From Intouch Insight.
To remain competitive, convenience store retailers need to actively listen to customers in order to consistently improve customer experience and meet customer expectations.
Gathering feedback from customers can be a challenge, as the more effort it takes to fill out a survey, the less likely customers are to fill them out. To collect more feedback, it’s important to find ways that make it easy for customers to share their wants, needs and experiences.
Here are three strategies for convenience and gas retailers to collect more customer feedback:
Strategy #1: Mobile apps
Adults spend an average of 3 hours and 35 minutes per day on mobile devices. Mobile channels provide an opportunity to collect more feedback from an audience from where they’re already spending their time.
Existing loyalty apps offer a great way for c-stores to capture customer feedback, as surveys can be added directly into the app and feedback can be gathered in real-time. In-app survey could be triggered by a purchase and the collection of loyalty points, or via other specific events that occur as part of a transaction.
Since not every customer is going to use their loyalty app regularly, the email address collected when customers create their account can be used to send surveys directly to their inbox.
Strategy #2: Signage
Promoting surveys on signage is a great way to collect feedback from customers who are not enrolled in the loyalty program or using the app. Having signage both at the gas pump and in the store can help create awareness of the opportunity to provide feedback.
To maximize the impact of signage, it should be consistent with the overall brand. The URL for the survey should be readable from a distance, and it should be short and easy to remember.
Strategy #3: Customer intercept surveys
Conducted by field representatives or auditors, these surveys enable retailers to reach a broad cross-section of their demographic. These surveys are most effective when conducted at a subset of locations based on common criteria, such as geography or sales volume. The important thing is to assess what you’re trying to measure and select sample locations accordingly.
To successfully gather a meaningful amount of responses from an intercept survey, retailers need to consider the convenience of their customers. For example, they could choose locations that have a car wash. The auditor could then wait at the end of the car wash and ask customers if they would like to complete a survey about their experience. Intelligence from these surveys can then be rolled out across all locations to make improvements to customer experience without having to survey all locations.
Putting survey feedback into practice
The more customer feedback that retailers can gather, the more insight they’ll have to help continuously improve the overall customer experience and better deliver the experiences customers are looking for.
Learn about how one of America’s favorite c-stores drives customer experience excellence through store-level execution, presented by Intouch Insight and Rutter’s. Register for the October 25th webinar now.
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