with a genuinely fair exchange. Customers are more protective of their personal data than ever before and complicated points-based loyalty programs simply don’t effectively motivate customers anymore.
2) Motivate repeated, return visits
3) Respect their time with personalization
Your best customer’s rich contact information must be collected. Once you have rich contact info from your best customer reaching out and motivating is now possible. Best customer’s fair share of face-time management is now possible with the right contact information.
Encore Incentive’s Customer Loyalty Accelerator program for Clover merchants offers the permission-based transparency, simplicity, and immediacy that today’s customers are seeking in today’s loyalty programs. In addition, cash incentives have proven to be the highest motivator for positively influencing customer behavior and increasing brand loyalty. For more information, visit our Clover App Overview page.