How Wireless Retailers Can Make Customers Feel Heard

In a highly competitive sector like wireless retail, every advantage matters. And while it’s important to focus on price points, omnichannel campaigns, and visual merchandising tactics, the customer experience is the primary driver of success. Wireless retailers who excel at making customers feel heard and understood in the sales experience are able to cultivate the largest number of loyal customers. Bringing the consumer into the conversation — and acting on their feedback — will help set you apart from the competition.

Adjust the culture

First and foremost you must develop a culture that appreciates customer feedback and understands how it operates as constructive criticism. No matter what plans you put in place to solicit feedback, if your sales associates aren’t open to new ideas and harsh complaints, you will never learn from what customers are telling you. Friendliness and helpfulness should be core tenets of your company values. Consider formalizing measures that encourage positive employee-customer dynamics, whether that means bonuses for staff members with impressive sales records, or simply acknowledging strong efforts from your floor staff at company-wide meetings.

Open feedback channels

The easiest way to make sure your customers feel heard is to provide direct channels for them to give candid feedback. Your consumers shouldn’t have to look far to find a way to communicate with your company — you should actively encourage users to send you feedback, and make it easy for them to find forms, phone numbers, managers, and any other channels. Be sure to stress that both positive and negative feedback is welcome. Conducting annual satisfaction surveys with your long-term customers can help signal that you want their continued business and care about their relationship with your company.

Offer a response

Letting customers complain is not the same as making them feel heard. In order to start a conversation, you have to supply a response no matter how mundane the original feedback is. Your responses should be customized and strive to start a dialogue with the customer. You want to make them feel heard, but you also want to understand the true nature of their praise or complaint. For example, if a customer complains about long lines at checkout, you should let them know the specific actions you will take to improve the buyer journey going forward, such as using a portable cell phone store POS to streamline the purchase process.

Segment the feedback

If feedback is going to produce positive changes, it must be broken down by customer type and feedback type. The goal is to spot patterns and trends, but this sort of analysis is impossible to do when feedback is treated as a singular event. Segmenting feedback also helps you respond to the most urgent complaints and queries first. For instance, if you have particularly loyal or lucrative customers send you complaints, respond to them immediately rather than slotting them into a queue.

Change and grow

Customers want to offer feedback, get a response, and have their troubles recognized. But if that is where the process stops, then customers will feel comforted rather than heard. Remember that the reason customers speak up is to improve an experience they want or need to repeat. That is why it’s essential to use feedback to steadily improve what you do. Once you’ve segmented your feedback, it’s worth examining which areas of your business require new investments, extra training, renovated facilities, or revised strategies. New retail technologies and marketing strategies may be required to improve customer service and cement customer loyalty. If customers feel like their wireless retailer is eager to understand and accommodate them, they will return time and time again.

Want to really make customers feel heard? Show you care with add-ons from the wireless industries best vendors. With access to the complete iQmetrix ecosystem, you can ensure customers feel valued and get what they need when they need it. 

Photos: Shutterstock / goodluz, Shutterstock / SFIO CRACHO, Shutterstock / Jacob Lund