During the past decade the industry of online influencers has boomed! From bloggers chatting on YouTube to TikTok stars, influencers are becoming house-hold names across the world.
Retail advertising used to be solely monopolised by trained or trainee actors and models, placed on studio sets with extra-large budgets. This is not the case anymore, with many independent product promoters ‘influencers’ becoming arising stars through social media. These avid trendsetters create video content from the comfort of their own homes or by using desirable outdoor locations within attractive photographic settings. Central to this, they create their own advertising stories to promote a variety of goods.
Whilst to many, it may seem all very glamourous through the Instagram lens, in reality an influencer can afford to be choosy about what they promote and where, including what they say about the goods. Some of the most successful influencers have enormous followings and a substantial audience to please. This means that influencers can be ruthless and will scrutinise every element of your product and their customer journey, so its thoroughly important as a business, that you get the process from manufacturing to customer delivery, right!
The best approach is to think about the whole package through the eyes of an influencer. Ask the question that if they were to buy from you, what would you want them to say and inevitably what negative things might they say? By addressing this you can build a better process to form positive reviews.
Looking at your business through the eyes of an influencer
Assess the product and journey by questioning the following:
- Is it a good quality product?
- Is the product stylish?
- Does it provide value for money?
- Is the product as accurate as possible to the website colour and description?
- How easy is it to order through your retail website or shopping platform?
- Is the shopping cart secure in terms of taking contact details and payment information?
- What does the order confirmation look like? Is it clear on the details and the cost?
- Does the buyer know when to anticipate delivery?
- In terms of the packaging – Is it branded? Easy to open? Is the product(s) packaged in recycled / biodegradable materials?
- How easy is it to make a return? Is the return information clearly accessible?
- Who can your customer contact if they have a question or query about any aspect of the purchase?
What is the outcome?
By understanding all the above, retailers can determine the type of review they may receive if an influencer were to use or buy their product. Ultimately the aim is to wow them, as with their huge social media following and reach, they can be your biggest ambassadors, or critics!
Want to find out more about building your retail business aligned with excellent customer service support? Here at WeAnswer we help retail organisations across the UK to manage their customer expectations in a professional and timely manner, through customer service support for retail. To find out more about outsourcing your customer service and our orders, deliveries and returns services, please get in touch with our team.
