If you’ve ever considered buying a bicycle for yourself or a loved one, chances are you’ve considered some of the iconic brands behind the Pacific Cycle name. As the makers of timeless brands like Schwinn, Cannondale and KidTrax, Pacific Cycle has embraced digital transformation to own every cul-de-sac in America. Since 2015, the manufacturer has seen positive results by leveraging tools like Salsify’s Product Experience Management (PXM) platform and Welcome Commerce’s chat tool, now known as Salsify Chat. In a recent webinar, Mitzi Krone, Sr Director of Customer Service at Pacific Cycle shared how the company was able to increase in customer loyalty, brand satisfaction scores, and sales on Walmart.com by using the data and feedback received through Salsify Chat to create a more personalized and humanized shopping experience for consumers online.
Digital Transformation Rooted In Continuous Customer Feedback
So, what was the digital transformation process like for Pacific Cycle? Before investing in Salsify, the company kept product information in spreadsheets and was using other non-agile forms of data management. Prompted by growing market competition and the continued rise of ecommerce sales, Mitzi recognized the need to bolster the company’s thin product description pages and online presence, especially on Walmart.com. At the same time, she was prompted by those at Walmart to try a new live chat tool that would help provide customers with clear and concise product information at the point of purchase. Given the nature and variability of bicycle specs, it was a natural step for Pacific Cycle. Mitzi’s team discovered that leveraging customer’s FAQs, comments and concerns to provide more targeted clarity in the product data was one of the best ways to reduce product returns, negative reviews and consistently meet customer expectations about the products.
Customer Service-Driven Satisfaction
In addition to this, since the implementation of Salsify Chat, Pacific Cycle has seen an increase in its customer service satisfaction scores, driving customer loyalty for its brands. This can be attributed in part to the fact that Mitzi and her team don’t believe in using conversation templates or predetermined dialogs when conversing through chat, and instead opt for incorporating personal details, recommendations and suggestions to make the process of shopping online feel less robotic and impersonal. Mitzi believes that every brand has a personality that can be portrayed even through automated tools like chat.
Cross-Selling Fueled By A Strong Relationship With Consumers
By leveraging this tool, not only is Pacific Cycle able to provide a better shopping experience for its consumers, but it also has seen o increase sales in related category products. As a result of the humanized relationship building and rapport created through chat, customer service representatives are able to suggest and remind customers to purchase other products like helmets, bike locks, replacement tires, etc. without coming off as pushy or “salesy”. Not only that, Pacific Cycle continually uses customer suggestions and questions about the products to enact real change in how the company was designing the products, effectively eliminating certain pain points that customers might have had with the brand.
Overall, Salsify Chat has allowed Pacific Cycle to build a long-lasting and meaningful relationship with its customers by giving them the ability to have all of their questions answered when it matters the most--at the point of purchase. Where does Mitzi see ecommerce technology going for the brand in the future? For one, she’s excited about the prospect of integrating the tools even further to provide a more holistic shopping experience for consumers, expanding into other retailers such as Amazon.com and Target.com, among others, as well as leveraging customer insights to produce better catered products for the company's consumers.
To learn more about Salsify Chat or how your brand can start using it today, click here.
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