Leveraging Customer Journey Touchpoints for Better Retail Sales
The customer journey refers to the full lifecycle of a relationship between a business and one of its customers. Rather than focusing on a single transaction or event, the customer journey represents the full duration of a customer-business relationship. This spans every stage, or “touchpoint,” from awareness, to acquisition, to retention, and through—when applicable—a final interaction.
Retailers can use touchpoints to improve results with the help of a customer data and insights strategy. Examples of customer journey touchpoints for retailers include:
- Company websites
- Chatbots
- E-commerce
- Online subscriptions
- Searches
- Voice commerce
- Mobile websites
- Mobile apps
- Social Media
- Emails
- In-store offers
- Sales representatives or associates
- Customer service
- Loyalty programs
- Product launches
Let’s look at them individually to see how they help retailers drive sales performance.
Company Websites
Company websites today are synonymous with traditional business signs. They serve as a sign of credibility for consumers looking to learn, buy, and build lasting relationships with a trusted brand. As such, retailers will see the most benefit from customer-centric websites. These may entail keeping product pages updated, posting a clear commitment to social responsibility, or just a well-thought-out FAQ section.
Not only should a company website anticipate visitors’ needs, but it should guide them to other resources and touchpoints. Social links should be immediately visible, as well as business hours and contact information. Retailers might also consider placing interactive maps to help customers find local stores. Dedicating a place for posting frequent, relevant content can also help to maximize the company website’s potential.
Chatbots
Along with live chat support, chatbots are the frontliners of conversational commerce for retailers. The technology can be integrated with a brand’s website or with messaging apps like Facebook Messenger or WeChat. Chatbots are great for recommending products and services to inquiring customers. They are also useful for product searches, locating physical stores, and taking orders.
E-commerce
E-commerce sites should be optimized for consumer-centricity as much as possible. Most retailers are constantly looking for ways to improve their e-commerce sites, whether that means shaving micro-seconds off load-time, streamlining the checkout process, or updating the web design to be more user-friendly.
Retailers can also incorporate machine-learning recommendations into their e-commerce sites with the right tools. This helps fine-tune the customer journey at a critical, and potentially final, touchpoint.
Online Subscriptions
Online subscriptions continue to attract interest from audience segments with a strong potential for lifetime value. Retailers can take advantage of this by prioritizing customer satisfaction through high-value offerings. Online subscriptions can also be used in conjunction with VIP programs and membership levels to increase retail sales performance. A customer insights strategy [Link to: How to Develop a Customer Insights Strategy and Reduce Enterprise Silos, P: 5/12] is key to maximizing this customer journey touchpoint.
Searches
Searches continue to be a regular feature in the retail customer journey. Retailers can optimize this frequently used touchpoint through search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine advertising (SEA). Both strategies aim to put brand content and paid ads higher up in search engine rankings.
Voice Commerce
Voice commerce is another touchpoint that retailers cannot afford to ignore. Voice assistants like Alexa, Cortana, Siri, and Google Assistant have made their way into millions of homes across the US and around the globe. Statistics show that 45.2 million consumers in the US alone used voice assistants to shop online in 2021, representing a growth rate of 120% from 2018. As part of customer journey orchestration, retailers should consider researching and developing voice commerce capability.
Mobile Websites
All websites, but especially retail sites, should be optimized for mobile browsing. With screens now appearing on watches and IoT appliances, developing an optimized mobile app is a great way to prepare for new modes of connecting with customers.
It’s also a good place to test conversion processes like checkout and contactless payment, which can differentiate brands from the competition in a hyper-digital world.
Mobile Apps
Mobile apps are best used in conjunction with in-store promotional offers and discounts. Geolocation and machine learning-powered recommendations can help level-up mobile apps from average to awesome.
Mobile apps are also great for housing loyalty programs and rewards. They are effective in delivering targeted ads, notifications, and content to consumers anytime, anywhere.
Social Media
Social media has an unparalleled potential to connect brands with customers in fun, creative ways. Retailers can employ social media to host watch parties and digital events, invite shoppers to games and contests, offer promos and discounts, and stay relevant to both loyal customers and prospects.
Retailers can also use audience insights from social media as part of a broader strategy to improve sales performance both online and offline.
Emails
While email may not come to mind as much as other in-vogue touchpoints like social media, voice commerce, or chatbots, it remains a reliable and effective way to reach customers.
Using a data-driven and insights-powered strategy can transform your retail email campaigns. This approach allows even email to be a point of personalization in the customer journey. Emails can deliver targeted ads, special promos and offers, loyalty rewards, company updates, surveys, and follow-up recommendations, among others.
In-store offers
In-store offers can be used in conjunction with other touchpoints, such as mobile apps, e-commerceoffers, and brand website promotions to drive sales performance. Using customer insights and predictive analytics can give digital tactics to increase in-store offers more depth.
For example, retailers can offer popular mobile gaming items or power-ups when customers buy certain items or on a particular day. The promo is informed by customer insights that reveal a particular audience segment as dedicated gamers who also patronize certain products or frequently shop on a given day.
Sales Representatives
Sales teams can increase productivity by using predictive analytics to find the right targets. Customer insights can then guide efforts in engaging high-priority leads. Instead of applying a generic outreach strategy, sales representatives can seize the moment and offer the right message at the right time to the right person.
For example, an auto manufacturer used a customer data platform solution to personalize the customers’ journey, from initial touchpoint to purchase and post-purchase. This shift has triggered a customer-centric transformation at the heart of the company’s operations. See the story here.
Customer Service
A customer data strategy can empower customer service representatives to anticipate clients’ needs and provide a positive experience. A speedily resolved transaction not only benefits customers but also frees up staff from unnecessary delays. Efficient customer service is often instrumental in reducing churn and increasing customer lifetime value as clients see their needs acknowledged and addressed.
Customer insights also help service representatives offer tailored post-purchase assistance and recommendations as part of a shopper’s personalized experience.
Loyalty Programs
Intentionally designed loyalty programs can offer customer insights and provide continuous engagement to loyal clients. Retailers can leverage audience segmentation, Next Best Actions (NBAs), and intelligent recommendations to drive sales performance.
Product Launches
Product launch events can be fun as well as providing powerful touchpoints for retailers. Product launches typically offer “first dibs” to loyal customers, in-store and online promos, tie-ins with social media and email campaigns, and feature in both on-site and online events. Retailers can further use intelligent insights to incentivize customer action and drive sales.
Treasure Data For Retail
A customer data platform (CDP) takes care of all touchpoints in a retail customer journey so the shopper’s experience is consistent, smooth, and insights-driven. Here are some of the benefits a CDP like Treasure Data’s provides retailers:
Centralized Collection and Cross-Touchpoint Data Storage
Treasure Data’s CDP allows you to collect, store, and access all types of data from various sources. Retailers can keep data for as long as they want in a cloud-based data lake. Our clients use our platform to manage their data pipelines at the lowest cost.
End Silos and Optimize Targeting with Unified Data
A Treasure Data CDP resolves customer identities using first-, second-, and third-party sources, along with behavioral data and other information. This enables retailers to simplify mapping their customers’ journey and accurately target specific audience segments.
Data Insights Guide Customer Journey Orchestration
Treasure Data enterprise CDP uses machine learning and AI capabilities to tailor personalized experiences for each shopper based on customer insights. This enables retailers to orchestrate personalized customer journeys at scale.
You can also use Treasure Data CDP to:
- Track and score touchpoints by their possible contributions toward a sale
- Predict customer preferences
- Track inventory to trigger online-to-offline promotions
- Improve campaigns with real-time analytics reports
- Maximize customer lifetime value by reaching customers at the right touchpoint and time
- Personalize product recommendations across customer journey touchpoint examples
Watch this demo video of Treasure Data for Retail:
Treasure Data CDP is easy to set up and instantly connects with a variety of applications and data sources. Our platform is used by Fortune 500 and Global 2000 enterprises to serve their clients at every touchpoint along the customer journey.
To learn how to leverage data and improve your customer experience, consult an expert today. Want to learn more? Request a demo, call +1.866.899.5386, or contact us for more information.
