We are living through an era where pricing is, if not quite transparent, at least far less opaque than it would often have seemed to previous generations. With access to a smartphone, customers on the move can instantly check prices on the items they want to buy. Yet despite this, customers do not buy on price alone. Issues around trust, in particular, always have an effect on purchase decisions. Customers want to buy from retailers and brands that are reliable, efficient and that keep their promises.
This is why issues around customer experience again and again turn out to revolve around a rather dull yet important word – consistency. When customers order from a retailer, they should move from an intuitive website or app through an easy-to-follow checkout process, and be able to choose from delivery and collection options that are appropriate to what they’ve bought. If these customers have to send an email or talk with a customer service advisor, they should get straightforward, polite and prompt answers. When they range across different channels, as customers do, they should not receive any information that does not tally with what they have been told elsewhere.
This all sounds simple, but as we have seen in this Dimension Report, the sheer number of variables here means that ensuring dull consistency is tough. Moreover, it is work that never ends, which constantly needs revisiting as, for example, demographics change and customer expectations similarly change. To stay ahead of competitors, retailers need to recognise this truth and deal with it – consistently.
