Halfords has retained customer experience management experts Empathica, to analyse feedback from its new, ‘That’s Helpful, That’s Halfords’ strategy. The programme will be implemented across all 466 Halfords stores to measure and improve customer experiences.

The approach includes flashboard reporting which identifies areas that can be improved, as well as successes to celebrate with staff. Customers will be encouraged to provide feedback online through printed invitations actively handed out by Halfords staff, with the added incentive of a prize draw.

The move follows a successful three-month pilot at 17 Halfords stores, which gained over 8,000 responses from customers. The pilot was run concurrently with a mystery shop programme.

Steve Marson, retail operations director at Halfords, says: “It’s important that we deepen our understanding of our customer needs in order to build an appealing brand personality and remain competitive. Empathica’s approach tells us what our customers feel about our products and customer services. It will ultimately ensure that we provide the best shopping experience possible and help us develop and deliver on our Helpful promise.”

During the pilot stage, Halfords discovered 80 per cent of customer visits to stores are to purchase a specific product, about a third visit www.halfords.com before entering a store and over 60 per cent are keen to give future feedback.

Halfords also intend to implement GoRecommend, Empathica’s social networking application, which allows satisfied purchasers to recommend a brand or product via Facebook, Twitter and email.

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