Article
FCES15: Why design is key to customer engagement
Design is a key aspect for the customer experience and plays directly into the "corporate soul" and building a relationship with customers.
October 20, 2015 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com
The to-do list when it comes to engaging customers and all the strategies restaurants and retailers need to tackle is a long one. Often times one of the most critical — design — is either pushed to the side or just pushed down the list.
One reason is that many restaurants and retailers have two big misconceptions about store and location design: they think it's too expensive and don’t view it as critical or sexy emerging technologies such as mobile pay. They also often think it's just a matter of changing out chairs and window clings.
But, in fact, design is a key aspect for the customer experience and plays directly into the "corporate soul" and building a relationship with customers – especially the big customer target: the millennial.
"All we hear is the ‘m’ word over and over — millennial — and it's driving what we do. Customers want honesty, transparency, authenticity, sustainability and socialization and design plays into all that," Michelle Bushey, design director, Harrison Architecture and Design, said during a session Monday at the Fast Casual Executive Summit in Miami.
"Great design is available to everyone at any price," said Bushey.
Bushey, along with fellow panel speakers Rob Depp, vice president, restaurant design at FRCH Design Worldwide, and Nick DeCarlo, director, restaurant solutions for The Wendy's Company, shared a range of design projects that they played key roles in and the resulting impact on everything from financials to customer engagement.
The design effort must include the outside, the inside, the technology, the uniform and even the business employees, said DeCarlo, who outlined Wendy's extensive effort at revamping its brand design.
"At one point we had 43 designs within our brand, across the 6,000 restaurants," said DeCarlo.
Wendy's initiated its décor revamp three years ago and 1,000 locations now have the new updated look and logo.
"A patron came up to me at one of the newly designed stores and said 'Hey, you changed your logo and took out 'old fashion' and that's great because you're not old fashion anymore," said DeCarlo.
Wendy's tackled everything in its design refresh, even giving kitchen crews aprons for more of a "chef" look.
Pizza Hut's transformation in décor, as Bushey and Depp explained, boasted a plain, simple look with nice colors. At the brand's U.K. locations that simple design now features fun colors. Design, noted the experts, is not a one-size-fits-all strategy even for franchises with well-known brands such as Pizza Hut.
Open kitchens, less walls and a strong cultural message all play equal parts, along with paint, furniture and store layout in the design effort.
Done right, a design revamp can spur big transaction increases, in some cases 20 percent, said the panelists. The value of fostering a stronger relationship with repeat customers and meeting millennial expectations in terms of embracing the local community within the design is also a win.
"The design is the story line that moves through the environment," said Depp.
"Design is what you do yourself, it is when you express yourself," added Bushey. "It’s all about creating a seamless experience."
About Judy Mottl
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