revolutionizing the mobile customer engagement experience

Revolutionizingthe Mobile CustomerEngagement Experience

INSIDE:

How to create customer trust anywhere

on any device and increase conversion

and incremental revenue.

http://needle.com/responsive

Mobile • 2www.needle.com

The #1 Challenge is BuildingTrust with Customers

The number one reason people shop at their favorite retailers is trust. 1 How does a company nurture that trust? By creating engaging customer experiences, by interacting in a unique way with them, by taking their needs and wants into account, and by making them feel like they are getting an authentic and consistent brand experience every time they interact with that company.

Not only do customers value and seek a shared, personal shopping experience. But they want it within their own parameters of convenience. More than ever, they are informed, constantly connected, and distrustful of marketing messages.

In other words, people actively insulate themselves from in-store associates.

Today:

• 49% of U.S. adult Internet users use some combination of devices when shopping 2

• 28% contacted friends or family for product advice 3

Further supporting this, customers will revert to their most convenient or trusted source of information, i.e., friends and family.4 And they know they can interact with these sources before any sales rep can walk the length of the sales floor.

Another trust factor is the mobile experience. Shoppers use mobile devices for research while shopping but prefer to use their personal computers to buy. 5

To change this trend and build trust, retailers must adopt engagement strategies that allow for a more convenient, responsive, and unique experience with their brand on a mobile device. Conversion on smartphones is relatively low partially because shopping on smaller screens makes it inconvenient. 6 People want to use their devices to do more shopping. A majority of users (67 percent) are more likely to buy or convert after a visit to a mobile-friendly site, with 61 percent saying they’ll “move on” if the site isn’t responsive. 7

Summary

On computer screens, tablets, and smartphones, your customers are constantly seeking advice on what to buy, where to buy, and why they should buy from you. While social coupons, reviews, and ratings o�er some help for online and mobile shoppers, these methods don’t o�er a personalized experience that drives engagement or connection with the brand.

The challenge, then, is finding a way for retailers to build trust and engage in real-time with customers at the crucial moment of a purchase decision, wherever that occurs. If retailers can solve this challenge, they stand to realize a significant increase in revenue that they might not have seen otherwise.

49%

of U.S. adult Internet users use some combination of devices

when shopping

67% of users are more likely to buy

or convert after a visit to a

mobile-friendly site.

61% say they’ll “move on” if the

site isn’t responsive.

People want to usetheir devices to domore shopping.



Unless brands provide a usable and di�erentiated experience on their websites, people will wait to purchase until they get back to their desktop where they feel more comfortable. This can be a nightmare for conversion because any time a shopper’s buying process is interrupted, you run the risk of them deciding to buy from somewhere else and consider-ing their experience a frustrating one. And 55 percent of people in one study said a frustrating experience on a (mobile) website would hurt the perception of the brand. 8

Trends indicate customers are dissatisfied with impersonal shopping experiences, in general. 9 When site usability, customer experience, and shopping convenience are less than what the customer wants, revenue will, at the very least, stagnate and, at the very most, decline or be lost altogether.

Solving the Mobile Experience, Trust, and Revenue Challenge

The challenges are clear. Companies must regularly find ways to engage consumers whenever they shop, on any device they use, while fostering deeper relationships with them through authentic connections, all without being intrusive.

Retailers stand to gain by closing the gap between the physical and digital world and their shoppers' growing emphasis on digital convenience, expertise, and personalization. Those companies not adopting a solid engagement experience run the risk of falling behind and losing customers to other brands. Those companies who do focus on unique engagements with customers—on any device—will expand overall outreach, better direct shoppers, and ultimately increase website revenue.

How do companies do this? Develop remarkable but frictionless opportunities for customer interaction. This is vital to engaging and retaining busy, distracted shoppers. 10

More specifically by deploying a hyper-e�ective builder of customer loyalty: a readily available and responsive platform stocked with expert sales force of passionate advocates.

By enabling real-time conversations between shoppers and specialized advocates, metrics show that companies can dramatically elevate the customer experience, build customer loyalty, and capture revenue otherwise lost to other companies and competitors. When 58 percent of a�uent customers appreciate instant answers via smartphone and 47 percent believe live interaction helps them understand more product details, it is evident that putting people in touch with an advocate, no matter the device, is a powerful and timely solution. 11

It’s Time to Move the Needle

As previously shown, shoppers lack confidence in the mobile environment, and that they need to feel like they have all the info they need before making a confident purchase. This goes beyond responsive design and chat software. There is just one solution that combines an engaging shopper interaction, a responsive platform, and real-time engage-ments with helpful product advocates.

At Needle, our responsive platform is the latest innovation that facilitates remarkable sales experiences while exceeding the customer’s expectations.

58%

of a�uent customers appreciate instant answers via smartphone

When site usability, customer

experience, and shopping

convenience are less than

what the customer wants,

revenue will, at the very least,

stagnate and, at the very

most, decline or be lost

altogether.



Through the Needle platform, advocates e�ortlessly reach your shoppers online wherever and whenever they decide to shop. This allows them make confident purchase decisions and bridges the gap between the online and o�ine experience.

As Needle CEO Morgan Lynch says: “Connect a person considering a purchase with someone who is genuinely passionate about the product and the brand. Let them engage in authentic dialogue, then measure the results.”

By creating a team of on-demand experts, a shopper carries your store with them and accesses an expert in their pocket whenever they need assistance. These advocates create a positive experience that is relevant, helpful, and informative as well as nonintru-sive. Your brand then creates admiration, trust, and loyal, return customers.

How Needle Works

As mobile and responsive platforms become more common in retail, so will the marketing data. You will need to prove that any piece of software or service is getting results. Needle not only tracks and reports some of the most nuanced information retailers could use, but does so through an exclusive and unique system that makes customer data more accurate and easier to measure, boosting conversions, AOV, and CLV, CSAT, and more.

Needle recruits, trains, and certifies your advocates who are category and product experts. They are enabled on Needle’s proprietary online interaction platform to directly engage shoppers on your site in real time.

1

“Connect a person considering

a purchase with someone

who is genuinely passionate

about the product and the

brand. Let them engage in

authentic dialogue, then

measure the results.”

2 Needle’s technology tracks shopper behavior in real time, and identifies and invites those who are most likely to need help, while not disrupting those who will likely buy anyway, or are just “passing by”. Shopper invitations to engage your advocates are personalized based upon visit characteristics and configurable based upon rules to maximize shopper engagement. More engaged shoppers mean greater conversion and incremental revenue.

!

The Needle process works like this:



The rich feature set allows the advocate to easily guide the shopper to the right products and services while engaging them in authentic, friendly dialogue. It’s an experience that is powerful, memorable, and sets you apart.

The engagements are measured in real time, and the results are immediate and material. Metrics–such as conversion and AOV–surge. You capture incremental revenue and drive significant ROI.

Customers showing signs of needing help are identified and invited to interact. More engaged shoppers mean greater conversion and incremental revenue.

3

5

The responsive interface provides the engagement experi-ence best suited to the size of the customer’s browser window, whether that is a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. The interface is seamless, non-intrusive, and intuitive.

4

6Conversion

AOV

ROI



Further Proof that Advocate-based Interactions Get Results

“Having a product that gets people connected with others who are like them and can share the experiences that they had did wonders for the overall customer experience,” said Rob Casas, VP of e-Commerce at Norwegian Cruise Line. “[This] is probably the single most influential thing we can do to help a customer interact with us and book a cruise,” Rob concludes. “The authentic narrative of the customer is more influential than anything else I can think of.”

With the right strategy and technology, engaged advocates helped dozensof e-commerce brands:

• Increase NPS by as much as 20%

• Generate between 5x and 30x ROI

• Increase conversion over self-service by 6-15x

• Increase AOV by 15-30%

• Drive customer satisfaction with CSAT scores of 9+

• Drive net new incremental revenue of 65-90%

Needle is poised to help companies meet the challenges of increasing mobile and online customer experience, trust, and loyalty and get results that matter.

It’s time to see what a di�erence a responsive advocate engagement platform can make. We believe Needle’s stability, usability, and clean design all go hand-in-hand when creating a memorable and positive experience for your customers so take a look at what Needle is doing to help companies like yours build trust while increasing conversion and incremental revenue today. Request a demo here.

“Having a product that gets

people connected with others

who are like them and can

share the experiences that

they had did wonders for the

overall customer experience,”

www.needle.com801.858.0868

http://bit.ly/P1E5aj





Endnotes

1 https://www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/retail-consumer/assets/achieving-total-retail.pdf

2 https://www.internetretailer.com/2014/02/27/nearly-half-cosumers-use-multiple-devices-

when-shopping

3 http://marketingland.com/survey-smartphones-heavily-used-in-stores-but-not-for-m-

commerce-67741

4 http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/television/family-and-friends-still-most-trusted-

for-shopping-decisions-26423/

5 http://upstreamcommerce.com/blog/2013/06/25/true-false-pc-preferred-shopping-

device-global-online-retail-customers

6 http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/05/23/retailers-get-mobile-friendly

7 http://marketingland.com/google-survey-what-users-want-from-mobile-sites-22606

8 http://marketingland.com/google-survey-what-users-want-from-mobile-sites-22606

9 http://www.theacsi.org/news-and-resources/press-releases/press-2014/press-release-

february-2014

10 http://blog.shop.org/2014/03/17/five-top-trends-from-ps�s-future-of-retail-2014/

11 http://luxuryinstitute.com/blog/?p=2784


www.needle.com
