Boots talks to over a million customers with Empathica

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Boots has received feedback from more than one million shoppers, one year after the introduction of its customer care measurement programme, designed and managed by customer experience management expert, Empathica.

Karen Booth, Programme Manager for Boots Customer Care Measure, said, With over a million responses in a year we have a huge amount of data which has allowed us to do some robust analysis on the positive relationship between our customer care scores and sales.

The scheme works by inviting a random selection of Boots customers to give feedback on the store environment, speed of service, how friendly and helpful the staff are, whether they felt Boots offered good value for money and whether they enjoyed their shopping experience. In stores, survey invitations are generated as part of the till receipt, while in the pharmacy they are handed to the customer via a leaflet. Customers respond by either using an on-line survey or by using a dedicated free telephone number.

Booth added, We get feedback from customers in every one of our shops and pharmacies each week. We do not target the invitations at certain customer types as we value feedback from all of our customers.

The surveys ask questions to Boots customers to help understand how loyal consumers are to the brand. The survey also asks additional questions around issues that Empathica knows contribute towards the customers sense of satisfaction.

The information obtained through Empathicas programme complements the data that Boots collects through the Advantage Points loyalty scheme. Booth said, The Advantage scheme tells us about shopping behaviour, and with customers permission can be used as a marketing tool, but it doesnt tell us what our customers think about the shopping experience in Boots. This is where the customer care feedback survey comes into play and we see significant potential in marrying the two in future.

Gary Topiol, Managing Director, Empathica, said, Customer expectations are continually changing and our clients are using customer insight to better understand how to meet their needs. Getting feedback from every store, every week allows retailers to focus on delivering value to their customers at a local level, with measurable benefits.

The scheme also looks to benefit staff as well as customers. Booth added, This year we introduced a new reward scheme for store colleagues that uses the customer care measure as one of the metrics for the basis of bonus payment. The introduction of such a scheme has really helped the focus on great customer care in our stores.

About Empathica

Empathica provides retailers, foodservice brands, retail banking institutions and other multi-unit based organisations with comprehensive Customer Experience Management programs that help ensure outstanding customer experiences and engaging relationships across the entire brand. Using a variety of surveying methods, Empathica captures voice of the customer data and then performs rich analysis to derive key actionable insights that deliver operational excellence and deliver on the brand promise of our clients.

Empathica conducts more than 30 million customer surveys annually and delivers real-time, weekly, and monthly reports to more than 70,000 locations across close to 100 of the worlds leading brands.

About Boots

Boots The Chemists is the UK's leading health and beauty retailer. With around 2,600 stores in the UK and Irish Republic, it serves approximately eight million customers every week.

Boots develops and sells own brand products, a number of which are leaders in their respective markets. The Boots brand is founded on the trust, expertise and heritage, which comes with its longevity in the market.