Three Ways Shopper Intercept Interviews Get the Job Done!

Shopper Intercept Interviews solve all of the projectability problems of focus groups while still offering a customer-centered format that allows an interviewer to ask broad questions with direct follow-up questions that capture the most important and relevant concerns of your customer.

1. Providing Accurate Insights for Brands or Agencies

As you know, Scan Data produces an objective overview of your customers’ purchases, but it doesn’thelp you understand the “whys”: Why this particular product? Why this particular brand? Why this particular time to buy? Or even why did a consumer not purchase a particular item?
Because they are conducted face-to-face with your customers in real-time, Shopper Intercept Interviews allow you do a “deeper dive” that answers all of these questions and more. With Shopper Intercepts you are on the frontlines of your business and are given uncensored front-row access into the mindsof your customers that an on-line panel could never do.

2. Complementing and Improving Your Other Customer Experience Tools

When you want to hear from your customer, Customer Satisfaction programs (e.g., comment cards, online feedback, phone surveys) are an excellent first step, but if you really want to understand the needs of your customers in real-time, these programs simply do not go far enough by themselves.
Shopper Intercepts are an invaluable way to gain direct and immediate insight into your customer shopping experience without the bias of passing time or the limitations of comment cards. Plus, Shopper Intercepts allow you to discover insights that simply cannot be captured by most comment cards, on-line or IVR surveys, or questionnaires.
A Shopper Intercept Interview would collect this additional information and allow you to truly respond to the needs of your customers. When you use only one type of experience tool, such as a comment card, the diagnostic and remedial information you need simply isn’t available. However, by employing a Shopper Intercept Program in addition to your other customer experience tools, you can improve your total understanding of your overall customer experience.

3. Find Immediate Solutions – Even During Time-pressured Situations

Have your sales dropped off unexpectedly? You may have a theory as to what is happening, but how certain are you that your hypothesis is correct? When you can ask your customers directly with a Shopper Intercept Interview, there’s no reason to undertake unnecessary risks because of a faulty assumption, especially when a Shopper Intercept project can be put into the field in little more than a few days

Shopper Intercept Interviews: The Bottom Line
What better way to learn about your customers’ opinions than to ask them immediately during or after their shopping experience , while their opinions are fresh and their experiences are unbiased by passing time? Learn the truth about the perceptions your customers have about your brand. When you better understand the desires and motivations of your customers, you become more effective in serving their needs and, as a result, customer loyalty increases, your return on investment increases, and of course, your sales increase.

Read more on how to leverage the power of Shopper Intercept Insights

Is Apple’s brand successful at Wal-Mart?

Earlier this year, discount retailer Wal-Mart started selling the iPhone. Starting to surface is the discussion on whether or not Apple will expand it’s product line on the retail shelves of Wal-Mart. Considering Apple has established it’s brand as the innovative, upscale brand and Wal-Mart is the biggest discounter, the pairing brings up branding concerns. The first concern is how the match up will effect the Apple brand.

From the beginning, Apple has successful established it’s brand to be unique. Everything from the product’s innovative designs, accessories, and customer service reps, aka Apple Genius, reinforce the Apple brand. Wal-Mart’s brand is known for low price guarantee, something which is not typically associated with Apple. The iPhone’s arrival to
Wal-Mart’s shelves is one of the higher priced items carried by the retailer.

According the AppleInsider, there are rumors of Apple selling it’s lower priced items in Wal-Mart stores. You won’t see the MacBook Pro, but possible newer cheaper items such as the Mac Mini. A part of Apple’s branding is the use of their own retail storefront and the Apple Genius. It will be interesting to see how Wal-Mart’s displays and associates will extend the brand of Apple which is prevalent in their own stores.

Of course, the bigger question is whether or not extending the Apple line with Wal-Mart will hinder the Apple brand. There are ways Apple can ensure their brand is well represented at the retail shelves. Brand strategy measurement tools include:

1) Visual Merchandising Audits: Photos conducted by a third party auditor can provide Apple a visual quality check of POS marketing and product displays.

2) Shopper Intercept Interviews: Intercept interviews are a great way to find out how the consumer views the brand in the retail setting. Apple can find out whether or not sales associates are knowledgeable on product line and helpful in ensuring a positive shopping experience. The interviews can reveal whether the pricing and marketing is effective with the brand’s consumers.

Measuring the consumer attitude and the merchandising would help Apple determine whether or not it’s brand quality is represented on the shelves of any retail storefront.

What do you think about the Apple expanding it’s product line with Wal-Mart? Do you think pairing with a discount retailer hinder’s the brand?

Most Customer Satisfaction Surveys Aren’t Useful.

There is a Harvard Business Review article entitled “The One Number You Need to Grow”. In it, the HBR teases us with the following nugget: “If growth is what you’re after, you won’t learn much from complex measurements of customer satisfaction or retention. You simply need to know what your customers tell their friends about you.”

The article’s author Frederick Reichheld tells the tale of a group of Fortune 500 executives at a customer service symposium swapping stories on what revs their customers’ engines and generates successful consumer loyalty. But CEO’s from high-profile brands like State Farm Insurance, Chick-a-Fil, Vanguard and others really pricked their ears up during a talk from Andy Taylor, the CEO of Enterprise Rent-a-Car, a talk that Reichheld describes as “riveting”.

According to Reichheld, Taylor and his senior team had figured out a way to measure and manage customer loyalty without the complexity of traditional customer surveys.

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What Gets Measured, Gets Done

Good businesses are always measuring progress – - sometimes in the unlikeliest instances. Years ago, retail magnate Marshall Field was walking through the original store that bears his name in Chicago. In doing so, he overheard a clerk arguing with a customer.

He stopped and asked: “What are you doing?”

The clerk answered: “I’m settling a complaint.”

Field shot back: “No, you’re not. Give the lady what she wants.”

Marshall Field, a notorious “floorwalker” at his landmark store, was way ahead of his time. He knew that giving customers “what they want” is the heart and soul of any commercial enterprise. He also knew that the key to boosting both his company brand and his bottom line was by constantly measuring progress, not just as a customer service barometer, although that’s obviously critical to any company’s success.

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