CRAVING MORE FACE-TO-FACE EXPERIENCES

The latest retail statistics show a return to bricks and mortar style shopping, and online buying habits are changing.

People are looking for more real engagement and interaction. They are craving more authentic experiences and content. The buzz word is ‘communities’ – this is a group of people who are committed to your outlet. Their endorsement, often via wordof mouth, strengthens your business and in turn builds your business.

People want to be able to talk to an expert, ask questions, get answers on the spot, feel and touch products and so on. In my view, however, the web still plays a powerful role in the following ways:

1. Customers can Google and research price, technical information, find demos etc all online. Quite often they can know as much about your product as you do – sometimes more! They are happy to pay more at an exhibition or physical outlet if you support your product or offer with education, servicing and support.
2. Ongoing communication and education. Online communication allows you to maintain the relationship weekly or monthly with blogs or newsletters to advise them of special activities and involve customers with online education sessions, which are all very powerful.

The following tips may help you take advantage of the changing nature of customer communication and an evolving audience.

• It’s time to think outside the square! Define your objectives, and target your audience and how you want to engage with them. This should be pre-event, at the event and post-event. Also consider the challenge of how to make the event live beyond its timeframe.
• To achieve some of the above from a design perspective, consider story-telling as a critical aspect of your communication where you can target the customer’s experience. In this, you will want to emphasise your discernible differences. By communicating this way, you have meaningful conversations that will lead to customer loyalty.
• A research study conducted over five years by Forrester Research looked at the customer experience. They found that this was the single strongest consideration in consumer loyalty. The report went as far as to say nothing else your business does matters as much as the customer experience. Yes, it’s even more important than price, and while that’s important, it turns out customer experience is an even greater factor in customer retention.
• In another study conducted by Oracle it was found 81% of shoppers will pay more for better customer experience. In fact half of the participants were willing to pay up to 5% more!

 
So what is great customer experience? It’s all about the way your customers perceive your brand and everything your business does. It can be daunting but it’s about looking at the big picture, including how you go about resolving customer complaints. Equally, it’s about consistency across everything you do.
 

So face-to-face is back, it’s stronger than ever and whilst online will always exist, in my view it’s how you use that to support your business and your exhibition presence that has changed. Adapt and adopt new thinking and you will be streets ahead.

See you on the floor.

 
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