Creating the future of retail: 3 ways to transform your customer experience

By Microsoft

20/11/2019

There has never been a more exciting time to be in the retail industry. Shopping is no longer an isolated activity or a special destination. It is now something customers can do from anywhere, at any time, with the help of mobile and digital platforms. But with that evolution comes an increase in customer expectations and the need for an improved customer experience.

91% of customers are more likely to shop with brands that recognise, remember and provide relevant offers and recommendations.

With the help of data-driven intelligence and modern business applications, it’s now easier than ever to create a personalised and differentiated shopping experience for your customers.

This is the future of retail and it is happening today.

Here are three ways you can use technology to get ahead of the competition and transform your customer experience:

1. Manage increasing customer expectations

Customer expectations are rising all the time but it’s not a case of customers just coming up with the expectations by themselves. As more and more brands deliver innovative solutions to improve their customer experience, the bar is raised for everyone.

Data is your secret weapon here. With the help of AI, you’ll be able to easily identify patterns in your customer data to help determine the next best action to drive personalised engagement at scale.

2. Transform your customer service

With the shopping experience now available 24/7, customers expect a quick resolution to any issues that they are facing regardless of the time. With the help of Dynamics 365, virtual agents are now easy to deploy and capable of engaging in personalised conversations with your customers without a single line of code. But to really transform your customer service, you need to learn from the consistent issue that arise and but measures in place to resolve them. A customer satisfaction dashboard, powered by AI, can give you a quick view of overall customer satisfaction and the bot topics that are driving the score. You can even see the hours that you’ve saved through the use of a virtual agent, making it easy to identify the ROI of deployment. An easy sell back into your business.

3. Create a connected customer experience

In retail, success relies on a consistent customer experience across web, mobile and physical storefronts. The challenge for retailers lies in ensuring the same level of service and convenience in physical locations as online – from stocking the same inventory, to offering personalised recommendations based on browsing and buying behaviour. Dynamics 365 Connected Store uses observational data generated as customers move through the store to create employee alerts and actionable insights that can improve store efficiency. Imaging being able to improve the checkout experience by triaging extra cashiers via instant notifications, based on sensor or camera data.

Any organisation—in any industry, from retailers to manufacturers— can effortlessly connect data from every source of interaction and arm employees with a single source of truth within the external business applications they use every day. Technology is making it easier to maximise customer lifetime value by surfacing a 360-degree view of the customer.

Historically, the customer interaction with a brand ended the moment they completed the purchase and walked out the door—limiting an organisation’s understanding of why or how its customers are using its products and services. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights enables you to gain the most comprehensive view of your customers by unifying data across diverse sources—be it transactional, behavioural, or observational data—as well as uniquely enriching profiles with market insights and real-time product usage.

From data analysts to marketing, sales, and service professionals, every employee in an organisation can leverage AI-driven insights. These include churn risk, customer LTV, and recommended next best action, to power business processes across the customer journey that help boost personalisation and build richer relationships.