Personalizing the customer experience is a great way to make customers feel important and valued. When it comes to homeowners who are about to invest a large sum of money into new floors, providing a one-on-one, tailored service builds confidence in your business and makes it stand out.
When opening Bespoke Floors in 2019, I wanted to find a way to build stronger connections with customers by tailoring to their individual needs. One approach I’ve taken has been creating individualized kiosks of wood floor samples based on each customer instead of directing them to racks of samples in a showroom.
Before opening Bespoke Floors, I was a showroom manager for a wood flooring retailer and noticed customers were often overwhelmed with the endless options. When I opened my showroom, I went for a minimalistic design with limited samples. A gallery-like showroom fit the company’s brand and eliminated customers’ choice fatigue. When it comes to showrooms, less can be more. Going for a gallery showroom meant sacrificing having the right flooring for customers on hand, but it opened the opportunity to provide personalized shopping experiences.
Creating this personalized experience starts with client consultations to learn what wood flooring they’re looking for. In this conversation, you want to get to know the client, what their aesthetic is, what their lifestyle is and what are the conditions of the home. This way you can narrow down what they may like and what will work for their home. Based on these conversations with the client, I’ll put together a kiosk of three to four samples that fit their style and needs. Giving clients a personalized selection of flooring to choose from makes them feel valued by the company they’re working with and more invested in the flooring they purchase.
Gathering personalized samples for clients instead of keeping large amounts of samples in a showroom can have additional business benefits. Samples kept in the showroom tend to fade and discolor over time, so if a sample has been in the showroom for a long time, it may look different from the flooring that eventually goes into the client’s home. Sourcing samples for each customer can eliminate one additional thing that makes a customer unhappy.
Your approach to retail is specific to what works for you and your business, but implementing personalized experiences with clients can improve their relationship with you and make your business stand out.
Lygia Linardi owns and operates Norwalk, Conn.-based Bespoke Floors and is a recipient of the 2024 WFB Outstanding Retailer Award.
