How to Empower Customers

This is my second in a three-part series addressing the how-to of my empowerment strategy. In this post, I will look more closely at the concept of empowering customers.

First, why empower customers? That is an easy one to address. In today’s digital world, customers expect a level of control. This is true whether your customer is a mom shopping for children’s clothing or a purchasing manager in the market for turbine engines. Technology has come to a place in which we all expect to be able to reach out and craft a purchasing experience that suits our needs.

At Rakuten, our customers are not just the end users of products. Our customers are also the merchants who use our platform to reach the moms and purchasing managers of the world. But just like any other customer of any other product, Rakuten merchants want control.

How do we empower them?

1. Through tools. When we first developed our marketplace, our key offering to merchants was our slate of tools. We offered the merchants a chance to customize their storefronts and communicate with their own customers directly. But we did not give these elements to our customers as a gift. Instead, we created the tools merchants would need and we taught them how to use the tools most effectively. Many stories from the early days of our company revolve around a Rakuten technologist teaching a merchant how to set up and use a computer. Today, we run Rakuten University in which we continue the tradition of offering great tools and the instruction needed to use them. Armed and educated, our merchants are empowered to take the next step in their own success.
2. Through transparency. This is a key way in which we differ from other e-commerce marketplace platforms. At Rakuten, we believe that transparency is a critical element of empowerment and ultimate success. We allow our customers to see the full expression of their transactions. They are able to see who purchases from them via the Rakuten platform and they are able to reach out and build a relationship with that individual. Not all e-commerce platforms offer the opportunity for the merchant to see and react to this information. We see it as a way we empower our merchants to step up and make the most of the opportunity our marketplace affords them.
3. Through communication. This is an element that is often overlooked. When we empower customers, the most important thing we can do is communicate our desire to see them take up that responsibility and run with it. It is no good at all if we create wonderful tools for empowerment but we make no effort to encourage customers to use them. We strive at Rakuten to communicate to our customers at all times that we believe in them, we believe in their abilities to take the tools we have created and do spectacular things with them. We deliver this message through our staff, our virtual communications our company meetings and our teaching tools.

Some in the e-commerce industry may worry that empowering customers means losing control over them. But it has been my experience that the empowered customer is a loyal customer. This is a customer who sees a future with you – as a partner and not as a cog in your larger machine.

By : Hiroshi Mikitani – Linkedin Article

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