Harnessing Customer Intelligence

By Paddy Kamen

Gathering intelligence is not just for spies with buttonhole cameras. Any retailer who is not gathering intelligence on his customers is missing a huge opportunity to build customer loyalty.

How You Can Truly Meet Needs and Engender
We’ve all heard the stats on how much more it costs (a LOT) to attract a new customer, versus having a satisfied customer come back. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be marketing your business to draw in new clientele (see the piece on Internet marketing). However, once anyone comes into the store you have a golden opportunity to find out why he/she is there and to begin to form a relationship.

Tim Schmidt, Industry Relations and Education Manager, for Transitions Canada, knows what customers want. Transitions has been gathering its own intelligence and their 2007 survey on ‘Engaged Customers’, (done by Gallop) found that customers don’t want to be ‘sold’ but ‘told’. “They’re looking for value and they want to be educated,” says Schmidt. “The number one thing they want is to feel listened to, and that the store is a place they can do business without being pushed. They want to work with friendly staff and have time to make a decision.”

A good case in point is retail consultant Ilene Klein. The Toronto based retail specialist with SD Retail (Formerly Senn Delaney) recently purchased eyewear. “I went to the optical store with my boyfriend who was buying a pair. I saw something I liked but wasn’t sure I wanted them at first sight and also found them a bit expensive. I actually went in to the store six times before I found them on sale and bought them.”

According to Klein, the retailer missed an opportunity to understand her needs and help her to meet them. “She knew what frame I was interested in but didn’t suggest that there may not be any left next time I came in, or they may be on backorder or that there was a sale coming up.”

Klein, who developed a service skills program for staff and a customer satisfaction program for Holt Renfrew stores, points out that staff may need to be trained to read customer cues for an understanding of how that customer wants to be serviced. For example, many customers will want to be educated about UV rays but any particular person may not want the information right at the moment they are is in the store. ‘Would you like me to tell you about the importance of UV protection, or shall I send you information by email?’ would be an appropriate question.

Be prepared with multiple ways to follow up with your customers, giving them the information they want in the way they wish to receive it. Having a takeaway brochure they can read at their leisure is another option that covers off this important issue. “Always come back to customer cues, listening and understanding their behaviour,” says Klein. “If you ask for the customer’s Rx and use the information in it to recommend three things to think about in choosing frames or lenses, you’ve provided a valuable service that highlights your expertise. The person is more likely to come back because you’ve started to build a relationship of trust.”

Obtaining the all-important customer email address can be very helpful in maintaining communication, but remember that all communication has to be permission-based and that less is usually better. Contacting your customer two or three times a year with information about new frame fashions, lens developments or sales may be appreciated, but one doesn’t want to be perceived as a nuisance by contacting the customer too often.

The Customer Survey
Joan Pajunen is a Blue Mountain, Ontario-based researcher and speaker on retail trends and consumer behaviour, and co-author of The Butterfly Customer, a book that addresses customer loyalty. “One can hire consulting or research from an outside company, but the best way to gather intelligence is to simply ask the customer,” she says. “You need to find out why the customer came to you, what they like and what more they would like. If you want to ask what they don’t like, be my guest but be prepared for the price issue to be raised and then maybe some other things you don’t want to hear — or maybe you do.”
Pajunen suggests having a survey ready and offering customers a significant discount for responding; “After all, they are providing you with valuable information for which you would otherwise have to pay a research agency.
“Ask if there are any other stores or companies to which they are loyal and if they can name them. Ask why. Maybe you will get lucky and they will identify other retailers that have done a better job of identifying and targeting their market than you have and you can learn something from them.”
“Ask why they came to you. If an advertisement brought them in, determine if it was the ad about a sale or was it a lifestyle ad? Maybe it was a window display. If so, what was it about the display that caught their eye? Perhaps it was a referral from someone. If so, who? Your objective is to find out what motivated them and then see if you can (or want to) replicate it.”
“Ask your customers what two things they change to improve the customer experience, if they owned the store. You will probably hear about “the price” but that’s why you ask for two ideas. And if the conversation is going well, you might want to ask if there are any other products/services they think you should be offering.”
An Informal Approach
Kim McEachern is an optician who works at See and Save Optical Boutique in Vancouver B.C. She collects customer intelligence informally. “After introducing myself and helping the customer to feel welcome in the store, I always ask for their prescription. Our clientele are very active people of every age and I tend to ask them lifestyle questions. I build a rapport with them and, if they are willing to leave their name and number, I chart what I learned about them on a Rolodex card and we follow up, usually with a phone call within a month to find out if they have purchased their eyewear yet.”
The information McEachern collects is also used to follow up by calling the client when new frames arrive that are likely to meet their needs. “Our owner, Sue Randhawa, found some flashy frames for small faces at the last Silmo show in Paris and so we called around to the appropriate customers and suggested they may want to come in and see them,” she explains.
The Customer’s Intelligence
One of the great things about engaging a customer in the survey process is that it is an implied way of telling them that you recognize their intelligence and value their opinions.
“The worst thing one can do to an intelligent shopper is to charge forward with the “sales pitch” explaining the features of the product without any consideration for what the customer may be interested in or already know about,” explains Pajunen. “The easiest way to show the customer that you value their intelligence is to put them in control and ask what they would like to discuss.  You can offer information or to have a discussion on a variety of topics such as fashion, product manufacture and quality or product care. Above all, enter the conversation knowing that your customer knows something about you or your product.”
Because today’s customers want to be informed, take advantage of information provided by your suppliers to help with the education process. Kim McEachern finds many of her clients have already researched lens options on the Internet. An interactive demonstration unit from Transitions can show clients how the lenses darken and lighten. Customizable point of sale materials, of various types are available on the Transitions website (www.transitionscom.com). Other manufacturers have point of sale options that can be used to augment your own expertise.
The Opticians Council of Canada (www.licensedopticians.ca) also provides some great information that you’ll want to share with your customers.
Your Intelligence
In addition to knowing the customer’s needs and striving to meet them, both of which are intelligent strategies on the retailer’s part, you’ll want to find little ways to give customers some unexpected value with their purchase. It could be as simple as a high quality folder for their receipt and prescription information, a hand written note mailed to them a week after the purchase thanking them for their visit (and participation in the survey, if applicable), or a fancy bag with their receipt, free cleaning solution, cloths, and a coupon for a discount on a second pair (e.g. sunwear or computer glasses) if purchased within six months.

McEachern points out that eyecare professionals also have to keep learning. “Our customers are very intelligent people and are doing their research. I have to stay on top of the latest product developments just to keep up with them, and hopefully, a step ahead.”

Yes, Optician, the Internet Can be Your Friend
While Internet sales of frames continue to be a challenge, the medium should be seized as the fabulous marketing tool it is — even for a bricks and mortar retailer.

“Everyone I know goes online to find retail locations for all kinds of products,” says Denise Wakeman, an Internet marketing specialist based in Los Angeles. “I tell my clients, if people can’t find you on the Web you don’t exist.”

One of the best ways to build online visibility is to write a blog. “It’s as simple as writing an email,” says Wakeman. A blog is a type of website with regular entries of commentary or news on a particular subject. Something akin to a diary, a blog is easy to establish at several online services, and usually links to the author’s website or other subject-related websites. Wakeman notes that a blog is an important adjunct to having a website and is best used in conjunction with other social media marketing tools.

“Websites are necessary but they are very static and don’t get updated as often as blogs. Continuous updating is essential because search engines look for it. When consumers do a search they tend to chose from the top ten results. New content means better search results. That’s why I refer to the blog as the hub of an Internet marketing strategy.”

Gearing the content of one’s blog to the search needs of potential customers is essential. For example, an optician in Vancouver’s Kitsalano neighbourhood, would want to regularly include the words ‘Vancouver’ ‘Kitsalano’ and ‘eyewear’ in her blog. Words that are planted to help generate search results are known as ‘key words’.

Wakeman suggests updating one’s blog at least three times a week. “Use your blog to sell yourself and your services, to educate the customer, let them know about new products and encourage them to come in and browse.”

Your blog will be interesting to readers if you understand their needs. Here’s where gathering customer intelligence at the store level is key. (See the article in this issue: Harnessing Customer Intelligence.) This way you can begin to develop your database — an essential marketing tool.

By combining key words from your search engine research with the knowledge you have gleaned from your customers and browsers, you will be able to target your blog postings to meet customer information needs, thereby keeping them interested in your business. If customers do want to be educated about healthy vision then you can write short blogs about recent findings in eye health. If fashion motivates them, you can blog about the newest pieces in your collection and how they represent the trends.

“You have to be clear about your target, know their problems and write content that solves those problems,” notes Wakeman. “And remember that your content stays on the Web forever. You may have written something last year that answers a question someone asks tomorrow. A reporter contacted me recently about a blog post I made four years ago. That is the kind of power a blog has.”

Wakeman recommends that every professional have a Facebook fan page because 350 million people are going there every day. “It’s a way to engage more personally with current customers and to attract new ones. Tweeting can also be a useful social marketing tool to drive people to your blog. Once they are there you can make offers that meet their needs. This helps you collect their email address for your database.”

One idea for a Facebook fan page is to ask each customer if you can post a photo of them in their new glasses (using first names only). Offer a discount for this privilege and enter their namea into a draw for a great prize, which you draw every three months. 

It’s not enough, however, to skip the blog and website and just go with Facebook and Twitter. Wakeman says that blogs are more stable, and her first-hand experience proves the point. “My Facebook page was hacked into last summer and I couldn’t get into it. The hackers contacted everyone on my list and told them I was in London and had been robbed and needed money. Fortunately, people contacted me about these emails through Twitter so I knew about it immediately. Another time my Twitter account was suspended for eight hours for no legitimate reason. So one wants to have a range of options and a stable base like a blog to bring people to.”

Wakeman emphasizes that while there may be a learning curve to Internet marketing, it is definitely worthwhile. “In my experience, most people don’t spend enough time marketing and when things slow down they wonder why. It does require persistence and consistence but it definitely yields results.”

Spending at least one hour a day focusing on one’s online marketing strategy should be enough once everything is set up. “Some of the work can be delegated to other people in the office or even outsourced, but the blog should be written in your voice as the proprietor because you want to establish yourself as someone people can trust, and a professional with expertise.”

The more content you create, the more visible you will be and the more people you will attract, says Wakeman. “It depends on your goals. If you want to create a profile that involves public speaking you would clearly need to put in more time, but if your goal is simply to convert people who read your blog into customers then you can put in less time.”

Wakeman points to Dr. Eben Davis, a San Francisco-based chiropractor (www.sfbackpaindoctor.com) as a good example of a health service professional using a blog effectively. “Dr. Davis has told me that 50 percent of his new patients are coming in as a result of reading his blog.”

ECPs should also make sure they are listed on local and national e-commerce and e-information websites. Just Google business directories for your city and country, visit those sites, and if they are credible make sure your business is on them. Wakeman also recommends creating a LinkedIn profile to enhance credibility. “You should have a presence everywhere you can.”

Make sure that email communication with customers is permission-based, and don’t give them information by email that they don’t want. A simple survey should reveal what kind of communication each customer would appreciate (e.g. a twice yearly update on new fashions, versus a twice monthly e-newsletter on eye health). “You find a balance and put a certain kind of information in emails, another in your blog and have conversations on Facebook and LinkedIn. But put deeper content at your site where you can control it,” explains Wakeman.

You can learn more about building an effective blog at: buildabetterblog.com.
Denise Wakeman can be found at: www.denisewakeman.com.