Leveraging Customer Experience to increase repeat purchases in retail. A Case study by Naeem Arif.

Naeem Arif

This case study is an extract from The Customer Experience Playbook by Jonathan Daniels. The full book can be purchased here. The global retail industry is mature and highly competitive mostly in the developed economies of Europe and North America. More so, the retail industry has witnessed several changes, with changing economic conditions across the world. From aggressive marketing strategies to eye-watering budgets being set aside for research and development, many organizations have employed such strategies in trying to keep up with these ever-present changes in the retail world.

Challenge:

Scenario: “What gets measured, gets managed”

At United Carpets we used to focus on NPS and this was great to measure how well we were generally going. However, we worked out that this was more of a reflection. In reality, what we wanted to know is: 'What percentage of our customers become repeat customers?'

The Approach:

United Carpets decided to move from NPS to RPR (repeat purchase rate) and started measuring both NPS and RPR. Now we have started measuring this, we aim to get our RPR at more than 60% and this is something we review on a quarterly basis. Our management spent time sitting and working with each department to pinpoint how they measure success. For instance, the sales department had quarterly sales targets in place, broken down by market segment. The technology department had to measure success by the number of projects delivered on time and within budget. The marketing department measured success by evaluating the return on investment for each of its marketing channels. Every department had its own definition of what good looks like for them.

Achieved Results:

United Carpets saw a significant improvement in all their departments based on the criteria which were put in these respective departments to measure success. The company’s RPR increased by 70% thus achieving one of their sought-after objectives. The organization is also now in a better position to be able to relate to their different departments, enabling the organization to aim for shared outcomes which will motivate them to support their different programs.