1.Enlighten: Retailers enlighten and inspire customers through innovative and traditional ways. For example, today, many retailers are using email campaigns to directly engage their customers.
Posted by: Donna Tang in Customer Loyalty on Mar 12, 2010
According to a recent report from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, both customers and marketers agree that deeper engagement and personalized contact drives loyalty. Thus, in order to increase customer satisfaction and drive their loyalty, retailers need to ensure they can meet customer expectations at each discrete stage of the customer engagement cycle.
There are five stages in the customer engagement cycle:
1.Enlighten: Retailers enlighten and inspire customers through innovative and traditional ways. For example, today, many retailers are using email campaigns to directly engage their customers.
2.Search and Shop: Customers expect to easily acquire useful information. Today, many customers use online stores as an information source: they search the product and related items and read the reviews of those who have previously purchased the item and then go to the brick and mortar store to make their purchase. Moreover, many online stores provide trend information such as best seller lists to their customers which have proved to be a very successful strategy.
3.Purchase: Customers expect to be able to purchase products anywhere anytime they want. Most retailers have already provided online purchase option as well as traditional in-store purchase options. Both customers and retailers are looking for more options such as emerging mobile purchase options.
4.Pick Up or Deliver: Other than physical-store purchase/pick up and online-store purchase/delivery, there are some emerging trends: according to RISNews, retailers report that 15% to 30% of their online transactions are picked up in stores; some large chain stores have begun to offer “order to store” options at their e-commerce platform.
5.Service and Return: With the development of cross-channel retailing, customers expect to enjoy cross-channel customer service, too. For example, customers expect to return products to physical stores which were bought on e-commerce, and vice versa.</span>