Retailers get real with high-touch service

Source: Dream Beard

Retailers get real with high-touch service

In a session at the Internet Retailer Conference and Expo 2018 in Chicago (IRCE), Ryan Lane, founder of Dream Beard, gave some advice about creating a high-touch customer service experience online that steers clear of automation and social media marketing.   

Mr. Lane described moves the male grooming supplies company has taken since he and his wife founded it in 2012 geared to stress authenticity. The most recent, and perhaps riskiest, was to step away entirely from posting on the company’s 200,000-follower Instagram account for a full six months in favor of developing a podcast. 

“Social media and social marketing had become nothing but noise to the customer and they were beginning to tune out altogether,” said Mr. Lane. “They were just tired of it … a great picture just isn’t enough anymore.”

Within two weeks the company was in the top 200 in iTunes and now have close to a half-million monthly listeners. 

“The only way you are truly going to captivate your audience now is to stop producing noise and start playing a song that cuts through it,” Mr. Lane said.

Retailers get real with high-touch service

Source: Dream Beard

Since its inception, the company has prided itself on its “realness.” Mr. Lane has sent more than a million handwritten notes alongside orders. He also places a premium on live chat customer service.

“If I have to pay someone $15 even $20 to sit there and have real human interactions with people, it’s paid off time and time again,” said Mr. Lane. “For us it’s been a 90 percent conversion rate.”

Mr. Lane was joined on stage by Kelli Durkin, VP of customer service at Chewy. Like Dream Beard, and counter to trends in automation, Chewy places great importance on the humanity of the customer service interaction.

Call center employees are empowered to take creative leaps to make the customer happy. For instance, a customer mentioning needing a pet sitter for their wedding was sent a congratulatory bouquet. And when a customer offhandedly mentioned having a broken keyboard, a customer service agent dusted one off from the office supply closet and sent it.

BrainTrust

"Yes, yes, YES! This article is incredibly inspiring ... bringing authentic care back to the customer service experience."

Laura Davis

Founder, Branded Ground


"...giving employees the autonomy to create is key to a happy workforce, which is infectious to the customers."

Evan Snively

Director of Planning & Loyalty, Moosylvania


"People want to support an authentic brand, one in which the employees are as passionate about their mission as the founder."

Seth Nagle

Senior Marketing Manager, RW3


Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:  Should retailers jettison extraneous social media channels — even popular ones like Instagram — in favor of doing what “cuts through the noise?” Is giving customer service staff the sort of creative autonomy practiced at Chewy the right move for other retailers? What other forms of high-touch service do you recommend?

Poll

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Lyle Bunn (Ph.D. Hon)
Lyle Bunn (Ph.D. Hon)
5 years ago

Some social media profile does cut through the noise and is effective in generating brand profile. Caring and authentic engagement in whatever form it takes delivers the customer experience that distinguishes a brand or retailer, and generates tremendous loyalty.

Bob Phibbs
Trusted Member
5 years ago

Great story! I think if the message is authentic and you talk about what customers want, whatever medium does it the best you should do more of. The whole notion that putting pictures on Instagram lead to amazing sales has not proven out, like being more human. High-touch service is making the person in your store or on the phone feel for those few minutes that they are the most important person in the world. Without that, you’re just a hack trying to make money on someone’s products.

Dave Nixon
5 years ago

This isn’t a “one size fits all” decision. I do wholeheartedly agree that retailers should prioritize where they focus, but stop trying to do everything for everybody. The channels you invest in, as well as the high touch tactics you employ, should be driven by the deep understanding of your shopper and customer (and their behaviors and preferences), and then apply the most effective high touch tactics for attracting and retaining THOSE people and jettison or de-prioritize the other methods. Be sharp. Be focused. Be relevant.

Phil Masiello
Member
5 years ago

If a retailer, whether brick and mortar or e-commerce, understands their customer, then they will know the proper channels to engage with that customer.

There is no “one size fits all” model. You have to understand who your customer is and where your customer is. Some brands work very well on Instagram and Facebook, others work well on Pinterest. Many brands don’t work on social media at all. And you always want to find your niche to break through the clutter.

I can see a podcast working for a company like Dream Beard. Men’s grooming is a big subject. If the podcast is done correctly, there are many different directions to take the discussions. But a podcast would not work for every brand.

A retailer should always understand who their customer is and where they are so they can best engage with them. That will break through the clutter and form a relationship.

Bob Amster
Trusted Member
5 years ago

Anything that reduces the amount of noise to which customers and retailers are exposed is a plus. The industry may have gotten too enthused with “touch, touch, touch” and will undoubtedly retrench to provide only what is “comfortable” and “acceptable” to consumers. I have yet to find a substitute for the human connection.

Charles Dimov
Member
5 years ago

My engineer & technical marketing side says YES. But, to jettison other channels means you are ultimately cutting out a customer group. It’s a balancing act. Retailers need to run tests, and try interrupting an “extraneous” channel to gauge the impact. Then make your choices.

If it is a choice of one less channel vs giving staff creative autonomy to create personalized experiences, gravitate toward the latter. Personalization works. Driving brand intimacy helps retailers. High touch plays into both.

Laura Davis-Taylor
Member
5 years ago

Yes, yes, YES! This article is incredibly inspiring, and it also validates something we have been preaching over and over again — which is bringing authentic care back to the customer service experience. We are all so darned weary of the automated processes and scripts we must endure to engage with brands. Why is it is now so hard to just call a number, get a human voice and have that human act like a human? Oh yes, because it saves money to make it a process versus a positive personal touch.

I believe that social media is a necessary channel, and it must exist and be done well for those that wish to be there with you. However, preaching and teaching real people to act with emotional intelligence and conscious problem solving — and giving them the tools and runway to do it — is a huge, huge opportunity for customer loyalty and retention. It may not work for budget brands, but it’s an ace in the hole for those whose customers expect it. It’s not rocket science and Mr. Lane nailed it when he advised “start playing a song that cuts through.”

Gene Detroyer
Noble Member
Reply to  Laura Davis-Taylor
5 years ago

Do you ever get the feeling that the last thing the retailer wants you to do is talk to someone?

Bob Amster
Trusted Member
Reply to  Gene Detroyer
5 years ago

And that is not only true of retailers. There are many businesses that do the utmost to keep you from talking to someone by navigating you through a cavernous labyrinth of menus that end up in a dead end.

Gene Detroyer
Noble Member
Reply to  Bob Amster
5 years ago

Absolutely!

Adrian Weidmann
Member
5 years ago

This is a great example of knowing your customer and being true to your brand. We live in a nanosecond world where people use emojis to communicate. Reading anything longer than one sentence seems to be a stretch. Listening to audio seems to be a worthwhile communication medium. If your product and service along with your prospective audience are in-synch, an audio podcast is a great alternative — at least until this medium becomes saturated. Now I have to go listen to the Dream Beard podcast….

Camille P. Schuster, PhD.
Member
5 years ago

Focusing on the customer is key in both examples today. Hand written notes are out of the ordinary today so that works well. Sending a bouquet in response to a post about a wedding demonstrates listening by the company. The key is to actually treat customers like real people. Sending hand written notes is expensive as is having employees actually read and listen to consumers, but consumers appear to respond to personal acknowledgement. Go figure.

Ian Percy
Member
5 years ago

Originally one of my books was to be titled “The Most Difficult Question in the Universe.” I asked grade school kids what they thought that question was. My favorite was “Who are you and what do you want?”

Seems to be we’re consumed by all the media tools, we assume that what made someone else successful will make us successful and we’ve forgotten how to be real, to have relevant and honest conversations with our customers, to communicate heart to heart and mind to mind. My colleagues are right — as a lot we’re generating noise for the most part. A return to integrity seems to be an obvious first step … followed by choosing the best medium to communicate that integrity. Marshall McLuhan is still right, the medium is the message.

Scott Norris
Active Member
Reply to  Ian Percy
5 years ago

Bit of a Babylon 5 reference there, too!

Kai Clarke
Kai Clarke
Active Member
5 years ago

Sharing interactions with the customer on a personal scale is called customer service. We have forgotten that customer service means proactively reaching out, growing, and anticipating a customer’s needs, lifestyle and concerns. This doesn’t have to link with the product we are selling or making, but may instead require a few extra moments to listen to the customer. Proactively sharing solutions or products with the customer may include more time, more resources, or even a solution beyond a traditional customer service one. We consider this great customer service. The customer might call this personalized service part of a great company that will have a great customer for life.

Evan Snively
Member
5 years ago

Giving CS agents the freedom to create memorable moments like sending flowers for a wedding or a gift basket for a newborn is a really great practice that not only provides value for the consumers on the receiving end of the surprise gesture, but it also creates a more fulfilling experience for the employees themselves. You can tell pretty quickly whether someone one the phone is in a good mood or a bad mood — giving employees the autonomy to create is key to a happy workforce, which is infectious to the customers.

Jeff Sward
Noble Member
5 years ago

Honest, genuine, real, transparent, authentic. Bonobos, Warby Parker, Everlane, Honest Co. Yep … customers very definitely recognize the difference between songs and noise.

Ralph Jacobson
Member
5 years ago

With all the greatest technology available today, the one last, great differentiator is still the human touch. Plain and simple. Keep it that way at your organization if you want to thrive.

Kenneth Leung
Active Member
5 years ago

Nice story. Think social media can be used to amplify authentic customer experiences, so I won’t discount that. In the hospitality business, stories of positive service are propagated by the customers and drives real business growth. The key is to hire the right staff and enable/compensate them to drive the high touch experiences. If you view staff as a cost to be cut and optimized constantly, it makes it very difficult to deliver high touch experiences.

Lee Kent
Lee Kent
Member
5 years ago

Too much in any media can become noise and that is why it is important for retailers to watch and learn from their customers. Being authentic is key and just popping images over and over can lose its authenticity very quickly. I have been surprised at the revival of the podcast, however, when done right it obviously scores. And that’s my 2 cents.

Ryan Mathews
Trusted Member
5 years ago

Retailers should develop a differentiated message and find the optimal ways to broadcast it. For some that may mean moving away from Instagram — or whatever. For others it may mean moving toward Instagram, et. al. One could argue that in an era where there are Ted Talks on how to fill a gas tank with tap water, and every other topic under the sun and where YouTube provides videos on how to scale Everest and build a nuclear submarine in your basement, the era of podcast efficacy is also over. As to the Chewy model, it depends entirely on the brand, the staff, the target customer and the vehicle. Sadly, there are no magic wands for effective communication.

Seth Nagle
5 years ago

People want to support an authentic brand, one in which the employees are as passionate about their mission as the founder. If brands put lackluster items and half thought out experiences in the marketplace then their just creating more noise, something the shopper is trying to avoid.

Ken Morris
Trusted Member
5 years ago

Scrapping social media efforts in favor of high-touch customer experience and marketing efforts is not advised. A combination approach is highly recommended as consumers’ preference for information and services varies widely and retailers need to offer a broad set of communications and services that appeal to the individual preferences of different customer segments.

High-touch is a great way for traditional retailers to leverage their in-store and call center staff to FaceTime with their customers and provide that concierge service that will win customers and influence the masses. High-touch brick and mortar retail requires the greater network bandwidth and infrastructure, but it is well worth the investment.

It is always great to see innovative and authentic customer experience approaches and Dream Beard is another fantastic example for other retailers to learn from and emulate. Giving customer service staff the authority to do what it takes to make customers happy is a smart strategy, as we have all been frustrated by experiences where a customer service rep says “I don’t have the authority to do that, I would need to get approval from a supervisor.”

Personalization has been a hot topic and top priority for many retailers and customer expectations are elevating the bar. Stitch Fix and other subscription-based retailers are doing a phenomenal job of curating personalized product assortments and recommendations based on individual consumer preferences and purchase history. Another creative approach is using video chat for consumers to speak with and see the sales associate to discuss their interests and see recommendations from the comfort of their home. It is like having their own personal stylist/shopper.

Personalization is the best way for retailers to compete with Amazon and it is always interesting to see retailers’ latest creative approaches to personalization.

Ray Riley
Member
5 years ago

Really enjoyed this read. The old tricks don’t work anymore, and so many authentic brands are realizing what actual personalization means. It’s not a social media campaign. There will always be a degree of humanity involved in personalization efforts, and retailers need to empower their front-line teams (that cost 10-20% of revenue) to behave and perform in ways that builds marketshare and advocacy.

The scalable, “painting with a broad brush” approach to sales and service in physical retail hasn’t worked for years, and has been exposed by simple, virtual zero-click ordering. Cutting through the noise is exactly what is required.

John McIndoe
John McIndoe
5 years ago

The focus of any promotion should be to cut through the noise. If retailers know their customers’ needs and preferences, that will guide what levers they pull, what messages they send, how frequently they send them, and through which media. Instagram will be a strong medium for some retailers and consumers, and less so for others. That same intimate knowledge of customers will guide the level of “touch;” i.e., one customer’s “high touch” might be another customer’s “too much.” Similarly, if a retailer invests in and educates their customer support team, and has created a work environment based on trust, then the retailer should encourage them to engage with customers.