How to Increase Your KPIs in Retail

Retail has seen 10 years’ worth of evolution over the last 12 months, forcing many to rethink their strategic priorities headed into the coming year. The most common change has been a focus on driving cross-channel experiences to fit the preferences of both online and in-store customers. When surveyed by McKinsey, around 45 to 50 percent of retailers had plans to prioritize a mobile app or point-of-sale experience this year, and several companies have accelerated their efforts in response to the pandemic.

Digital-first and omnichannel retailers have pivoted more easily, but retailers that prioritized physical stores and face-to-face engagement over omnichannel strategies have struggled to respond. Organizations that can quickly adapt to an omnichannel approach to support a personalized customer experience will recover faster from the pandemic compared to those that do not. 

For those looking to increase their KPIs in retail across tools and vendors, transactional messages are an often overlooked channel to support these initiatives. Read on to learn more about the effect transactional messages can have on your bottom line by channel. 

SMS

Taking into account the growing preference for mobile-first experiences, many are adding KPIs around expanding their SMS reach to the list for the coming year. SMS allows retailers to directly communicate with their customers about their order status, upcoming sales, reward incentives, providing a digital receipt, and more. 

Customers are far more likely to consent to receive this messaging when provided a transactional communication. By being sent to their mobile phone, customers have direct access to their receipt for returns, exchanges, and more. 

Email Acquisition 

As more customers make their way to online storefronts, email acquisition has become increasingly important in driving engagement. While email has long been utilized by retailers to drive customers back to their abandoned carts, notify customers of upcoming promotions, among other uses, their true power lies in being used for transactional communications.  

Transactional messages, like SMS, are a great driver for email acquisition, allowing some retailers to capture 75% of all customer’s emails at the point of sale. Allowing customers to receive their digital receipt immediately after the sale in their inbox, email has opened up the opportunity for brands to continue engagement with their customers after they leave the store. They also support retargeting efforts and additional engagement opportunities.

Loyalty Sign-Ups

Similar to the benefits of email, transactional communications aid in the growth of both new and existing loyalty programs. Customers can either sign-up in-store when providing their email for their receipt, or, have the opportunity to sign-up once they head home. 

Transactional communications streamline this process by allowing retailers to showcase the benefits of sign-up in real-time, highlighting rewards earned from that purchase, remaining reward points needed, and special deals taking place for reward customers through the use of dynamic banners on the communication. Using these messages has helped some retailers drive a 10x lift in paid loyalty sign-ups and a 7% increase in upsells.

This provides the customer a tangible view of what benefits they will receive from sign-up and increases the likelihood of registration. 

PLCC Enrollment

An important KPI for many retailers is the acquisition of new credit card sign-ups. Historically, this has been an incredibly difficult KPI for many retailers to meet, as customers do not want to spend the time at the checkout to enroll. Transactional communications can greatly assist this process while taking the pressure off of associates to enroll customers at the point of sale. 

The banner space on transactional messages is a great opportunity to showcase the savings possible when utilizing the credit card as well as special introductory offers. It also can include a direct link to allow customers to enroll on their own time – thus improving customer satisfaction of checkout times while growing this important metric. 

Social Media 

Social media KPIs have seen a surge for many marketing teams over the last year as the impact of influencer marketing is felt by retail. Transactional communications aid this objective by offering a direct link to numerous social media handles, as well as featuring user-generated content from Instagram tagging on the receipt itself. 

This feature allows for customers to both engage with the brand’s social media while also seeing styled content in real-time from other creators.

Website Visits 

Supporting an omnichannel customer journey is key for maintaining brand equity in today’s retail space. Thanks to transactional communications, customers can head back to your website directly from their digital receipt after checking out in-store. Offering clickable personalized product recommendations, feedback sections, and personalized ads, customers are able to extend their in-store experience online, creating a seamless flow between the two. 

Transactional Messages Can Increase KPIs in Retail 

Transactional messages are an integral piece of the retail experience headed into the new year. See how other brands have used flexEngage to increase KPIs in retail for their other initiatives.