Case Study in Disappointed Buyers
This year’s most visible example of disappointed consumer behavior came from retail giant JCPenney, which was, like many other brick-and-mortar retailers, struggling to compromise when it came to the year’s biggest sales weekend. While dropping prices as low as they’ll go attracts buyers on Black Friday, the steep competition from Amazon and online shopping experiences made it hard for the company to offer exactly the same discounts they always have. Case in point: for the first time in many years, JCPenney did not hand out coupons
at the door that could be used in addition to the already lowered prices.
This is something that JCPenney fans have come to expect on Black Friday, and when they weren’t met at the door with these additional sales, many customers were dismayed. They took to social media to complain, and found out there or at the register in stores that not only were there no additional coupons, but any coupons that they did have on them were not viable for that day only. Their social media account tweeted that any unexpired coupons would be back in effect the following day – yet another change to their usual system that left customers wondering why the sudden shift.
Disappointment Stems from Mismanaged Expectations
While a cursory glance at this situation suggests that customers were disappointed at the lack of additional savings, a closer look reveals something even simpler. Most of the complaints on social media mentioned the fact that the customers expected the coupons based on previous years. The problem wasn’t the lack of coupons, after all; it was the fact that JCPenney didn’t meet consumer expectations. With the rapid changes in consumer behavior in the last decade – or even just in the last two years – managing your customers’ expectations can be a minefield. But if you want to avoid a situation like this year’s Black Friday disaster for one giant retailer, this is a must. So here are five tips on how to manage the customer’s expectations for their experience:
Be Totally Transparent
One of the biggest mistakes made in the example above is that customers weren’t aware that their coupons wouldn’t be effective on that date until the day of Black Friday – and often not until they approached a register with coupons in tow. The frantic social media posting revealing this policy on the day of left many customers feeling as though they weren’t being treated honestly – and that’s a big no-no when managing the customer experience. Simply by revealing your company policies in multiple places, and doing it well ahead of any major shopping days, you’ll be creating a more trustworthy environment for your customers.Offer More Solutions
Every customer’s experience is slightly different than any other customer’s, which is why having more than one solution to common problems is a must. Where one customer might find an exchange acceptable, another might be only satisfied by a refund. One thing that great managers do to manage the customer experience is to ensure that front-line employees have several solutions that they can offer in all scenarios. This streamlines the process of satisfying complaints and ensures that everyone has the same expectations for resolutions.
A manager could log into the system with Erply and create a quick promotion if, say, your Brooklyn customers didn’t get the email with the coupon code, or if your store opened late.
Promotions can be automatic or activated manually on the POS, so you can set one up and reserve it for special situations.