Today’s customers love to be presented with a personalised, unique experience. In fact, research shows that 78 per cent of consumers are more likely to return to the same retailer if that retailer provides them with targeted, personalised offers.*

This trend has seen the rise of a process called ‘clienteling’, which happens when sales people can combine extensive product knowledge with deep customer engagement. By leveraging omnichannel customer data, retailers can create a more personalised experience for the customer, which leads to better engagement and stronger loyalty.

One of the key requirements to do this effectively is to understand what the customer thinks about the retailer’s brand. The pervasiveness of social media is an ideal conduit into customer thought patterns. By collecting and analysing the customer’s activity via social channels, then combining that data with information from the retailer’s own CRM and ERP systems, retailers can see how customer sentiment translates into actual behaviour and purchasing decisions. This presents a significant opportunity to improve the retailer’s chance of success.

Retailers can use that insight to individualise the shopping experience for specific customers, leading to a more sophisticated and effective clienteling process.

Additionally, it’s important to remember that 65 per cent of shoppers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by marketplace reviews or posts according to a recent UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper survey. This means it’s essential to understand what customers are saying on social media to avoid a situation where potential customers are being turned off the brand due to unfavourable comments.

Microsoft Dynamics makes this possible by providing a centralised and easy-to-use platform to maintain real-time interactions with customers and prospects. Social Engagement functionality lets retailers connect on social media with customers, fans and critics to gain insight into how people really feel about the business. It includes social listening, social analytics, social engagement, and social CRM, which lets retailers share social insights across teams through dashboards directly.

Importantly, Microsoft Dynamics can be deployed in the way that makes the most sense for your business using the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.

To learn more about digital transformation in retail, download this free infographic.

*Personalisation Infosys, 2013 Study: Rethinking Retail: Insights from consumers and retailers into an omni-channel shopping experience.