Author: Amy Roche
While customer journey mapping and experience are all the rage at the moment, the real force multiplier for brick and mortar stores comes from tapping into our own emotional and human needs – or Humanics.
Humanics is about identifying deep emotional, values and human needs – not just the needs of your ‘customer’…. your target….a segment….but rather the emotional person.
However, how we distil and then apply these humanistic needs and then bring them to life is the crucial step to create ‘magic moments’ for customers in-store.
Back in 2010, I was searching for a way to bring a Jamie Oliver campaign to life in my 2500sqm, home electrical store. We had spent (as one of 90+ franchisees) a great deal of money to partner with Jamie’s, Ministry of Food.
So, naturally, when our head office came up with traditional advertising (catalogues, TVC’s,etc.) in-store point of sale, blogs and a few ‘meet and greets’, I felt a bit let down.
Personally, I’m inspired by Jamie’s message. It was this very ‘inspiration’ that fuelled me to create a local movement of what Jamie was fighting for and triggered a string of other social ‘experiments’ I would run inside my store for the next three years.
We hosted media launches, staff cooking competitions, customer classes and experiences all inside our store and it was my first insight into the power of events with a purpose.
These experiments produced an outpouring of interest and engagement in our community but also brought in new customers, endeared existing customers, increased visitation, sales and our staff loved it too.
Looking beyond our own commercial desires opens more meaningful human needs and values like;
- inspiration – help others take action on something important
- freedom – how can we spark the spirit of freedom and choice
- identity – help facilitate groups ‘like me’
- creation – provoke creators to put their mark on your brand
Here’s my home cooked recipe for creating ‘magic moments’ at events in your store;
- It’s a special Human-to-Human event, taking place inside your store
- The entire event is ALL ABOUT the Attendees, from start to finish – not about you or sales goals
- Its purpose is super-easy to communicate and share socially
- It creates advocacy and sharing – your RSVP list(s) will have multiple surnames and referrals to family and friends
- It’s all about creating community and cause first – it’s also a niche community you are reaching out to.
About the Author: Amy Roche is the author of, The Retail Experiment, five proven strategies to engage & excite customers through in-store experience. She’s a retailer, marketer and in-store experience nerd with a passion for helping other retailers re-connect with customers.
Amy’s the founding director of Retail Rockstars – an event marketing platform that develops inspirational and educational LIVE in-store experiences and classes for large retailers’ customers. They source bespoke experts (Rockstars) to facilitate them, market and manage the events from start to finish.
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