SITUATION

The retailer sought to modernize their message system and improve the order experience for customers. 

A boom in business stemming from the pandemic led to a sharp increase in online ordering for the retailer. The increase in online sales sparked the retailer’s interest in revitalizing their order status messaging approach to better meet their customers’ needs. The enterprise turned to Content Science to analyze their current approach and to conduct research to determine the strategy for modernizing the conceptual direction of the messaging system. 

SOLUTION

CS used secret shopping to assess client’s gaps in their current approach and determine effective best-in-class strategies their competitors used. 

We conducted secret shopping sessions, online and in-store, at the retailer’s place of business and at several competitors’ businesses. The orders were based on a common scenario (customer kitchen and bath remodel) and represented a variety of key order types. 

Our CS Lab team documented the full order communication journey across the retailer and competitors, analyzed existing artifacts, and conducted a gap analysis. The analysis insights about the retailer’s current state helped ensure the strategy focused on the high leverage changes for achieving their content vision for their future state.

RESULTS

A data-informed, conceptual direction for improving the customer experience 

Our findings focused on actionable recommendations for a modernized conceptual direction to their messaging system. The results from our secret shopping analysis ensured an evidence-based conceptual direction designed to improve the customer order experience and improve efficiency. We designed a content strategy to reduce confusion and redundancy in automated messaging, improve consistency in alignment with brand values, increase personalization for the customer and provide the most vital information, and guide the customer through the order journey by providing them the right self-help and informational resources.