How verified feedback unifies retail’s omnichannel experience
The retail sector is under pressure. Customers expect more – not just faster service, but smarter, more empathetic engagement.
Customers expect a seamless journey between your website and your store. To the customer, only one brand exists – there’s no difference between Instagram, your website or store - they expect an experience where they feel known, understood, and genuinely cared for. Internal data silos often fragment this experience, costing sales and eroding trust.
What is the role of feedback in omnichannel retail?
Verified feedback acts as the unifying data layer. By synthesising sentiment and context across every touchpoint –from WhatsApp surveys post-purchase to online reviews – retailers can move beyond simple transactions to anticipate emotional needs.
Key takeaways:
- Scale the human connection: 54% of consumers expect a response to every review.
- Expand your channels: WhatsApp has a 77% open rate; SMS offers speed to capture richer data.
- Boost repeat business: There is a 97% likelihood of repeat purchases from customers who receive replies.
- Operational intelligence: Use sentiment analysis to understand exactly what your customers value.
When your digital and physical worlds don't connect
Feefo research reveals that consumers crave deeper connections with brands and reward those who deliver. However, in the current omni channel in retail industry, a painful disconnect often remains.
The separation between the website and the store creates a barrier that customers typically find frustrating. Many retailers struggle with siloed data. The in-store POS often lacks visibility on a customer's recent app or website research. This represents a missed opportunity for empathy and connection.
Retailers making the biggest strides use data to elevate customer empathy and streamline operations. Verified feedback bridges the physical transaction and the digital experience, ensuring the customer feels heard regardless of where they shop.
The "meet them where they are" philosophy
Today’s customers live across inboxes, apps, and messaging platforms. An effective feedback strategy involves asking the right questions in the right place.
While email remains central to most strategies, relying on it exclusively limits your reach. A thoughtful multi-channel approach – layering different touchpoints based on customer behaviour – consistently outperforms single-channel methods.
Different channels offer unique strengths for capturing the omnichannel retail experience:
- Embedded Email (In-Mail): Remove friction by allowing customers to respond directly inside the email. Not On The High Street used this functionality to achieve an 88% increase in response rates.
- SMS: The king of speed. With an open rate of 82%, SMS is perfect for quick metrics like NPS, capturing sentiment while the experience is fresh.
- WhatsApp: Ideal for conversational and visual feedback. With 76% of UK adults using it regularly and a 77% open rate, it allows customers to share rich responses, including images.
- QR Codes: These serve as the bridge for physical experiences, essential for real-time feedback in retail stores.
By diversifying channels, you reduce friction and make it easier for customers to respond, leading to richer insights.
The revenue advantage: SEO, inventory, and returns
Responding to reviews can be overlooked but serves as a critical business driver. Verified reviews build trust, but the interaction secures loyalty.
The Data:
- 54% of consumers expect a response to every review–regardless of context.
- 97% of customers are more likely to buy again from brands that reply.
Connecting your data drives hard revenue. Over 90% of consumers read online reviews before buying. This makes achieving Google Seller Ratings and product snippets essential for visibility.
When you display and interact with this content, the results are significant:
- Brands see a 128% uplift in conversions when website visitors interact with review content.
- Simply displaying reviews can lead to an 18% uplift in sales.
Beyond sales, authentic reviews provide the intelligence needed to make smarter decisions. Belledorm used insights from customer reviews to launch a sustainable product line directly shaped by customer demand. Listening to feedback across channels allows you to spot trends—such as specific fit issues causing returns—and fix them.
[h2] The final step: Making CX the omnichannel engine
A true omnichannel strategy focuses on unifying experience data to support human teams rather than replacing them. By using a centralised platform to capture consistent product and service sentiment, you gain a "single source of truth."
You do not need to launch every channel at once. Start with email as your foundation and layer in one additional channel, such as SMS or WhatsApp, based on your specific customer demographics.
Feefo’s tools support teams in scaling the human touch, ensuring that every piece of feedback—from a local store tag to a WhatsApp message—is synthesized into actionable intelligence.
Ready to build deeper connections with every customer? Find out more about scaling human connection with Feefo.
