Frontrunners, regrouping 6 athletic footwear stores in Victoria and Nanaimo, B.C., focused their efforts on product knowledge an

d customer service. That meant finding the right shoe for every customer based on activity, running style, and other factors. The competition in the marketplace was fierce with everyone from national chains to big box retailers selling athletic footwear. Differentiation through service is a great strategy, but Frontrunners felt that in order to continue being competitive in the market they needed to know what their customers really felt about the customer experience. Frontrunners was looking for a cost-effective way to measure customer satisfaction and improve customer experience.

In the past, Frontrunners had carried out some paper-based in-store surveys. Because of the costs involved, they had mostly relied on letters and calls for customer feedback.” We received both the negative and the very positive comments, however we weren’t reaching a large portion of our customers,” explained Andrea Carrey, Frontrunners’ Marketing Director. That meant if customers didn’t like the selection, opening hours, service or pricing, they just wouldn’t come back and Frontrunners would never know why. Frontrunners needed to know how to improve their customer experience. Frontrunners liked Agili-T’s online survey approach because it reduced costs and gave them access to customer feedback in close to real-time. Frontrunners survey ran from November to February and used bookmark invitations with a web address and the chance to win free merchandise to entice clients to participate. Response rates where strong and one side-benefit to using Agili-T’s retail surveying platform was that interim customer feedback could be shared with the company’s executive team. Also, the surveying platform was set up to flag clients who’d had negative experiences and ask for permission to contact them. Each case was examined and then passed on to store managers for resolution – helping turn dissatisfied customers into loyal and satisfied customers.

Even before the survey was completed, Frontrunners began acting on the customer feedback by improving store layouts, signage and pricing. “The survey identified areas that needed immediate attention, and allowed us to focus our energies where it mattered most. This focused approach helped us improve the overall customer experience.” Carrey adds, “We will continue to stress service in our advertising, but we’ll cut prices and market those new lower prices at the same time.” Frontrunners plan to extend their relationship with Agili-T by conducting yearly customer surveys in order to monitor ongoing customer satisfaction and measure customer experience for each new initiative.