Welcome, 2019! As the future seems to race toward us, businesses race toward the digitalization of the customer experience. We witness the digitalization of everything including education, socialization and shopping. Savvy store owners employ a customer experience management strategy that seamlessly integrates the consumer experience at every touch point, online and in-store. They connect with the customer pre-sale, sale and post-sale to drive digitally connected customers to visit their store, converting them to loyal followers. Online testimonials are the new word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing. It is a highly effective form of advertising, but now the word reaches a broader audience and lives in cyberspace forever. According to New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author Hephyken, “Testimonial and influencer marketing are so powerful because they allow people to talk about how great a brand is, and that’s a lot more trustworthy than what a brand says itself.”
A study by the Deloitte group on the relationship between clicks and bricks retail found that online activity influences 38 percent of retail sales in brick-and-mortar stores, and consumers who use a device during their shopping search activity are 40 percent more likely to convert to a sale.
Adding digital retail interactive technologies can change a mundane in-store transaction into an engaging, interactive and memorable experience. After all, the tipping point that converts a shopper into a loyal follower of the brand/business is the experience. Using digital-tech-appeal taps into two experiences that the connected consumer wants: engagement and connectedness.
Tablet-based apps are available that provide digitalized teaching opportunity, lens simulation and demonstration, virtual assistant frame selection and precision measurement. Important note: Without precise measurements and advanced position of wear measurements (vertex, panto and wrap angle), up to 30 percent of the technologically advanced features of digital lens design can be lost. Use tech to sell tech. The customer will appreciate the digital-tech-appeal, but they will also understand the value of their eyewear choices and the reasons that the lens technology provides more benefits and costs more.
Reportedly, consumer spending, capture and retention rates all rise, and more shoppers become loyal followers of a brand when companies deliver an experience that sets it apart. Use digital-tech-appeal to stand out from the crowd.
• Deborah Kotob
[email protected]
2020mag.com/education
