Identifying and obtaining the appropriate in-store metric gives store or branch managers a powerful tool for daily operational decision making. Analysis and use of these in-store metrics to implement action plans positively affects customer purchasing behavior.
 
Best Practice: Measure in-store performance metrics
·       Customer arrivals
·       Customer wait times
·       Queue length
·       Average service time
·       Cashier utilization
 
There are multiple ways to then tie this data to store performance on a daily basis. For starters, share the recorded data with employees. Whether you do this in a daily “huddle” before the open of business or keep it on a white board in the break room, you have given key insight to your frontline service and introduced a level of trust and communication to the manager / service relationship. As a result, your store or branch’s customer service is objective and measurable. This allows you to create a baseline across your organization. In daily operations, you now have a foundation for employee contests and the ability to tie compensation directly to the metrics that matter to you and your customers.
 
Analysis of this data also allows you to increase cashier service and productivity. A concrete understanding of traffic patterns and the resulting wait times supports new operational processes such as walkie-talkies or runners to support non-routine transactions. These changes can help you provide higher cashier availability during peak times. In addition to lowering average service times, you also uncover key staffing and training issues. By identifying training opportunities for underperforming service personnel and understanding the learning curve for new hires, your training program can be tailored for maximum performance.
 
In-store metrics enable intra-day and dynamic service management. By examining arrivals and queue length data, you can introduce flexibility in break hours and lunch scheduling. This allows you to increase the number of cashiers and keep queue lengths low during peaks in customer demand. This heightened awareness of queue lengths and task balancing increases the consistency of service across operating hours and lessens the likelihood of service failures.
 
Store performance is also affected through new cashier or service strategies. Consider introducing self-service options or even premium or commercial service points. By using your existing resources, you can create a better service offering for premium customers. In-store metrics support decision-making on an on-going basis and allow for experimentation to uncover the optimum service mix for your customers.
 
There is a strong correlation between your customers’ experience in your store or branch and their level of their satisfaction. By understanding and acting on one, you have the ability to influence the other. Customer experience metrics give you the data to close the loop between customer satisfaction and increased store revenue. This data is a powerful tool that gives a competitive edge to move beyond simply providing base customer satisfaction to creating a strong and loyal base of advocates.