Guest Comment: The genuine luxury experience

One of the key tenets of luxury retail is close and long-term customer relationships. Think of a long established bespoke tailors – it may have had the same customer accounts for generations and its customers are very probably on first name terms with the staff.

This level of service is simply part of the package the customer expects to come with the trappings of luxury – but can the experience be recreated online?

 “Many luxury retailers invest enormous amounts in creating content rich, beautiful websites but ultimately let themselves down through their interactions with their customers. If a site has poor or no facilities for customer help or support, it is the equivalent of telling the customers in a luxury tailors to measure and cut their own suits.

Even if there is not a dedicated customer forum on the transactional site, that doesn’t mean that one doesn’t exist on sites such as MySpace of Facebook. If you don’t set up a community space, invariably your customers will and if you don’t engage with your customers on this level you run the risk of often inaccurate, uncorrected, negative feedback and brand damage.

It is worth considering that, typically, the majority of negative posts come from people who are happy with the product but unhappy with the service. If a conversation is occurring about your products and services, you cannot afford just to watch.

Forums are inherently contradictory, the content can be extremely personal but the identity of the posters is usually hidden by impersonal usernames. To provide a unique service, support agents should use technology to monitor forums and then offer advice in posts saying ‘contact me and I’ll help you’ leaving a direct number and email address.

Why should a bona fide luxury retailer be afraid of doing that? All you are providing is exceptional customer service which will differentiate you from your non-luxury competitors – customers will see that this is a retailer genuinely prepared to give a personal service in a public forum.

It is difficult to demonstrate the same charm online as a dedicated attendant could in-store but that doesn’t mean that the customer experience has to be impersonal. To create an authentic lavish experience, you need to lavish your customers with attention.

By
Ian Davis,
director at ATG
www.atg.com