How to make your customers feel good
There’s nothing quite like high street shopping to give you a unique opportunity to connect with your customers. Real world spaces can make customers feel good, not only about the brand, but about themselves.
Our top tips:
Savvy customers
Today’s customers aren’t coming in to absent-mindedly grab their shopping. They can do that online or in a supermarket. If they’re coming to an independent, they want a full sensory experience. They want connection.
If you’re choosing to shop in person, not from your screen, then you’re probably not just looking for a tin of beans. You’re willing to be treated or educated or, ideally, both.
Make your shop welcoming, informative and beautiful. This is the first page in your brand story so make it count.
Allow them to do good
Shoppers want to shop locally and ethically. They often care about environmentally sound products and packaging. They want to know the provenance of what they are buying. They want to support independent businesses. They want you to care about these things too. There are opportunities to have that information loud and clear in your spaces and signage.
Connect
There’s been a seismic change in the way we live and work over the past decade. We are busier than ever, and for many of us the day-to-day no longer involves going into an office and seeing our colleagues face to face.
The work from home revolution is welcome but it has removed the opportunities for people to physically connect with each other. It can also be lonely. Post pandemic, people are especially hungry for connection and quicker to value it.
The local high street can fill a gap here by providing an opportunity, close to home, for people to belong to a community and connect with others.
To do this well, think about the experience your customers get when they enter your shop. How does the welcome, layout, and the signage show them they are welcome and they have found the right place?
See case studies here:
Lishman’s:
My favourite thing to do now is stand in the shop and watch people’s reactions as they come in. Emma Lishman
Herbies Health Store – a staple of the community in Southsea