How to improve brick and mortar stores' ux with customer tracking ?
User experience (UX) is the term used to describe how a person feels overall when using a product, system, or service. It comprises the product’s practical, functional, and aesthetic features as well as the user’s views, attitudes, and emotions toward it.
In the 1980s, when businesses started looking more closely at the requirements and preferences of their customers, user experience was legally acknowledged as a discipline in its own right.
User experience has changed as technology has advanced over time. User experience has grown in significance with the advent of the digital age, particularly in the area of information and communication technology.
Whether it’s a website, smartphone app, piece of software, or physical object, user experience is now seen as a crucial design component for any product or service. To increase client loyalty and differentiate themselves from the competition, businesses are aiming to develop unique user experiences.
How can user experience and performance be enhanced by retail tracking?
Monitoring the customer experience
To achieve the desired performance improvement, no aspect of the customer journey should be overlooked. That’s why it’s important to implement an approach that focuses on monitoring and analyzing the customer’s in-store experience.
Monitoring KPIs
In the search for the best user experience for your customers, there are several key performance indicators (KPIs) that can be tracked to evaluate the effectiveness of a physical store:
- Conversion rate or transformation rate: this is the percentage of customers who make a purchase when they visit the store.
- Turnover: this is the total amount of sales made in the store during a given period.
- Time spent in store: This is the average time customers spend in the store.
- Bounce rate: the percentage of customers who leave the store without making a purchase.
- Number of visits: the total number of customers who visit the store during a given period.
- Customer Satisfaction Rate: The percentage of customers who are satisfied with their experience in the store.
- Average Shopping Cart: The average amount of money customers spend in the store.
- Window attractiveness rate: It measures the number of people attracted by the window (an attractive window can encourage prospects to enter and thus cause additional sales).
It is important to monitor these KPIs on a regular basis to evaluate the effectiveness of the store and make the necessary changes to improve the customer experience.
The importance of analyzing the customer journey
In-store customer journey analysis consists in tracking and studying the different stages of a customer’s visit to a physical store. It helps to understand how customers interact with the products and services offered and to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the in-store shopping experience.
Customer journey analysis can help boost a physical store’s revenue in several ways:
- Improving the shopping experience: by understanding customer expectations and needs, a smoother and more enjoyable shopping journey can be designed. This can increase the conversion rate and encourage customers to buy more.
- Optimize product layout: by analyzing the customer’s journey through the store, it is possible to determine where to place products so that they are more visible and easily accessible. This can promote cross-selling by getting customers to buy more products.
- Identify upsell opportunities: By tracking the customer journey, it is possible to identify times when they might be interested in purchasing additional products. This allows you to implement up-selling strategies to increase the average basket.
- Reduction of bounce rates: by analyzing the customer journey, it is possible to identify the friction points that may encourage them to leave the store without buying. This allows you to implement actions to reduce bounce rates and encourage customers to buy.
A/B testing
In order to improve a store’s performance, it is important to test and measure the impact of a change with methods such as A/B testing before making it final.
A/B testing (also called split testing) is a method used to compare two versions of a product or strategy to determine which one performs better. For example, a company might use A/B testing to compare two versions of a website to see which one generates more conversions or two versions of an ad campaign to see which one generates more clicks. To perform A/B testing, a company divides its target audience into two groups, called group A and group B. Group A receives version A of the product or strategy, while group B receives version B. The results of the test are then compared to determine which version is more effective.
In stores, retailers can also use this method to test elements such as store layout, placement of featured products, or sales offers. For example, they can test two different versions of the store layout to see which one encourages customers to buy more products. They can also test different sales offers to see which one will encourage customers to spend more money.
By using A/B testing, retail stores can identify which elements work best and thus improve their performance.
This testing method will also allow for testing on a pilot store to find the optimal solution before rolling it out to the entire store base.
Retail tracking solutions
As discussed in the article “What analysis and counting solutions for retail in 2023 ?“ there are many options to analyze what happens in your store, but you need to find the one that best suits your needs.
If you want to be able to follow the behavior of your customers from the entrance to the exit of your store by being able to trace their journey, it will be important to choose a complete solution allowing you to better understand what are the strong points and the points to be improved of your point of sale.
The most suitable solution for this kind of problem is the video analytics solution like IVSteps.
The IVSteps solution
Our IVSteps product allows you to analyze your customers’ in-store behavior and their journeys in real time.
The data is created by sensors that anonymously analyze shoppers’ paths and behavior.
This allows you to:
- Visualize heat maps, foot traffic and stops;
- Measure the audience, attractiveness and conversion rate of your stores;
- Understand the paths and directions of traffic;
- Highlight malfunctions (waiting at checkout, fitting rooms, etc.).
- Discover the areas of interest, the direction of foot traffic and the fluidity of your points of sale.
Find and compare all the data of your point of sale in a few clicks, directly in your space, on your dashboard on computer or in the mobile application.