It’s no secret that the fitting room is the single most important area of any successful retail apparel business. Customers can visit your website, follow you on social media platforms and browse your stores all day long, but unless they make routine visits to your fitting room to try on clothes, they will never contribute significantly to the revenue of your company.
Over the years our company has worked extremely hard to create technology that drives in-store traffic for retailers, gets customers off the sales floor and into the fitting room, tracks important fitting room metrics, and perhaps most importantly—improves the fitting room experience of each and every customer.
We’ve used various analytic tools to help retailers better manage the fitting room experience of their customers, but one of the most effective ways we’ve found is through the installation of fitting room call buttons.
Why Install Fitting Room Call Buttons?
One of the most common questions we get from large retailers when we suggest fitting room call buttons is, “won’t our associates be annoyed by multiple ‘doorbells’ constantly ringing in their ears?”
That’s a valid question, and to answer it requires a deeper explanation of the importance of the fitting room and what it means to customers, associates, and the future success of a retailer.
First and foremost, we need to remember that wise retailers understand:
- The fitting room is where buying decisions happen.
- Customers that spend time in a fitting room are much more likely to make a purchase than customers who remain on the sales floor.
- The fitting room experience is an opportunity for a sales associate to provide exceptional customer service, obtain feedback, upsell additional retail product, and foster a connection with the customer that can last forever.
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How Customer Psychology Factors into the Equation
For a customer in a retail store, there is nothing more naturally uncomfortable than entering a fitting room to try on clothes. After all, they are required to undress in a public place, they have to evaluate themselves in the mirror, and if they don’t like what they see they have to request help from a sales associate (if they are easily available) to get new items to try on or get their clothes back on to go look for something else on their own.
If assistance is not readily available, a shopper that decides they want to try on new clothes must go through the hassle of putting back on their own clothes, find new clothes to try on, and then return to the fitting room (potentially even waiting back in line) to begin the process all over again. In the retail analytics world, this is called the “dreaded re-dress”, and we can assure you no shopper looks forward to it.
One method sales associates routinely use to deal with the anxiety and stress of the fitting room is door knocking. Many retailers encourage their sales associates to knock on the door of fitting rooms to ensure shoppers stay in for a longer period of time. Unfortunately research shows that door knocking is extremely ineffective, and can even be considered an annoyance to shoppers. In fact, door knocking as a fitting room service strategy is only effective about 2% of the time. If the customer is still trying on clothes or isn’t ready to be engaged, door knocking can actually convince them to leave the fitting room sooner than expected.
So, What’s the Solution?
Hopefully, now you understand why call buttons can improve the fitting room experience of your customers and increase your sales and revenue dramatically. If your goal is to eliminate the anxiety and stress of the fitting room and provide your shoppers with top-tier on-demand service, a fitting room call button is a no-brainer.
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We understand that every retailer has different needs, which is why we designed a couple of different fitting room call button systems.
AlertTech Fitting Room Call Button Systems
Our first system is called EasyAssist.
What it is: The EasyAssist is a simple, inexpensive doorbell that can be used in a fitting room application.
How it Works: After waiting for three seconds of dead air, all calls are pushed directly through to a retailer’s business radio so a sales associate can respond to the call
Who it’s Best for: This system is optimal for retailers that deal with low in-store traffic and have fewer fitting rooms than larger stores
Our second call button system is called the Sense System.
What it is: Quite a bit more sophisticated than the EasyAssist. This system contains built-in logic and is extremely robust.
How it Works: The retailer can choose how calls come through (business radio, overhead paging system, SMS, iOS, text, etc.). If a new call does not come through the system for 30 seconds, the call button rings immediately.
If additional calls come in within 30 seconds, they are queued up, and notification happens every 30 seconds in bulk. For example, if multiple room buttons were pressed simultaneously, the message would come through that rooms x, y, and z are in need of assistance.
Additionally, external priority sensors will cause a light to blink on any fitting room that has requested assistance from an associate. The faster a light is blinking, the higher the priority (fast blinking lights indicate shoppers that have waited longer).
Store associates can also keep track of priority by connecting the system with their iPad if one is provided. The order of requests will be shown via the iPad app.
What it’s Best for: This system is best for stores that manage a lot of fitting rooms, want to improve their brand identity and are concerned with making decisions based on data-driven analytics.
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What Next?
Do you clearly see why installing fitting room call buttons is a wise decision? If you want to significantly improve the experience your customers have in the fitting room, implementing a call button system is a great option for your retail company. Research shows that customers who enter the fitting room are 67% more likely to make a purchase, so it’s imperative that you make them want to stay.
But call buttons are not the only thing that will help your customers in the fitting room. Learn more fitting room strategies in our eBook Try It On: How Fitting Room Optimization Can Improve the Customer Experience and Increase Sales. Just click on the image below.
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