By Doug Stephens<\/p>\n

I sat on a panel discussion this week that explored how social and mobile media is changing the way customer feedback is collected, analyzed and acted upon by retailers. One specific question asked how mobile devices can be used in a retail environment to facilitate better customer feedback or improve responsiveness to complaints. <\/strong>Within the context of this discussion, the idea was to comment on how mobile is being used as a customer service channel but it occurred to me that there\u2019s a much more important data track. \u00a0One \u00a0that provides a completely new and revolutionary opportunity for marketers.<\/p>\n

Say versus Do<\/strong><\/h3>\n

First, one has to appreciate the historic problem with consumer research and the challenge it\u2019s always posed for retail marketers.\u00a0 Consumer research often attempts to predict future consumer behavior but the reality is that consumers<\/a> very often say things that don\u2019t correspond at all to what they eventually do in store.\u00a0 In fact, there\u2019s often a gaping disconnect between a consumer\u2019s needs as articulated in focus groups and the basket of stuff that gets taken home from the store.\u00a0 If the two matched up even the least bit closely, marketing would be a cinch but they often don\u2019t and with good reason \u2013 consumers rarely have a clue why<\/em> they do what they do in stores!\u00a0 And in other cases, focus group participants simply don\u2019t tell the truth<\/strong><\/a>, which probably doesn\u2019t come as any great shock.<\/p>\n

Data, data everywhere…<\/strong><\/h3>\n

One thing is for sure, the problem with consumer and shopper research isn\u2019t born out of a lack of data. \u00a0We’ve\u00a0got \u00a0a plethora of information on both ends of the shopping spectrum, loads of focus groups, surveys and intercepts to gauge needs on the front end and a steady flow of point of sale data to analyze purchases on the back end.\u00a0 What have been missing are the critical insights in the middle \u2013 what shoppers actually<\/em> do in the store<\/em>!\u00a0 This has largely been the realm of anecdotal data and lab-based studies, both of which are often highly inaccurate.<\/p>\n

Every move you make<\/strong><\/h3>\n

That\u2019s where I believe mobile apps, near field communication<\/a>, location based services<\/a><\/strong> and other intelligent retail technologies are poised to revolutionize our approach to consumer and shopper research.\u00a0 For the first time ever, researchers will be able to connect the expressed needs of consumers with their actual, physical path to purchase.\u00a0 Questions like where they go in the store and where don\u2019t they go, where they stop and what they race right by will finally be precisely answerable.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have visibility into the specific events that trigger a customer to abandon their visit or buy more than usual.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see more clearly what occurrences precede a complaint.\u00a0 We\u2019ll even have the potential to see where they\u2019ve come from and where they go after leaving the store.\u00a0 And what\u2019s critical is that marketers can view this kind of information in aggregate according to what thousands of consumers do, not simply within a narrow and controlled study group.<\/p>\n

But understanding the consumer\u2019s physical<\/em> path is only one of the new streams of data.\u00a0 The other and more important stream will reveal what they actually engaged<\/em> and interacted<\/em> with in the space.\u00a0 Which in-store marketing messages did they connect with and for how long, which coupons did they download, which products did they scan but put back without buying?\u00a0 Marketers will see where consumers required more or less information to make a decision and perhaps even when they compared prices with competitors before deciding.\u00a0 Even insights on how different ages, sexes<\/strong><\/a> and races move through a given retail environment are entirely possible.<\/p>\n

Finally marketers can validate the reams of data they currently collect with credible information on the consumer\u2019s actual in-store behavior.\u00a0 This presents a whole new world of opportunity to give retail consumers what they want \u2013 potentially without ever once asking them.\u00a0 It\u2019s also chance to better understand the gap between what consumers say and what they do.<\/p>\n

In fact, it\u2019s entirely possible that this new ability to validate in-store consumer behavior will render front and back end consumer surveys a thing of the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Doug Stephens I sat on a panel discussion this week that explored how social and mobile media is changing the way customer feedback is collected, [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,1],"tags":[115,42,46,116,24,15,31,78,58],"class_list":["post-1063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","category-uncategorized","tag-focus-groups","tag-future","tag-marketing","tag-mobile","tag-retail","tag-retail-marketing","tag-retail-trends","tag-shopper-marketing-3","tag-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n