Customers interact with brands at multiple stages, be it first awareness before purchase, during the purchase, or after purchase. Each of these interactions is known as the customer touchpoint. Customer acquires positive or negative impressions about the brand at each touchpoint. Retailers must strive to deepen the relationship with customers at every opportunity of interaction to build brand loyalty. The medium of interaction (online, physical, offline) may differ depending on the customer’s choice, and Retailers must ensure that similar impressions are formed at every medium with which the customer interacts. What are the Different Types of Touchpoints that Retail Customers Encounter? The advancement of technology in the retail industry has made shopping simple for customers. Online order is an online sale and involves on-the-spot payment for products from the company. It reduces the need for a customer to visit stores and provides them with ease of shopping. In Pre-purchase online, retailers allow customers to pre-purchase an item online, not to stand in long queues at the time of store pick-up. This also assures the customer of speedy delivery of their purchase. A different type of touchpoint is where customers interact with a brand before they engage in a specific activity of buying or recommending. Then there is a physical store visit where a customer interacts with store personnel. There are also communications of various forms that reach the customer or prospective customer which also creates an impression. These communications may be related to products or related to the ethics or culture of the Brand. All of these are Customer Touchpoints, and each of these touchpoints creates a positive or negative impression on the customer’s mind. What Are the Possible Reasons for Negative Touchpoints? The customer may feel disappointed due to the treatment retailers provide them. Fakes, flaws, poor quality of product/service, shoddy services, delayed delivery, bad customer service, excessive claims on advertising, non-empathetic marketing, stocking issues, product recalls are some of the aspects which create negative impressions in customer’s mind. Most negative perceptions by customers are often the result of lack of experience, intelligence, professionalism, or lack of technical skill at the retailer level. Customers may leave the store/service station/online, and the retailer may never know about it. They could feel cheated or misled by the Brand. The key to achieving an optimal level of customer loyalty is by analysing the root cause of negative perceptions and taking steps to rectify the issue. How Can Retailers Build Brand Loyalty? Retailers can build loyalty in various ways. Customer Loyalty can be achieved through multiple touchpoints, and while the efforts made at each of these touchpoints should be different, they should be consistent. All these touchpoints should be based on an increased satisfaction with the merchandise, good service, variety of products, delivery, communication, brand personality, exclusive products, etc. It should also include a solution to identified Customer Pain Points. There are times when a customer has developed a deep emotional attachment with the brand but has yet to make the purchase. This happens with luxury goods often. Emotional bonds must be not only preserved but enhanced with every aspiring customer for conversion. Retailers can achieve all the above by using an integrated Retail ERP product that operates as a single solution to provide a consistent service experience. Retail ViVA, our Retail ERP, integrates all touchpoints of the customer and serves as a single solution, giving Retailers an absolute chance to provide a consistent brand experience to their customers. Conclusion Marketing is often viewed as an activity that goes in one direction. However, it is a constantly evolving activity. Therefore, retailers need to take a long-term view of customer behaviour to succeed in customer acquisition, loyalty creation, and retention. Every Customer Touchpoint is important and needs to be managed as per brand standards to provide a consistently superior experience through a single solution approach.
