Male shopping experiences never really make for a memorable experience and more often than not an experience NOT worth talking about BUT a few weeks ago I did have a memorable shopping experience and I wanted to share it with you.
I am training for a running race in October and to combat the cold I was looking for a jacket. I came across a business called Further, Faster based here in Christchurch. Further, Faster is a New Zealand based supplier of outdoor and mountain gear for humans and dogs and is run by Rocky and Dan. After trawling through their website and reading up about various different jackets I decided the easiest thing to do was to ask them for their advice.
Within minutes of contacting them via their Facebook page I had a response to my question….I was staggered by the friendly response, their product knowledge and their shared enthusiasm for what I was doing. I was so enthused by their response that it motivated me to visit them in store. The next day I was in their store and met both Dan and Rocky who showed me in-person the products they had recommended online. Impressed with the product and their service I purchased a jacket.
What I took away from this experience is that it is very easy to get ‘lost’ in the online shopping world so it is important as a business that you provide your customers with easy ways to get in contact with you i.e. Facebook, Twitter, LiveChat etc. When talking to your customers online make sure you give them the in-store experience i.e. friendly, enthusiastic and personable. From a Marketing perspective, it is also important to mimic your enthusiasm for your brand and products via your online space. Remember this is the first thing that potential customers will see online and it is important to have an engaging online presence to help increase sales. For more tips on increasing sales check out our retail sales training courses.
Kirsten Smaby summed it all up in “Being Human is Good Business” - “In an era when companies see online support as a way to shield themselves from ‘costly’ interactions with their customers, it’s time to consider an entirely different approach: building human-centric customer service through great people and clever technology. So, get to know your customers. Humanize them. Humanize yourself. It’s worth it.”
