Since 1930, Laura’s focus has been providing a personalized customer experience, which requires extra attention to documenting customer information; personal details, needs & shopping experiences. Throughout the years keeping track of all this data has become overwhelming. A little black book as a filing system worked 20 years ago, but today given the sheer volume of our client-base in 140 locations across Canada, it has become a little harder to do.
In order to keep providing the same exceptional service, we recently revamped our in-store procedures with the help of technology, arming our sales associates with Ipads to perform daily tasks. “It’s about bringing the black book into the digital age,” Ian Richards, Vice-President of digital marketing, Laura. The transition was a smooth one considering our seasoned sales staff had been doing things manually for years. They took to the new system well and it has definitely given us a leg up in the industry. What’s even better is that it has made the way we communicate with our customers more efficient.
“We want to empower our associates with rich customer data, to help better understand each customer’s needs and give them the tools to be able to communicate in a meaningful and relevant way,” says Richards.
The iPad is used by our associates for just about everything. The app has customer data, shopping and browsing info on 2 million customers, serves as a communications hub with pretty much every department in the company, and can be used to make pricing adjustments. Laura is also rolling out a new feature that will allow associates to send personalized communications to their clients by email or text message.
Even our telemarketing processes have been updated: associates will receive calling lists on their iPad of customers that are due for a visit, and can use artificial intelligence to make personalized clothing recommendations for each customer. “It’s about being able to truly deliver personalized service and one-to-one communication,” Richards said.
