New tools, creative solutions, and showing customers that you care will address their needs and forge stronger relationships for the ‘new normal’.
In the blink of an eye, Covid-19 has changed everything. Lives around the world have been impacted, and livelihoods have suffered. For the retail industry, it has forced retailers to rethink what customer care is. Instead of catering to their wants, there has been a drastic shift in focus to determine what they need.
Over the past few months, millions of workers were furloughed, and a vast majority have been living in isolation, so a key indicator of the new customer experience will be how companies deliver a quality service that not only meets their needs, but does so with empathy and concern.
The key will be monitoring the shifts in consumer behaviour that result from the pandemic. Leaders must be innovative in order to create shopping journeys that suit a post-Covid-19 world.
It is Retail Darwinism in action. Retailers must adapt to the changing requirements of the consumer or risk extinction.
Focus on the Customer
For a B2C (business-to-consumer) company, the most important stakeholder right now is a person who has experienced the isolation of lockdown and is craving connection. They need a new customer experience.
Instead of concentrating efforts on the quickest way to grab a share of the market, a company’s most pressing concern should be trying to support their customers in a meaningful way.
Before the Coronavirus crisis, research carried out by PWC found that 59% of consumers felt that businesses had lost touch with the human element of customer experience, and 75% preferred interaction with another person rather than with a machine. If those same people were asked the same questions today, it is likely that those percentages would be even higher.
The companies who will have an advantage won’t be the ones with the cheapest prices or the fancy marketing campaign; it will be the ones who display emotional intelligence, communicate with care, and build relationships based on trust. This will form deep connections today that will last far into the future.
"All great changes are preceded by chaos"
- Deepak Chopra, author
Make Digital More Human
Businesses encounter customers via several channels: face-to-face, mail, phone, and digital. Before the pandemic, companies prioritised efficiency and therefore preferred digital interactions, i.e. online sales.
In this new world, that is not enough. It’s not just about simplicity and efficiency. Companies must be more human across their virtual channels because consumers are now unable to engage in the ways they were able to previously.
Here’s an example: a customer rings a call centre and is given the option to engage via a video call with a service assistant who is working from home. Actions like this will reinforce the message that we are all human, and we are all in this together.
Developing more human ways to engage with customers will forge substantial relationships that are built on a foundation of loyalty and trust. If companies can prove that they are doing everything to protect and serve customers, while connecting to them on an emotional level, it will put them in good stead for the future.
Strong Relationships for a Bright Future
To say that 2020 has been tough is an understatement. But undergoing trials and tribulations enables us to become more deeply connected when we’ve suffered together. If companies and consumers tackle the challenges together while supporting each other, over the long term the bonds between them will strengthen.
The Coronavirus pandemic has shown how all of us – businesses, brands, employees, and customers – have the power to adapt to major, life-altering events, and work together to create a better world, one where we collaborate and put people first.
"People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic."
- Seth Godin, entrepreneur and author
RMS is the country’s leading provider of retail services. Like many other businesses, we’ve had to adapt to a post-Covid-19 world; you can see our complete list of services here.
