Results Count ... everything else is conversation.: RCE Summit: State of the art is “Turning features into feelings”

Retail sound bites from the RCE Executive Retail Summit

I had an opportunity to speak at the RCE Executive Summit this past week. Being a speaker at a conference does two things. First, it forces you to organize your experiences into some cogent thoughts to share with others who live retail daily. Second, when you attend a conference like RCE, you have an incredible opportunity to gather a wide range of knowledge and a "pulse on the state of the art". In the course of the Summit, I came away with one clear sound bite: The very best retailers create engagement by turning features into feelings.

I highly recommend RCE for your power hour

In a recent blog, I mentioned the importance of establishing a "power hour" for reading and research. We all get stuck in the ruts of our daily grind. And, by virtue of our specialization, we often don't get to break away to see what is happening in other corners of our field, or in other parts of the world. In the old days, there were industry journals published to cover a field. Today, printed journals and publications are all but gone. So, one of the best ways to use your power hour is to scan some of the many "smartbriefs" and blogs that are available online for free. Smartbriefs are more frequent, current and conveniently available on mobile devices.

Chris Petersen presenting at the Retail Customer Experience Executive Summit

As a retail consultant, I am focused on helping brands and retailers to change the consumer experience. I have mentioned RetailCustomerExperience.com as a resource in a number of my previous posts. RCE has feature articles and blogs on a wide range of topics related to optimizing customer experience in a variety of retail formats. RCE has become my top go to source for ideas and information on the state of the art related to consumer experience. Therefore, it was with a great deal of pleasure that I was able to speak at the RCE Executive Summit last week. While I may have been able to share some of my worldwide retail experiences, I walked away with a whole new appreciation for the range and depth of initiatives focused on changing the consumer experience in retail.

My Top Ten RCE Sound bites on customer experience

I have spent most of my career in the technology industry. After three decades of working with consumer electronics, it was refreshing to learn best practices from a wide range of retail environments. The RCE Summit had speakers covering everything from the new AT&T flagship store, to the latest from Walmart. It was refreshing to hear stories about how "the experience" was created and differentiated for the Hard Rock café and hotels.

With all due respect to the wonderful speakers, time and space does not permit me to summarize the depth of their stories and information. I'm sure that RCE will be highlighting many of these through their blogs and social media. In fact if you search twitter for the hashtag #rcees you will pick up many of the sound bites from both speakers and attendees.

I personally know that I've been to a great conference experience when I come back with pages of notes filled with sound bites. Here are my Top Ten from RCE last week:

Value matters … memorable experiences justify the price.
Be the chocolate … create the memorable difference.
Consumers used to buy phones … now they want a connected experience.
Traditional marketing fades quickly … customer relationships build.
Location is no longer the store address … it's now the location of consumer's smartphone and the many points on their shopping journey.
To be effective … the experience must be authentic and useful to the consumer.
Best = "Firms of Endearment" who start everything around the customer experience.
Move away from "make & sell" … start with consumer and work backwards.
You don't "have" an experience … consumer must actively engage and be invested.
The KEY retail question today – "How do you want me to feel in your stores?"

From products to consumer centric – Turning features into feelings

As for my part of the RCE Summit, I shared examples of how retail is transforming around the world. What's changing retail is not the retailer … but the behaviors of the mobile consumer. Omni-channel is the new normal. Worldwide, consumers today can check product features, specs and prices any time and everywhere. The reason they still go to stores is to touch, feel and experience the products … and if they get immersed in a memorable service experience, they come back.

If you ever get a chance to hear Lou Carbone speak, he comes highly recommended! Lou founded a company with a name that describes the future of retail in just two words: Experience Engineering. Not everyone can become a Disney. But, Lou tells great stories about "clueprints" and all the details that holistically create an experience. My favorite story from Lou was about the "folded corners on the toilet paper roll" in hotel rooms. The simple act of neatly folding the corners of the end sheet creates an authentic clue that reassures us as consumers that hotel cares and has been there to clean & inspect our room.

Bottom line summary: The best are turning features into feelings.

Today, it is extremely difficult to create a product or service that is differentiated by features alone. Manufacturers quickly adapt and then leapfrog the competition. And, if it is only about features, consumers can explore and compare all of that on the web. What stands out, differentiates and creates value is all of the memorable moments that create an experience. It is not about a product demo, or a particular service. It is about the collective "whole" that creates a feeling that resonates with the consumer at even a subconscious level.

The best retailers today just might be in the hospitality business. You can buy cheaper food or a hotel room online. The best restaurants, bars, spas, hotels and resorts are in fact asking and addressing the key question: how do we want consumers to feel in our "stores"? Turning features into feelings creates an emotional connection with consumers not easily duplicated or destroyed by a race to the bottom on low price.

People will forget what you said
People will forget what you did
But people will never forget how you made them feel. ~~Maya Angelou

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