Customer experience tips from Retail Eyes
With Christmas trading being more vital than ever for retailers, the customer experience improvement company offers some advice.
Top 5 tips to giving your customers some festive cheer this Christmas
1: Stay calm at all times
The busiest time of year for retailers is Christmas and having to deal with queues and frustrated
customers is not an easy task. Inform staff to deal with aggressive behaviour from shoppers in a polite
manner: stay calm, don’t raise your voice and treat the customer with empathy and understanding.
Generally, Britons are happy to queue up for something they value, and by communicating with them
that their custom is valuable to you, you can make their experience a much more positive one.
2: Always think about the customer
Don’t let the mad Christmas rush take over from good service. An ideal starting point is to make sure
every customer receives a simple warm welcome and a friendly farewell – it will really help attract and
retain shoppers. Good manners cost nothing but a little bit of time, but can make all the difference in
getting customers to return again and again.
Retail Eyes’ research shows that 9 out 10 customers have left an establishment before making an
intended purchase if they get poor service – good manners really can have a direct impact on your
bottom line.
3: Put yourself in their shoes
Christmas shopping can feel like a stampede sometimes. Make sure that all of your most popular and
top selling items are easily visible and accessible in the store. By all means, play the classic
Christmas music to keep staff and customers in the mood, but try to mix it up with more modern music
to stop it becoming monotonous!
4: Don’t forget about the temporary staff
You will be relying on temporary staff to make Christmas run as smoothly as possible. Treat
temporary staff like any other employee and make sure they get all the training they need to ensure
they understand the business and the level of customer care that is expected from them. You should
expect the same standards of work from temporary staff as you would demand from permanent staff.
Temporary workers are equally as important at projecting the image of your business as your regular
employees so make sure they feel involved and valued.
Tip 5: Use customer insight
To maintain or improve the service you deliver, it’s vital to get customer feedback. Only then can you
be confident that you’re meeting customer expectations and operating your business to the best
standards. The experience customers have of your business is as crucial at Christmas as at any other
time of year – just because they’re in a rush, doesn’t mean customer service will go unnoticed!
Do you have any tips you would like to add – leave a comment!
