We invited leading figures in the market to analyze the current situation, understand the implications of the new consumer profile post-COVID-19, and demonstrate the importance of Brands' Online Reputation and Consumer Experience for businesses.
Participants in this webinar:
- Monique Campos, Marketing Director of the Madero Group.
- Fernando Brossi, VP of Operations at C&A.
- Eduardo Terra, President of the Brazilian Society of Retail and Consumption and one of the most sought-after professionals when it comes to New Retail in Brazil.
The webinar was led by Santiago Edo, CEO of reviewr, and Lucas Hansel, founder and CEO of Gorila.
Each expert shared their perspective and experience on the importance of Customer Experience Management and Brand Reputation Management in this current situation. They discussed how these two topics are interconnected, and what tips they offer to make these two activities more relevant to your business.
Below you can see the main points covered during the webinar:
What will change in customer relationships after the pandemic?
According to Eduardo Terra, what New Retail advocates, regarding the total digitalization of consumers and retail, which would happen here in the next 2 to 3 years, will happen in 2020.
But he emphasizes that digitalization happens beyond the purchasing channel, beyond e-commerce - which is the main focus of companies at the moment.
He emphasizes that digitalization must also occur in relationships with consumers. And that this digitalization of relationships is already happening, at least on the part of the consumer themselves.
He cites as an example a new behavior among the C class, which is searching for brands on the internet through reviews or through WhatsApp, as these are faster and cheaper ways for consumers to contact the company.
Lucas Hansel adds that with digitalization, consumers now choose the channel through which they want to be served. This increases consumers' expectations of a good experience when contacting companies. This, in turn, increases the level of excellence required of companies, which ultimately poses a significant challenge for them.
What actions has C&A taken during this quarantine period, considering the experience of customers who were used to going to the store?
For Fernando Brossi, it meant investing in greater integration between online operations and the physical store. He also considered how to utilize C&A's entire product assortment and not limit himself to what's in the e-commerce distribution center (DC).
First, for logistical reasons. Using each unit as a DC allows for faster delivery. This move came at a good time, as with the booming e-commerce market, carriers were struggling to meet demand.
Another way to get around the situation was to use the drive-thru system, where the customer makes the purchase online and picks it up in the store without having to get out of the car.
According to Brossi, one of the reasons C&A customers value most when returning to stores is feeling that employees are safe. Customers see this concern in the company—keeping its employees safe—as a way to ensure the store is a safe environment for them, the customers.
"Companies that want to see their customers return need to start by ensuring the safety of their employees." Fernando Brossi.
How can we maintain product quality during delivery and how can we measure this?
“Listening to the customer was essential to ensuring the Madero delivery experience. Monique Campos”
According to Monique, putting together your action plan and defining the necessary adaptations is the beginning, but listening to the client is an essential part of this process, to see how they are accepting the new experience.
By collecting customer feedback, you can make the necessary adjustments to the experience to deliver a service more aligned with their expectations.
Listening to customers is also how Madero measures satisfaction with the experience delivered. This is done through the brand's various channels with its customers: customer service, social media, and online reviews. Monique also emphasizes the importance of having a proactive, not reactive, customer service team.
According to Lucas Hansel, when you resolve a customer's complaint, you have a 70% chance of them doing business with you again.
And that's not all: by resolving this customer's complaint, the LTV (Lifetime Value) increases three times more than that of customers whose complaints were not addressed. This demonstrates that proactively addressing customer feedback truly brings results to the business. This is one of Gorila's success stories with Peixe Urbano.
“Not keeping up with what customers are saying about our brand on social media and in reviews is worse than not having a customer service center.” Eduardo Terra.
According to Terra, customers have already changed the way they contact brands. They no longer call the number we provide on the website.
Customers are interacting with brands through a variety of channels, whether through social media, reviews, or digital channels like WhatsApp. As a brand, we must adapt to this new journey and connect with them through these new channels.
“Reviews are a new way to understand the customer.” Fernando Brossi
According to Brossi, customers call customer service to resolve a problem. This allows customer service to reveal to companies a sampling of the main issues they're facing with their customer experience.
The cool thing about reviews is that you get both feedback on things that need improvement and praise for things that are going well.
However, companies often don't pay attention and ignore the fact that there are things that are going very well and that have a huge benefit that can be maximized.
Reviews have the advantage of showing you what you're doing right and reaffirming your decisions about operations, products, and services.
According to Brossi, we don't know what the customer experience will be like post-COVID-19. But online reviews will help companies adapt more quickly to demand and reality..
And companies that can manage these reviews and react faster will be able to create an experience that's more connected to what customers are looking for.
To what extent can reviews save a brand's reputation?
According to Terra, through the digital journey, companies can manage the customer experience almost in real time—whether through reviews, NPS, or social media. It's almost as if the company has the pulse of the customer to respond to the product, service, or experience delivered.
“The review is our pulse to measure the health of our business.” Eduardo Terra
Terra states that if you don't control the basic indicators, you'll have a heart attack and die. So online reviews save your brand's reputation as you monitor it and act in real time, developing and implementing solutions.
According to Santiago, a review management strategy isn't just about knowing what people are saying about you. It's also about getting more customers to talk about you.
Santiago states that the customer journey begins at the moment of search and having positive reviews at this moment is fundamental in that customer's purchasing decision.
In this way, a review management strategy also works as a customer acquisition strategy.
The more positive reviews you have about your company, the more customers you'll attract. Because your reviews act as social proof—other customers are recommending you. This instills trust in the brand, which impacts the consumer's purchasing decision.
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