Viralogy

A recent study by the Harvard Business Review shows that customers value self-service, whether online or at a kiosk, just as much as they value personal customer service.  The most important factor of the study is that “By and large, this indifference holds regardless of their age, demographic, issue type, or urgency.”

What this means for the brick-and-mortar

If you’re at a supermarket, this means that shoppers have no preference between the self-checkout kiosk or the traditional checkout line.

If you’re at a restaurant, people may choose to simply order from a screen at their table instead of having to order from a waiter and pay tip.  Or imagine ordering from your iPhone app and the waiter knowing which table to bring the food to because of Bluetooth wireless.  At the end of your meal, you can simply pay the bill via your phone as well.

If you’re at an apparel store, shoppers may choose to be sent recommendations straight from their mobile app instead of interacting with a customers sales rep.  If they don’t find what they’re looking for on the floor, they can check the store inventory from their phone to see if it’s in the back stock room or if another nearby store has the item they’re looking for.  They could even just order it from their phone and get it shipped to their house.

All of these situations bypass the personal customer service and utilize new mobile technologies to offer a scalable, consistent customer service.

What this means for the online retailer

Every online publication seems to be telling us that we need to engage our shoppers and create an open, transparent brand.  We’ve seen the benefits of this from the Old Spice Youtube+Twitter campaign.  However, if Harvard’s research holds true, then we may be seeing a different trend in the online retail space.

Companies such as Olark are providing any website with the power to actively engage a reader or shopper online. They are giving the power of the customer representative to the online store.

But if we abide by Harvard’s findings, online shoppers may not care about this personal touch; instead, they may just want an easier, simpler way to browse a store by themselves and find what they’re looking for.

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If you have the capital, then by all means invest in social shopping experiences such as Olark and Shop Together.  But don’t forget that more traditional types of applications like reviews and ratings are just as effective in increasing average order value and conversion rates.