Luxury Customer Journey

 

 

Luxury is neither a product or service it’s an attitude and state of mind.

What the term Luxury Customer Journey means?

In precise, it means the strategic road map to delight and engage the customer with the brand. The LCJ provides a clear understanding of the strategic road map luxury brands need to develop to engage their target in each market analysed, with a strong focus on their digital as well as offline transformation.

The Luxury Customer Journey (LCJ) provides an initial snapshot of the most important marketing KPI’s (top of mind, spontaneous and total awareness) before delving deeper into the more relevant content and touch points that build brand awareness and intention to buy, from traditional press and celebrity endorsement to digital word of mouth and bloggers. The study explores customer behavior and their expectations during their e-commerce and boutique experiences, in-store mobile usage, interaction with brands’ social media pages, as well as the meaningfulness of specific content provided by the brands. It also tests consumer appreciation of the newest experience innovations.

The study confirms, people aspire to luxury fashion brands because they provide the thrill associated with the sense of belonging to a selected tribe while providing the unique opportunity to show off personal connoisseur-ship. However, in the more mature markets during the recent economic slowdown, customers have become increasingly price and quality conscious. They are willing to pay more if they are provided with better, customized, meaningful experiences and services while they approach, select and purchase a luxury product. Even customers in emerging markets are increasingly gaining ground, moving quickly up the Luxury Pyramid, from affordable and accessible logged products to niche and exclusive goods.

In this evolving landscape, The Luxury Customer Journey aims to unveil and highlight the most significant differences in the behavior and expectations of the modern luxury consumer.

The path to purchase is almost never linear, involving interaction with different content and communication assets from owned (i.e. official websites), to paid (i.e. print advertising) and/or earned equity (i.e. word of mouth). Brand storytelling is extremely important for consumers while Millennial’s pose a harder challenge for mature markets where brand heritage and roots have yet to become relevant for them. All Global luxury consumers are interested in content that provides them with practical and personal advice on new trends and seasonal must-have products related to their age, profile, and taste. Customized services and special treatment are also expected as well as exclusive offers following a subscription to a brand web site and/or loyalty program. Brands should shift their focus to their customers and on how to engage them. They need to know their data; they need to understand their customer; they need to be global yet increasingly local and personalized in their approach; they need to become much more digital but at the same time experiential.

Now do you think is it easy enough to provide a luxury customer experience?

Well, it requires work and attention to detail.

How can you go about offering a luxury customer experience?

First of all, bear in mind that, selling luxury products means selling a dream, which is certainly something that goes beyond mere functionality, rather it emphasizes status and other symbolic associations such as personal statement, identity, and ultimately creates a sense of belonging. So, how can luxury fashion brands deliver a “white-glove” customer experience and capitalize on the opportunities offered by online and offline channels without risking depreciating their brand equity and losing sales that are mainly happening in stores? The answer is designing a customer experience that is well integrated among all channels. In a market servicing ever-more discerning consumers, the luxury sector needs to constantly innovate in order to stay relevant. customers buy luxury goods because they’re attracted to the brand’s image, so those aspects have to come to life.

Customer experience @ store

Brandships are living marketing experiences – less about the financial transaction and more about the emotional transaction. Stores must engage customers and create desire. The purchase can happen at a later date, but the important thing is to create that interest and affinity. Luxury brands have excelled at creating special experiences for customers in-store to differentiate themselves from the ‘average’ retailer. This includes factors such as beautiful store design, great personal service and advice from store staff, and maybe a glass of wine on arrival. This quality of service, added to the quality of the products, provides potential customers with the best possible store experience.

3 keys to Luxury Customer Journey

Know Your Audience

This may sound like a no-brainer, but it is a practice ignored by brands all too often. Not all luxury buyers are driven by the same motives or respond the same way to marketing tactics, and failure to tailor your efforts to your specific audience’s needs could be costly.

Tell a Story

Today’s luxury buyers also favor substance over style, meaning they are more likely to connect with a brand that has the marketing savvy to tell a story and align with their personal values rather with a brand that relies on its product’s flashiness. Your customers are educated, so treat them that way by ramping up your content and avoiding gimmicks and commodity marketing language.

 Convenience is Key

Now that you have hooked your customer with your brand experience and story, give them the ability to interact with your brand in a way that is most convenient for their demanding lifestyle. Providing ample options to suit their unique needs during every stage of the buying cycle allows them to shop and make decisions in a manner of their choosing. Accomplish this by pushing the creative envelope and utilizing technology in a way that both accommodates your buyers’ unique needs and provides that Wow Factor.

Challenges facing for Luxury Brands

Not able to recreate customer store experience into online

However, luxury brands have faced challenges when attempting to recreate the in-store customer experience online, or to at least create an online experience which matches the brand image, and they have not always succeeded. Recreating the in-store luxury experience online may well be impossible to do. Retailers can show their products in the best possible light and create websites which are a pleasure to browse and buy from. After this point, it’s about providing the kind of service, including delivery and packaging, that customers would expect from a luxury retailer.

Product returns

Customers are likely to expect a higher standard of service if they have any problems post-purchase. Returns should be hassle-free.

Delivery and packaging

Customer expectations around delivery are higher than ever before. The delivery of the product should be designed in such a way to create an amazing experience to the customer. Packaging is a great way to deliver that ‘wow factor’ for customers. To an extent, the packaging needs to reinforce the promise of the brand. If people order an expensive handbag, standard brown packaging won’t do.

Great Copy writing

Product copy needs to work to convey the quality and luxury of the product. The tone of voice needs to match the product and price. For example, Rolex talks about the materials, the history and detail which goes into creating its watches.

Product imagery

 Images can be used to show products in the best possible light and should be high quality.

Product Exclusivity

Luxury brands seek exclusivity; they should not try to be everything to everyone. Product customization should be a part of luxury brands.

Latest Technology

Always updated with the latest technologies. Luxury brands have taken note of this shift well in time and are using technology in their favour to interact with today’s consumers at the same wavelength. Here are how luxury brands across the globe are playing the technology game right and things that brands across industries can learn from them

Teach, don’t train

Your sales associates are people who you have chosen because you feel they already have the intelligence and sophistication to appeal to your elite clientele.  Don’t simply provide them with a list of facts to memorize and procedures to follow.  Educate them about your brand, its history, and the science and psychology of good customer relationships.  Teach them to be active creators of your brand’s world, and encourage them to invite the customer into that world rather than fixating on making a sale.

Empower

To be successful globally, a brand has to make the best possible use of the local knowledge its sales associates bring to each store.  Hire people you trust and then trust them; let them work together with your expert management to find the best way to express your brand in their specific context.  A confident, assured sales associate inspires the trust and respect of customers, which in turn translates into trust in and respect for your brand.

Encourage personal relationships

The key to building consumer loyalty is post-purchase communication between the brand and the customer, but many customers feel uncomfortable giving their contact information away to a faceless corporation, even one they admire. However, a sales associate can assure them that the offers and promotions they receive will be curated by an actual person, who knows their interests and will listen attentively to their feedback.  A sales associate has the power to tailor your brand’s image to the customer’s exact measurements in a way nothing and no one else can.

Create a culture of improvement

There is no “end” to customer service, no point at which you can say there is nothing left to improve. Indeed, the best customer service is provided by those companies that never give up looking for the better way no matter how successful their previous methods have been. While quantitative metrics are important for monitoring performance, pressuring sales associates with negative feedback – especially in the form of scores – is embarrassing and dis empowering.  A sales associate cannot be a great representative of a brand with whom he or she has a hostile or anxious relationship. Rather, create a culture of constant progress, where sales associates know that identifying areas for improvement will be a regular part of everyone’s work.  Make evaluations into a tool you give your sales associates to help them grow.

Create an Effortless Experience

The key to customer loyalty is an effortless customer service experience and Don’t exceed their expectations too.  An effortless experience is the key to customer loyalty.

Always believe

We don’t pay for the product; we pay for the experience, the exclusivity and the aspiration associated with it

What Green Wind Solutions Can Offer?

If you are looking for a strategy or marketing plans for your business or brand – we can help you. If you need a specialized marketing consultant, strategy consultant, brand consultant or business consultant -this is the place. We offer full support in creating long-term strategies, marketing plans, brand management and other services designed for luxury and premium brands. We support small businesses as well as well-known global brands.