Shaun Loughlin | LeMieux | The Power of Just Asking: How Direct Customer Feedback Drives Success

Summary

Sean Llin, Global Head of E-commerce at Lamir, discusses the transformative power of customer feedback in driving business growth. He shares strategies for collecting open-ended feedback, analyzing it through reflective analysis, and implementing solutions that have significantly impacted Lamir's business, including the development of an outfit builder feature.

Takeaways

• 🌟 Sean Llin is the global head of e-commerce at Lamir, a rapidly growing equestrian brand.
• 🏆 Lamir is a market leader in the UK equestrian industry and is expanding globally.
• 🤔 Sean faced the challenge of managing a brand in an industry he was initially unfamiliar with.
• 💡 The solution was to leverage customer feedback to understand their needs and improve the business.
• 📈 Three key pillars for using customer feedback effectively are: open-ended feedback, multiple regular sources of feedback, and a system for analyzing and grouping feedback.
• 📚 Open-ended feedback prioritizes qualitative research over quantitative data, encouraging customers to express their thoughts freely.
• 🔍 Multiple sources of feedback, such as checkout exit surveys and post-purchase surveys, provide a continuous stream of insights.
• 🧩 Reflective analysis is a method used to categorize feedback based on solutions, not problems, to address multiple customer issues with single solutions.
• 👵 A significant insight from feedback was the shift in who places orders, with grandparents increasingly involved, impacting marketing and website design.
• 👗 The Outfit Builder feature was developed based on customer feedback, allowing easy selection of matching sets for horses and riders, and has been highly successful.
• 📈 Direct customer feedback has driven significant business growth, with a three-fold increase in direct consumer business in three years.

Q & A

Who is Sean Llin and what is his role in the company?

Sean Llin is the global head of e-commerce at Lamir, one of the fastest-growing equestrian brands in the world. He has nearly 20 years of experience in digital, primarily in growing early-stage e-commerce brands.

What is the main focus of Lamir's business?

Lamir focuses on manufacturing and selling equestrian equipment and products that cater to passionate equestrians. Their products range from casual riding gear to professional equipment used in world and Olympic level competitions.

What challenges did Sean Llin face when he joined Lamir?

Sean Llin faced the challenge of having no prior knowledge about horses or equestrian equipment. Additionally, the company lacked a customer data platform, CRM, and Google Analytics was not configured correctly. The business had also recently migrated from a legacy ERP and web platform, leaving him with no data to work with.

How does Lamir's customer base typically prioritize their product categories?

Lamir's customers prioritize their product categories with 'Weare' being the top-selling category, followed by women's clothing and rider wear. The horse comes first, and men's products are the least prioritized.

What is the significance of the term 'reflective analysis' in the context of customer feedback?

Reflective analysis is a system used by Lamir to analyze and group customer feedback. It involves asking questions repeatedly to force a deeper understanding of the real problems customers are trying to overcome and to think about how to fix them.

What are the three key pillars of Lamir's approach to using customer feedback?

The three key pillars are: 1) Collecting open-ended feedback, prioritizing qualitative research over quantitative data. 2) Having multiple regular sources of feedback. 3) Using a system like reflective analysis to categorize and analyze feedback.

How does Lamir utilize checkout exit surveys and post-purchase surveys?

Lamir uses checkout exit surveys that pop up when a customer attempts to leave the checkout and post-purchase surveys displayed on the order confirmation page. These surveys capture customer sentiment in the moment of frustration or joy, providing valuable feedback.

What was the impact of focusing on customer feedback on Lamir's business?

Focusing on customer feedback led to significant changes in Lamir's business, such as developing an outfit builder for horse and rider, which became the third most visited page on their website. It also influenced their marketing strategies and website merchandising.

How did Lamir's approach to customer feedback help them understand the changing dynamics of their customer base?

Through customer feedback, Lamir discovered that the traditional assumption of the 'Mom' as the primary customer was changing. More often, children were going directly to grandparents to make purchases, leading to a need for assisted buying programs and changes in marketing strategies.

What was the outcome of Lamir's survey with seven open-ended questions?

The survey resulted in over 4,000 responses in just a few days, leading to the analysis and categorization of over 28,000 unique pieces of customer feedback. This feedback was instrumental in identifying key areas for improvement and innovation in their products and services.

What advice does Sean Llin give for businesses looking to improve their customer experience?

Sean Llin advises businesses to speak to their customers regularly, conduct qualitative research such as interviews, user tests, and surveys to understand what is truly important to them. He emphasizes the importance of asking customers directly and not just relying on existing data.