You already know that creating great in-location experiences for your customers is a key part of your business strategy. If you need more evidence, consider that 80% of customers believe that the experience a company provides is just as important as its products and services. Research from Square found that during the pandemic, 92% of customers missed shopping in a store and the experience of going out to a location — something they couldn't get shopping online.

Additionally, creating great in-location experiences can make you more recession-proof, as research from McKinsey found that during the financial crisis of 2008, "customer experience leaders saw a shallower downturn, rebounded more rapidly, and achieved three times the total shareholder returns in the long run compared with the market average."

Too often, though, retailers implement what they think customers want, not what customers really want. Take the example of JCPenney, which appointed a new CEO in 2011 to improve sales and customer engagement. However, the CEO didn't turn to JCPenney's target audience and long-time customers to find out what was wrong. He simply changed the entire in-store customer experience: store layout, signage, coupons, how people cashed out, and more. This type of experience was incongruous to the brand people knew and loved, and the strategy didn't work. JCPenney's share price dropped 50% in 2012, and sales fell 28% in just the fourth quarter of 2012 alone, losing the retailer $427 million — and the new CEO was out.

So what do customers believe creates a great experience? A look through five-star reviews on Yelp or other customer review sites can clue you in on what you should be focusing on in your brick-and-mortar location to create memorable experiences that will get your customers to come in and come back.

5 elements that create a great customer experience

Are you focusing on the following five things when creating your in-location experiences for customers?

Atmosphere: Many top reviews talk about what a great atmosphere the restaurant or retailer they went to created. Start by focusing on creating a fun, engaging, and unique atmosphere for your customers that will be unlike every other store. Think about the atmosphere Apple has created in its stores, one of interactivity, learning, and community, or the atmosphere in Starbucks Reserve Roastery locations, with a more high-end, prestigious feel to them. Creating a great atmosphere for your customers might be as simple as keeping your location clean and well stocked, or you might add interactive kiosks and screens, product demonstrations, specialized signage or lighting, or something else that creates an atmosphere not found anywhere else.

Customer service: Another top factor mentioned in five-star reviews is excellent customer service, as great customer service can make a customer for life, and bad customer service can lose a customer forever. Great service is helping a customer find the product they're looking for, and going the extra mile to walk them to the shelf and put the product in their hand. Be sure to put customer service at the forefront of your training, and reiterate the importance of stopping to help customers. Moreover, make sure you're providing your employees with the tools and technology they need to provide great customer service. Pleasant sales associates can only do so much when outdated inventory systems say products are on the shelves when they're really not.

Personalization: Customers want personalization, and 78% say they would be more likely to make purchases with a brand if their offers were targeted to their interests and needs. How can you create personalization in a brick-and-mortar location? Use the camera in self-service kiosks to identify the persona of the customer using it and offer them personalized suggestions. Similarly, many clothing stores are using smart mirrors and AI to make product suggestions to customers based on their appearance. Have customers check in when they enter the store, or send offers and coupons directly to their smartphone when they log onto the in-store wifi.

Having the right product or service: It may not seem like it, but having the right product available for the customer is part of creating a great in-store experience as well. As mentioned above, you want to make sure that you're keeping your technology up to date so that inventory systems mirror what's actually on the shelves. Today's supply chain issues can certainly impact having inventory in stock, so train your staff to have back-up items to suggest in case products aren't there. That way, a customer can still leave with a positive experience.

Providing a frictionless visit: Finally, customers are looking for experiences that are quick, easy, and painless, so put in place systems and tools to give them just that. Have employees available to help, or make sure you offer customers self-service kiosks so they can find what they're looking for. Make personalized offerings easy to access, and streamline your cashing out experience by offering contactless payment or self-checkout options.

Create great experiences today

So you want to build great in-location experiences for your customers?

Start by focusing on these five factors, which will increase the uniqueness of your brick-and-mortar so that customers will feel compelled to shop there and will have such a great experience that they'll want to come back.

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