Digital transformation is at the heart of customer relations. This digital transformation is driven (among other things) by the omnipresence of mobile in the habits of individuals.
Improving the customer experience therefore requires a best mobile presence strategy. It is about responding as best as possible to the consumer through different channels. This one becomes particularly demanding and gains control thanks to his smartphone. Internet users are gaining power through mobile devices because they can obtain information whenever they want, wherever they are. This reduces the asymmetry of information and they can make much more informed choices.
How to implement a digital strategy in store?
# 1: Focus on the contextualization of your marketing messages
Today, a smartphone and its mobile applications are becoming the best internet tools to build their buying journey. We take our mobile everywhere, it knows everything about us and we can't part with it. This extension of ourselves accompanies us in our consumption choices and serves as a real shopping assistant. Nevertheless, the mobile can also prove to be a real spy tool. Companies get to know their consumers thanks to it (geolocation, etc.).
Originally, companies were concerned because they feared that consumers would use their phones extensively to compare products on the web. Currently, they realize that the smartphones used in stores represent rather an opportunity for them. Indeed, stores can thus locate their customers, send them perfectly contextualized and personalized sms and promotional emails.
In this way, companies rely on the contextualization of marketing messages thanks to geolocation (among others). Send, for example, a reduction on the favorite products of an individual already registered in your database and who passes near or in your store. Thanks to this contextualization, you will definitely win sales.
# 2: Establish offline and online contact
Communication revolves around two main elements: online and offline. Both physical and virtual touchpoints have become essential for consumers to make an engaging purchase. This necessarily pushes the company to create a seamless shopping experience. It's up to you to facilitate the journey of individuals by strategically combining technology with your physical point of sale. Offer wifi in-store for mobile users, for example.
Why not create synergies between online and offline channels? Remember to introduce your online buyers to your store and vice versa. For this, always offer a few different offers depending on the distribution channel. For example, place a product on promotion on your e-commerce site and another product at a reduced price in store. In this way, you encourage individuals to visit all of your channels, which already allows you to start building loyalty (and making potential additional sales).
# 3: Tell a story
Start the conversation with your customers. To do this, create a story and tell it. Broadcast your brand universe through your blog, your social networks. State your key success factors. Make known your differences and your particularities.
Telling a story avoids letting the consumer focus only on utilitarian and economic attributes such as “product price”. The quality of the experience is more important than anything here. Instead, highlight the services you offer and know how to make invisible the technological devices used to capture customer data (although you have to be transparent about what is collected, how it will be used, etc.).
Consumers are increasingly going to the store not just to try the product and benefit from the immediacy of obtaining the product. They want something more. They want to be surprised by brands, discover new products, be immersed in an environment which makes them forget their daily life.
In conclusion, consumers are demanding since they feel that they hold more power in the relationship thanks to the free flow of information and the possibility of using a mobile terminal such as the smartphone throughout the course.
