Clienteling
The concept of "Clienteling" dates back to the early days of retail, where retail sales associates in a physical store would build personal relationships with their customers to provide tailored shopping experiences that increased sales. This technique was especially popular in luxury retail, where customers have come to expect a high level of personalized service.
Over time, technology-enabled clienteling has become more sophisticated. As tablet computers could hold more data many retail stores would give them to associates to help them keep track of their customers - allowing them to make personalized recommendations that enhanced the shopping experience. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of clienteling software for eCommerce, the features of top clienteling software, how to choose the right software for your business, and how to implement it effectively.
Today, modern clienteling is more important than ever. With new stores going online every day, customers have higher expectations than ever, and brands have more competition than before. By leveraging clienteling software, eCommerce brands can provide a human touch that builds relationships with customers and increases loyalty and sales.
This is why clienteling software has become an essential tool for eCommerce brands in today's digital age. PYMNTS estimates that 59% of shoppers who've had what they consider to be a bad shopping experience will not only abandon the brand, they won't come back.
Forbes Advisor recently posted an article that mentioned a shocking statistic also worth noting here - eCommerce losses from bad customer experiences (which is a very hard number to estimate), could be close to $750B a year globally - and the global eCommerce market is around $4.11T... I know these are big numbers but stick with me for a second…
Let's do the math...If these numbers are accurate then more than 18% of your customers are leaving and not coming back. This tracks with statistics from Help Scout and Zendesk as well. Both companies estimate between 78 - 80% of customers refuse to return to an eCommerce store after one (or more) negative experiences.
The bottom line is that customers now have the power to demand a personalized shopping experience, and brands must be equipped with the right tools to meet those expectations.
Clienteling software offers retailers the ability to provide a personalized shopping experience, but there's only one option that provides a true 1:1 human connection between the customer and the brand…
But we'll get to that second. If you're just getting "up to speed,"
Clienteling software is a tool that allows retailers to provide personalized shopping experiences to their customers through a digital platform. Often called conversational commerce platforms, or concierge commerce, these new tools provide a remote concierge or online personal shopper with the necessary information to create a personalized experience for each customer, increasing customer loyalty, and driving sales.
There are a myriad of benefits to using clienteling solutions and conversational commerce software. Here are just a few:
Clienteling software enables you to understand your customers better by providing insights into their shopping behavior, preferences, and purchase history. This is also one of the benefits of zero-party data collection - which we'll get to in a second.
Personalized service leads to increased customer satisfaction and, ultimately, more sales. This is where I'll start differentiating sales-focused platforms from those that are customer service focused.
You may be asking, "What's the difference between sales and customer service platforms?"
Simple: platforms like Zendesk and Gorgias, use success metrics like ticket closure percentages, open ticket times, etc. to measure the success of the interaction. These are all based on support methodology - "Did the customer get what they wanted?"
Clienteling software by Humankind measures AOV, Repeat Purchase Rates, and LTV (lifetime customer value), which not only measure customer satisfaction but also measure the success of the interaction in terms of ROI (return on investment).
If you think about the customer journey, one of the most important factors is customer satisfaction (CSAT). We’re all trying to achieve an excellent customer satisfaction score, but going about it in different ways. Humankind is focused on creating a personalized shopping experience for customers to drive improved CSAT scores and platforms like Zendesk and Gorgias focus on post-sale conversations to impact CSAT.
Personal interactions mean customized recommendations, happier customers, and more sales…
In other words, Humankind turns customers into lifelong fans and increases overall brand loyalty… which is the next benefit.
When customers feel valued and receive personalized service, they are far more likely to return to the store and become loyal customers. Using clienteling software, like Humankind allows brands to build stronger relationships with their customers, leading to increased loyalty and retention.
Clienteling software provides retailers with valuable customer data that can be used to create more effective marketing strategies and inform business decisions.
Remember when I said I was going to talk about zero-party data? Zero-party data is data that a customer willingly gives to a brand in order to receive a personalized experience. This can be used to create more targeted campaigns, product bundles, and offers, which in turn leads to higher AOV (average order values) and more repeat purchases.
With clienteling software, online personal shoppers and remote concierges can access customer information quickly and easily, increasing their productivity and efficiency.
When it comes to choosing the right clienteling software for your brand, there are a few factors to consider. The one that's rarely talked about is customer "happiness."
Tony Hsieh, the late and truly great founder of Zappos, wrote a phenomenal book on this topic that (IMO) every single eCommerce marketer should read. It's called Delivering Happiness and it essentially outlines the importance of a metric that's the hardest to measure but the most important when it comes to building a successful eCommerce business.
"Customer Happiness" is measured by questions like, "What would blow my customers away?" What would leave them saying, "How the heck did they do that?" Or at least, "...that was the (insert your adjective here) shopping experience I've had."
This is what separates Humankind from every other clienteling solution. We built our platform after studying more than 1,000,000 customer interactions at top brands and coming to the realization that people crave human connection. Our platform was built to give your shoppers a 1:1 connection with a real human who becomes their remote concierge when interacting with your brand.
That's why Humankind's integration makes your customers feel more like they're texting a friend.
To use Humankind as an example:
Once you've chosen the right clienteling software for your retail business, it's important to implement the platform quickly and effectively to get the most out of your investment. Here are some tips for implementing clienteling software in your business:
At Humankind, we like to measure the metrics that drive bottom-line growth, which means tracking CVR, AOV, LTV, Repeat Purchase Rates, and more...
Clienteling software can be a game changer for eCommerce businesses looking to improve their customer experience and increase sales. If you'd like to see how our team can help you implement an effective clienteling strategy with truly scalable human connection, book your demo of Humankind today!
