Marketing Expert David Avrin Explains: The Customer Experience

Everyone is always talking about the “customer experience,” but it seems that nobody really explains exactly what it is – or how to create it.

Enter marketing expert David Avrin, who’ll be delivering a keynote at Lightovation on Wednesday, June 19^th at 10 a.m. His presentation, “Customer Experience is Your New Competitive Advantage: What Works, What Doesn’t and Why,” is a hands-on look at what retailers need to be doing online and in their stores to make it happen.

LightSource checked in with Avrin to get a preview of his talk. The author of five books and a well-known speaker in more than 20 countries, he had some revealing insights on the whole subject of customer experience, including the biggest mistakes people make about Millennials, how Uber has impacted retailing and what to do online to get customers to come into your store.

LIGHTSOURCE: David, the customer experience is radically changing these days. What's the single biggest change you see out there at retail, and how should businesses be meeting that challenge?

AVRIN: I think the most significant changes surround the customers’ expectations themselves. The Internet, the iPhone and social media have altered our view of what’s possible and what “should be.” We’ve always wanted what we want when we want it, but today, we’ve come to expect it. Whether it’s shopping at 2 a.m. and buying with one click, or price comparison and next-day delivery, it’s a struggle for retailers to accommodate seemingly unreasonable customer demands.

We used to be compared to the best in our category. For the first time, we are now compared to the best in other industries. Uber lets us track the driver and see their picture. Amazon can deliver next day — and soon — on the same day! Consumers are becoming accustomed to accommodation and endless choices. Retailers need to be cognizant of the shift and more accommodating of special requests and circumstances.

LIGHTSOURCE: What do you think is the biggest misconception about the Millennial generation and their shopping habits?

AVRIN: The two biggest misconceptions about Millennials are one, that they are all the same, with the same preferences, impatience, mindset, etc. The second is that they don’t want to talk to real people, preferring to text or communicate over social media. The truth is they do want to see, touch, talk, discuss, compare, question, etc. The real difference between Millennials and the previous generations is that they’re even more experiential in their orientation. They don’t blindly trust. They have grown up in a time where they didn’t have to imagine lighting in their home, or picture it in their mind. They’re used to seeing mock-ups, virtual reality and virtual walk-throughs of living spaces. For them, this isn’t new — it’s often the only way they’ll feel comfortable moving forward with a purchase. 

LIGHTSOURCE: Independent retailers often don't have the budget and manpower to totally reinvent their stores to meet changing customer needs. What are the one or two top things they should focus on given their limited resources? 

AVRIN: First and foremost, the online experience has to be top-notch. Most people will at least pre-qualify retailers online first. Your online presence has to be better than 80 percent of your competitors to even be in the running for an in-store visit. The good news is that most retailers will convert the vast majority of those who they can get inside their physical location. So, the first challenge is to impress them sufficiently to get them to visit in person. Secondly, you have to make it extraordinarily easy to do to business. Walk your customer’s path. How often do you say “no” or “sorry” to questions or requests? From next-day delivery, to installation, financing, special orders, after hours and more, these are things worth exploring if you want customers to become advocates and rave about you online and to their friends. 

LIGHTSOURCE: How do physical retailers adapt some of the best practices of online sellers into their stores? 

AVRIN: Retailers have to have a different mindset than their online competitors. To be clear, you have to be competitive, but if all things are equal, you will lose. You can never let everything be equal. The advantage retailers have is the engagement. Retailers can display, reconfigure, engage, discuss, converse, accommodate, explore, create and convert. Online retailers can only present and transact. Milk your advantages.