From the Floor
How to Think About Customer Experience
Doug Stephens is the founder of Hamilton , ON-based consultancy Retail Prophet . As a business consultant , retail business columnist for the CBC and other media outlets , bestselling author , and regular speaker at industry events including NAMM U , Stephens has become a go-to “ retail futurist .”
CMT : Why is customer experience such a hot topic in retail today ? Hasn ’ t it always been important ?
Doug Stephens : Well , I would say no , historically customer experience hasn ’ t been as important as it is today . I think if we ’ re honest , the truth of the matter is , as a merchant 30 years ago , really all you needed to do is identify a market that did not have access to a particular product or a particular brand , you needed to set up distribution in that market , and you needed to provide a modicum of product information ( and I say a “ modicum ” because consumers really had no access to information unless it was being fed to them by a retailer or a brand ). Of course , you also needed to provide access to the product and a means of transacting the product .
Well , that was then and let ’ s flashforward to today . As consumers , our biggest problem today is not a lack of access to product , it ’ s the abundance of choice that we have in terms of the direct-to-consumer options that are coming to the market . Amazon sells 500 million different products and consumer information today is at our fingertips . It ’ s entirely likely that the consumer coming into your store today may indeed know more about that Gibson ES-335 than the person who ’ s trying to sell it to them .
So , we live in a very different world and really , when you get right down to it , the only differentiator between one retailer and another is the unique experience that they have designed and are executing to add value to that customer ’ s experience . So , I would say that experience trumps everything today ; it is absolutely paramount .
CMT : So , if a retailer is interested in creating a better or differentiated customer experience , where should they start ?
Stephens : I think one of the greatest obstacles is that as business people , we fall into the mindset that what we do is transact products . That our job , our role , and the purpose of our business is to distribute a product to a market . I think that when we operate on that level , psychologically , it really precludes any sort of significant experience . I think it ’ s the starting point . When my company works with brands , this is where we start — we start with the big idea .
So , of course you sell musical instruments or music lessons ; that is what you trade in and that ’ s how you kind of keep score , right ? But the big idea — what is it that you ’ re really selling ? I would argue that , especially in the music industry , you ’ re selling entertainment . Certainly , you ’ re selling belonging and selling community … Growing up , I wouldn ’ t even want to count the hours that I spent in Cosmo Music as a kid , because , for me , that was like a clubhouse . That ’ s where I had a sense of belonging and that ’ s where I could while away the hours and really enjoy myself . So , we ’ re selling something really powerful . We ’ re selling community , we ’ re selling belonging , we ’ re selling inspiration . And certainly , we ’ re selling entertainment .
The next step is understanding that everything about that experience needs to be deliberate and by design . Again , if we ’ re honest , most businesses just sort of swing the doors open in the morning with a vague idea of the experience that they would like consumers to walk away with . For the most part , things are kind of left to chance . But when we think about great businesses , like a Ritz Carlton Hotel experience or an Apple Store experience , nothing is left to chance . The way we put it to our clients is ; think of it as a theatrical production . If you were putting on a concert or a theatrical production , would you just cast anyone in the roles ? Would you let them improvise and say whatever they feel like ? Would you leave
the set design to chance or make sure that every single element of it made sense ? Then , of course , every scene within the production has to be thought through ; you need to know your motivation . So , if you treat your store like a theatrical production , it ’ s raising the curtain on a production that your customer is walking into and immediately becoming galvanized by that experience .
And finally , the litmus test is if you step back with a fresh pair of eyes and you look at your store environment . Use what we call the “ SUPER Test ,” and super is an acronym that stands for “ surprising , unique , personalized , engaging , and repeatable .” That ’ s what you want that experience to be . So , step back with a fresh pair of eyes and ask yourself , “ Is there anything about my store that is truly surprising — something unlike anything that someone might have experienced before ? Is it unique ? Is it different from my competitors ? Different from the store down the street from me ? Is it personalized ? Am I getting to know customers ? Am I creating ways for customers to engage with us on a more personal level ?” And then finally , “ Is it engaging ? Am I giving people opportunities to touch things , try things , hear things , and be a part of that environment ?” And then , “ Have we practiced this ritual of customer experience to the point where we can execute that customer experience over and over again with a high degree of excellence ?”
CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE 9