Categories
BLOG

AI-Powered Clienteling: The Secret Behind Successful Customer Retention

Advanced clienteling techniques are helping businesses advance rapidly by allowing them to cater to varying customer demands. It is one of the few solutions that makes it possible for businesses to benefit from the Pareto Principle. 

According to Investopedia,

“80% of a company’s revenue is generated by 20% of its customers”

It tells us the importance of customer retention as recurring customers are the primary driving force behind every successful business, whether it is a clothing outlet, speciality retailer, or a large retail chain.  Clienteling goes beyond traditional customer service by leveraging advanced techniques and personalized interactions to build strong relationships with high-value customers. 

Let us dive into the details of clienteling and understand its importance in retail businesses in 2024. If you are also looking for a powerful clienteling tool, make sure you check out Veras Affinity, a proven solution for associate-driven clienteling. 

How clienteling provides a personal touch in the digital age

Clienteling can be boiled down to a simple strategy employed by businesses, particularly in retail and service industries, to create personalized experiences for their customers. It involves building long-term relationships with consumers by understanding their individual preferences. With that, it is possible to provide tailored recommendations and shopping assistance to the customer at any point.

Proper clienteling also allows businesses to gather data about customer preferences, purchase history, and behaviors that can help devise customized services. This personal touch enhances customer satisfaction and encourages customers to return. 

Equipped with correct clienteling tools, businesses can easily engage with customers across various channels. Maintaining consistent communication helps businesses to nurture a personal relationship with the customer, thereby improving the overall customer experience. 

Advanced techniques for clienteling in retail

Clienteling is a rather broad concept that encompasses multiple different aspects. Even though there are a lot of benefits associated with clienteling, it is important to understand the advanced techniques that are extremely important when it comes to clienteling in the retail business. Here are some of the most advanced techniques available for clienteling right now that have revolutionized retail business. 

Personalized product recommendations

Personalized product recommendations involve leveraging previously collected customer data to suggest products based on their individual preferences. It relies on multiple sources such as past purchases, product browsing history, and key demographic information. Collectively, it enables correct prediction of what products a customer is likely to be interested in. By leveraging these suggestions, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction by pushing products that the customer is already planning to purchase. 

Omnichannel customer engagement 

Now that the shopping experience is being delivered to different platforms, it is becoming equally important to reach out to your customers across multiple channels, including online and offline touchpoints. This approach ensures consistency in messaging as well as customer service, regardless of the channel through which a customer interacts with the business. For example, a customer might start browsing products on a mobile app, continue their research on a desktop website, make a purchase in-store, and receive post-purchase follow-up emails—all while experiencing a personalized shopping experience.

Data analytics for predictive customer behavior

Data analytics also plays a crucial role in clienteling by providing insights into customer behavior. It is possible for businesses to analyze large volumes of customer data to identify various patterns and trends. It allows informed predictions about future customer behavior. For instance, data analytics can help businesses forecast demand for products and adjust their marketing strategies accordingly. 

The role of AI in clienteling

Artificial intelligence is a revolutionary addition to clienteling techniques as it brings automation along with various other enhancements to the system. AI-powered algorithms can analyze vast amounts of customer data in real time and make personalized recommendations. For example, AI chatbots can engage with customers to answer their queries. It can also provide them with recommendations all while learning to improve future interactions.

How retail businesses are excelling with clienteling

With a variety of tools and innovative strategies empowering clienteling platforms, the majority of businesses are experiencing the benefits of advanced clienteling. Compared to traditional sales approaches, clienteling has completely revamped the customer experience. Right now, all types of businesses can build relationships with their customers and ensure they always receive the best shopping experience on their platform. Here are the benefits of incorporating clienteling strategies into your business: 

Improved customer retention

All clienteling techniques primarily focus on improving customer retention by building a strong relationship with customers. With the help of data analytics and AI-driven insights, businesses are able to identify at-risk customers, implement targeted retention strategies such as loyalty programs, and provide exceptional customer service that fosters long-term loyalty. 

Enhanced sales performance

clienteling also contributes significantly to sales performance by enabling businesses to deliver tailored shopping experiences that resonate with customers. Through personalized product recommendations, businesses are increasing sales along with conversion rates. Moreover, clienteling is empowering sales associates with the data they need to engage effectively with customers.

Optimized inventory management

Clienteling techniques play a crucial role in optimizing inventory management by aligning product offerings with customer demands. By analyzing customer data, businesses can forecast demand more accurately. This helps reduce stockouts and even minimizes storage costs for larger stores. Additionally, businesses can use clienteling data to introduce new products that align with customer preferences, further optimizing inventory management strategies.

Effective marketing campaigns

Clienteling techniques enable businesses to run more effective marketing campaigns by targeting the right audience with their offers. By segmenting customers based on their preferences, it is possible to create highly relevant marketing campaigns that resonate with customers. Whether through email marketing or personalized promotions, advanced clienteling techniques help businesses achieve higher campaign response rates in all cases.

Reach the heights of clienteling benefits with Veras Affinity

Veras Affinity is a clienteling solution designed to empower retail associates with advanced customer insights and personalization tools. It is one of the many products offered by Veras Retail that focuses on enhancing the in-store experience for both customers as well as retailers. Here’s what you get with Veras Affinity:

Associate-driven clienteling

It mobilizes the frontline workforce by providing them with detailed knowledge about products and tools to create a memorable brand experience that aims to foster lifelong customers.

Retail-hardened solution

Veras Affinity supports cross-platform access. Thus, the integration of the system is possible with minimal investment as there are little to no restrictions on supported systems. We ensure flawless performance for all of our products with installation assistance and customer support. 

AI-powered recommendations

The system uses direct associate input to strengthen its data, which in turn trains the AI to make smarter product recommendations. It also features a global search function that looks across an endless aisle catalog, helping associates find exactly what the customer is looking for.

Intuitive & responsive UI

Veras Affinity is designed to be intuitive for store associates, with an intelligent engine that anticipates customer needs and preferences, enabling personalized service across various shopping channels.
Want to know more about Veras Affinity? Visit our website today!