The top 5 clienteling strategy mistakes retailers make and how to avoid them

Mistake #1: Creating an inauthentic connection with customers

We all know when someone is being fake. It can make us distance ourselves from them as we tend not to trust them. Store associates must ensure that they don’t just provide great customer service but also create a bond between them and their ‘clients’ to build the relationship required for the overall clienteling strategy to be a huge success.

Mistake #2: Providing a brand experience customers won’t forget (for the wrong reasons)

Shoppers want to feel like a VIP in store – it isn’t enough to simply have broad knowledge of what they may be interested in. Store associates must provide the full brand experience, treating them as valued guests and ensuring their needs are met. Perhaps the most difficult to achieve, it requires brands to strategise what special treatment they can provide in store that makes it stand out from their competitors and will have shoppers talking about it with friends long after they leave.

Mistake #3: Not following up or waiting too long to check in with customers after a purchase 

Clienteling doesn’t just end after a purchase. Even if the store visit was a massive success with multiple sales, the right clienteling strategy includes retailers following up with customers. If store associates noted that the products were bought for a special occasion, they can check in to see how it went. Doing so creates a better connection, can be used to discuss new must-buy products, and encourage shoppers to revisit which makes clienteling a valuable tool in creating a flywheel effect for retailers.

Mistake #4: Ignoring data analytics to measure success

Clienteling means learning a lot about your customers, from their previous purchases to their favourite brands. Having this knowledge at hand but not using it can be a costly mistake for retailers to make. This valuable data allows the opportunity to learn and improve by analysing retail insights - past, present and future, enabling retailers to make intelligent decisions about new guaranteed bestsellers, favoured promotions as well as insights into less coveted lines.

Mistake #5: Not integrating clienteling with other retail software

A retailer that uses clienteling effectively is on the path to success, but adopting a strategy that allows their retail software and systems – existing, new and legacy – to ‘talk’ to one another will optimise it further. For example, suppose store associates are able to determine how much inventory they have in the back room from the same tablet they are using to personalise the experience in store. In that case, the customer experience will be remarkably better than having to leave the customer to find out stock levels elsewhere. Customers can be engaged without interruption and alternative products can be suggested in the discussion if there is little or no stock. This applies to other versions of retail software too. Having them all in one place will streamline the customer experience and provide a smooth transition through the sales funnel from initial browsing to conversion.

Discover Red Ant’s clienteling solutions

Our clienteling solutions are unlike any other. Red Ant’s fully integrated clienteling software equips store associates with all the necessary tools to deliver bespoke customer experiences without any hassle, using data-driven insights. Red Ant delivers clienteling both in-store and online with a retail solution that allows customers to seamlessly check out wherever they are and offers integrated shoppable virtual consultations to allow store associates to cater to every customer’s specific desires and needs.

Take the first step and contact us for a demo today.