Superdrug customers now 10% more likely to return
A programme of customer service improvements has led to a 10% increase in customer return business, and a 12% increase in world of mouth recommendation at Superdrug in the UK and Ireland.
Working with agency SMG, the health and beauty retailer ran a campaign throughout its 900 stores called ‘Easy to shop, easy to pay, hard to forget’. The goal was to improve customers’ shopping experiences but also to identify new opportunities for improvements and the growth of customer loyalty.
Superdrug had historically used a mystery shopper programme to collect customer feedback, but the limited visits per quarter that the programme provided were considered insufficient to collect a meaningful volume of reliable data.
After three months of research, SMG reported that customers felt they waited too long to pay, received no eye contact, no conversation and no thank you from the till operator. While focusing on the presentation of the store, proper attention was not given to staff attitude and interaction. This was the biggest opportunity for Superdrug to drive overall customer satisfaction.
According to Jeremy Michael, managing director for SMG, ” Customers are now 10% more likely to return to Superdrug than they were before the start of the initiative.”
Based on a continuous customer feedback programme, Superdrug developed new service standards in three key areas: staff training, staff shift times, and till interaction.
Staff training
The company developed new training processes that reflected customers’ feedback, better preparing store teams to offer a consultative approach with beauty and fragrance products. Not only did this have a positive impact on the business but the staff who received specialist fragrance training said they found it rewarding and were encouraged and motivated by the 13% increase in customer satisfaction.
Staff shift times
Superdrug also benefited from insights into customer satisfaction levels at various times of the day, a study of which revealed a fall between the hours of 12pm and 2pm – a time during which many customers used their lunch breaks to enter the store. Obvious as it may seem, Superdrug changed its staff shift times to ensure that more staff were working at lunch time, which resulted in customers reporting a 5% increase in checkout speed and efficiency.
Till interaction
Superdrug also developed standard processes and behaviours at the checkout. Team members were given suggested talking points, such as asking whether customers had found all of the items they were looking for, mentioning new products, and thanking them for shopping at Superdrug. The focus on till interaction had a significant impact as customers reported a notable increase in staff friendliness.
According to Alan Johnson, retail operations director for Superdrug, “SMG provided us with a tool that delivers instant feedback for all of our stores throughout the year, and gives us large volumes of feedback about what our service is really like.”
SMG also works with other brands including Burger King, TK Maxx, and Pets at Home.