Micro-Research Study – Consumer Engagement

The Secret Shopper: Voice of the Consumer (VoC) and Empathy

 

Step 1: Establishing Concepts

Concepts are provided below. You do not need to add anything on this Step 1.

Concept 1 Empathy

Concept 2 Satisfaction

Concept 3 Strengths

Concept 4 Weaknesses

Concept 5 Opportunities

Concept 6 Threats

 

Step 2: Purpose Statement

The purpose of this study is to (1) identify a consumer’s perception of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a consumer-employee engagement during a shopping situation to purchase [rugged jeans and other casual wear at Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) in their Orlando, Florida store; (2) determine employee empathy (high/low) toward the consumer; and (3) determine the alignment of employee empathy (hi/low) with customer satisfaction (high/low) in the shopping situation.

Step 3: Objective of Study

The objectives of this study are to (1) identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats evident during a shopping episode; (2) measure employee empathy (hi/low) toward the customer; and (3) determine alignment of employee empathy (hi/low) with customer satisfaction (hi/low) in the shopping situation.

Step 4: Sample Selection

Set the Stage – Describe shopping situation and context of study.

• Who is the consumer?

I am the consumer and secret shopper who wanted to perceive whether the Voice of the Consumer (VoC) is heard and catered to by the A&F employee in Orlando, Florida.

• What is the action you are taking?

Although I will purchase several items as the point of contact between myself and the casual wear, the employees, and the brand, the primary action is seeking information on how A&F handles customers.

• When does it take place?

For the sake of comprehensive information gathering, between three days and four days with different employees at different sections of the store will suffice.

• Where does it take place?

Online shopping experience accentuated with a direct phone call to the store is the primary venue of the shopping situation. Thus, there is also a possibility of email correspondence and texting with the employee, thereby providing an entire spectrum of online purchase.

Step 4.1 Sample Selection

I interacted with three employees, each with a different capacity as shown below.

• The customer care agent. The primary intention of speaking to her was to get the general direction of how to make an online purchase and other order-related information such as expected time of delivery.
• The online correspondent. This is the person who keeps the customers updated on the status of the order.
• The casual wear salesperson. The individual is connected by the customer care agent to explain the details and specifics of the jeans, hoodies, T-shirts, rubber shoes and other products.

Step 4.2 Describe A&F and its casual wear products

The jeans, hoodies, T-shirts, rubber shoes and other casual wear at A&F are branded as a global luxury life-style, with a view of creating an upscale image of the consumers. Previously, the company was inclined to an exclusive relationship with the customers, an approach to brand identity that made A&F lose customers significantly. Therefore, as at the time of conducting this VoC research, its products and services are open to all consumers across all three brands of the larger company, namely, Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks.

Step 4.3 Describe your engagement with A&F Casual Wear employee(s) expectations based on the 4 questions in this section.

• What were your expectations for your treatment as a guest?

 

The primary expectation was that the A&F brand identity of a luxurious casual wear provider would provide a sales experience of the same level. Also, I expected the optimal treatment as a guest where the workers would appropriately respond to my queries as I sough their audience on a range of questions. As a consumer, the willingness, gladness, and helpful attitude from the employees were key factor of expectation.

• What was the level of service you expected during your visit?

 

In all levels of services, I expected trained employees who know the brand, the products, and all necessary information. Also, its contingent on good customer service to anticipate my needs based on the first few exchanges on the phone. Therefore, I also expected the employees to actively render useful information that I did not ask about.

 

• What information do you expect to discover from the sample of employees?

 

While I expected a smooth purchase from start to finish, I also seek to discover the role of each employee and department. It is critical to know the connection between different employees and departments as part of the same unit of service provision for the employees. This is shown by the level of accurate information rendering and uniformity of data and information from the three employees spoken to.

Step 5: Data Collection

Step 5.1 Data Collection

While I have a genuine need for purchasing a pair of jeans, a hoodie and a pair of rubber shows, my main objective is to undergo the customer experience through an online engagement with the brand to see if the company meets my expectations mentioned above. The expected prices of the pair of jeans, the hoodie, and pair of rubber shows is between $40 and $90 each for a minimum price of $120 and a maximum price of $270. I hope the customer care and sales agent will guide me on matching colors through a range of recommendations to choose from. This shows the significance of the call with a salesperson, who adds on information such as warranty as provided by the customer care agent. Overall, the main attributes to gather from the conversation by the employees are: time of delivery, discounts, employee attitude, and length of willingness to engage customer.

Step 5.2 Describe the situation in which you engaged with the employee(s).

After visiting the Orlando store’s website, I collected the contact information for initial contact. First, I made a direct call to the customer care agent in the store to get a general feel of the conversation and their approach to engaging the customer. The exchange with the representative also provided more information relating to the brand and offered goods and services. Secondly, I re-called the same number and the same representative picked the phone, keeping the same attitude and willingness to assist. However, I asked to be re-directed to an expert on men’s wear to gather information on matching outfits, warranty prices, and others mentioned above. The satisfactory exchange with the two employees informed the need to purchase the three items, from whence I corresponded via email with an order manager. The pre-prepared emails explained the logistics of order delivery. Still, the order manager also wrote emails answering several key questions on the brand.

Step 5.3 Create a Data List.  It will be all the text statements you recorded/wrote down during or directly after your interaction with the employee(s). 

Customer-employee data list – text statements/comments

1. The employees are extremely engaging in all their talk, speech and overall attitude on phone, email and texts.
2. There is active engagement denoted by offering information and data before even asking.
3. The experience is marked mostly by employee desire to know the customer and their needs, as opposed to focusing on the brand.
4. There is minimal talk of prices, numbers, and statistics
5. Employees adopt an educative tone on the brand and its products. For instance, the sales agent was kind to explain the difference between various types of hoodies.
6. The email correspondent took a relatively long time (up to 9 hours) before relying to some of the messages.
7. All employees exhibited the common courtesy and etiquette.

Step 6:  Empathy Data Collection and Analysis

Step 6.1 Using the List of Qualitative Data (Step 5.3) identify which employee comments reflect empathy. Determine what is the most appropriate dimension of personality (cognitive, behavior, affect, perception.

If you determine there are NO Empathy comments in your data then the analysis is stated as 0.

1. Statements, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 adopt an empathetic tone and a desire to make the customer feel engaged and welcome to shop again. They make the customer think of engaging more with the product and the brand.
2. Statement 6 was the only indication of a lack of empathy from the company. While there may be a genuine reason for delay, it affects the consumer view of the brand.
3. Still, this analysis recognizes the possibility of the existence of numerous customers to be served. Still, the company should endeavor to have a real-time and fast email communication platform.
4. Statement 7 is the summative element of the nature of employee engagement at A&F. The workers are courteous and extremely consumer-oriented. This is predicated on behavioral tendencies.
5. The avoidance of number talks in statement 5 deflects attention from the brand and empathy is shown by the focus on the needs of the customer. This relates to perception.
6. All statement, except 6, speak to the cognitive influence of the employees on the customer.

Step 6.2 Insert all Empathy comments from Step 6.1 into Table 1 below.

Table 1. Empathy Analysis by Four Personality Dimensions
Cognitive (think) 1.      Statements, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 adopt an empathetic tone and a desire to make the customer feel engaged and welcome to shop again. They make the customer think of engaging more with the product and the brand.	Affect (Feel, Emotion) 1.      Statement 7 is the summative element of the nature of employee engagement at A&F. The workers are courteous and extremely consumer-oriented. This is predicated on behavioral tendencies. 2.      All statement, except 6, speak to the cognitive influence of the employees on the customer.
Behavior (Act, Do) 1.      Statement 6 was the only indication of a lack of empathy from the company. While there may be a genuine reason for delay, it affects the consumer view of the brand. 2.      Still, this analysis recognizes the possibility of the existence of numerous customers to be served. Still, the company should endeavor to have a real-time and fast email communication platform.	Perception (Awareness thru 5 senses) 1.      The avoidance of number talks in statement 5 deflects attention from the brand and empathy is shown by the focus on the needs of the customer. This relates to perception.

 

Step 6.3 Use all the Qualitative Data from STEP 5.3 to Create – SWOT Analysis

Table 2. SWOT Analysis of All Employee Comments List (1-4) the information requested in the below. 1.      A&F Orlando, Florida Store 2.      Less than 50 employees 3.      Casual wear branded goods and services 4.      February 16th, 2021.
Strengths ·         Employees have vast knowledge of the brand and its products. ·         The conversations are consumer oriented, and not brand-oriented. ·         Proactivity in information provision is a major strength.	Weaknesses ·         A long time is taken before email response. ·         A relatively small window of warranty for clothing. ·         Customer service and sales agent engagement is not reflected in email correspondent with order managers.
Opportunities   ·         Employees can be brief in their information provision. ·         Employees can use the customer’s name more. ·         Employees can offer customers compliments based on the engagement.	Threats   ·         Excessive proactivity threatens to exhibit employees unwilling to listen. ·         Failure to respond promptly to emails leads to loss of possible buyers. ·         Misalignment of employee effectiveness across departments diminishes brand growth.

 

Step 6.4 Data Analyses: Quantitative Data – Empathy % (Hi/Low) and CSAT

[Show your work: Insert your equation for calculating % empathy. Divide total number of employee empathy comments by the total number of all employee comments in the SWOT.]

Total number of employee empathy-only statements (Table 1)    =     % Empathy

Total number of all employee statements in SWOT (Table 2)

6   * 100 =   85.71 % Empathy

7

An 85 % empathy is high.

[Show you response to the CSAT

What was your level of satisfaction from very satisfied to very dissatisfied with employees at A&F when you were seeking to purchase casual wear?

CSAT = (1) very dissatisfied, (2) Dissatisfied, (3) Neutral, (4) Satisfied, (5) very satisfied.

CSAT = (4) Satisfied

Step 7: Results

• State result of Empathy Score as a percentage and as high or low.

 

The empathy score is due to a heightened sensitivity on consumer needs, wants and desires.

 

 

• State result of overall CSAT Score.

 

An 85 % score is satisfactory and impressive since it indicates the A&F Orlando store’s desire to serve all their customers diligently and within the acceptable scope and limits of brand-consumer interaction.

• Complete Table 3. You may choose to copy/paste your comments of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats from Table 2 fully or partially below as appropriate. You will be summarizing if in your engagement with the employee(s) there were any statements to you of empathy (this would be a strength). Or, if empathy was weak or missing, was it a weakness (you expressed something about yourself or purpose of purchase and there was no appropriate response), an opportunity (was there an opportunity that you gave information and they responded, however in an incomplete or wimpy manner?) or a threat (was there a negative, non-helpful or rude response to your situation or need?). You will do this by using your data collected in Table 1. Insert data in appropriate cells below in Table 3. If your experience was completely positive, you may only have the Strengths box filled in. If it was negative in various forms, you will have Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats or any combination of.

 

 

 

Table 3. Results for SWOT times (X) Empathy
Strengths ·         Employees have vast knowledge of the brand and its products. ·         The conversations are consumer oriented, and not brand-oriented. ·         Proactivity in information provision is a major strength.   The strengths exhibit empathy in their capacity to provoke the customer in terms of cognitive, behavioral, perceptive response	Weaknesses ·         A long time is taken before email response. Affects consumer information gathering for decision-making. ·         A relatively small window of warranty for clothing. Affects possibility of returning purchases. ·         Customer service and sales agent engagement is not reflected in email correspondent with order managers – Affects overall sales experience.
Empathy- Cognitive, Affect, Behavior, Perception	Empathy – Cognitive, Affect, Behavior, Perception
Opportunities ·         Employees can be brief in their information provision. ·         Employees can use the customer’s name more. ·         Employees can offer customers compliments based on the engagement.   These opportunities are more connected to the cognitive arousal of consumer towards the brand and its products.	Threats ·         Excessive proactivity threatens to exhibit employees unwilling to listen. ·         Failure to respond promptly to emails leads to loss of possible buyers. ·         Misalignment of employee effectiveness across departments diminishes brand growth.   These weaknesses hinder the behavioral response of the customer towards the brand and its products.
Empathy – Cognitive, Affect, Behavior, Perception	Empathy – Cognitive, Affect, Behavior, Perception

 

• Results of Table 3 SWOT times (X) Empathy

 

1. The greatest empathy was expressed in strengths and opportunities.

 

2. The least or no empathy was expressed in

 

3. The highest application of empathy was for

 

4. The lowest application of empathy was for visual aid.

 

8.1 Strategies

[Using Table 3, choose two SWOT times (X) Empathy categories. For each category, develop a strategy that would have improved your overall satisfaction with your employee experience.] 

Strategy 1: Sharing the A&F vision and mission of providing luxury in casual wear could significantly enhance the capacity for the customers to be more engaged knowing the reason for the brand and its products. For example, telling me how the pair of jeans, the hoodie and the pair of rubber shoes would help me in my social life is a major motivator.

Strategy 2: Journey Mapping. This is the attribute that seeks to know how the employee came to know about the company. The primary intention here is to ensure that employee cares about the customer’s social life without being intrusive. This calls for skills in communication and active engagement, where each party leaves the conversation feeling edified by the other.