The Digital Way to Personalized Store Service

That’s where the Hawk Shop and University Bookstore at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, comes in. The store provides an online questionnaire to help guide students to recommended computer models that meet their specific needs. The service tripled the store’s sales in the first year.

Ruby Bollinger, assistant director of retail operations at the Hawk Shop, described how the service came to be in her CAMEX 2020 session presentation, Using Technology to Provide Customer Value.

Not so long ago, like a number of campus stores, the Hawk Shop and University Bookstore was experiencing flat sales in its technology department. The store is a certified Apple Store and also offers Microsoft Surface, along with an array of accessories. But as Bollinger noted, “There was very little loyalty to the bookstore” when it came to buying a computer. Students, as well as faculty and staff, had lots of other options, and often cost was a deciding factor.

At the time the store relied on tried-and-true marketing tactics to sell computer hardware, with catalog-style images of each model and a bullet list of features and pricing posted on the store’s website. The site was easy to shop—if the customer knew exactly what they wanted.

When customers came into the store, though, they got the benefit of personal service attention from a sales associate who could ask questions to find out how they intended to use the computer and their budget.

Bollinger said she tried to get more prospective customers into the store to take advantage of that personal touch. She planned a special sales event and promoted it on the website and in email.

Food was brought in for the event and extra associates were scheduled to work in anticipation of a crowd. But on the day of the sale, Bollinger said, “We waited. And waited. People we thought would come in didn’t. We had a slight bump in sales, but it was the event that wasn’t.”

Clearly something had to change with marketing. A new supervisor encouraged Bollinger to try a different approach.

She decided to see if the personal in-store service could be replicated in an online format. Simply listing models and features wasn’t enough. “Do you give them the exact same experience as when they’re standing face-to-face with you?” she asked.

Using Qualtrics survey software, which the university had already licensed for other purposes, Bollinger developed an online form that led customers through a series of friendly questions about their computer needs.

“I had to learn the program as well, it took a bit,” she said. She opted for Qualtrics, rather than one of the popular quick-survey services such as SurveyMonkey, because it can create branching questions—depending on which answer the taker chooses, the follow-up questions will be different. “I created one with 157 questions on the back side,” although customers saw only about a dozen questions or so.

A link to the survey questionnaire was set up on the store’s website, but unbeknownst to Bollinger, her supervisor arranged to send out a promotional email with the link as well. Since Bollinger received an automated email every time a completed survey was submitted, suddenly her inbox blew up.

“My email went crazy,” Bollinger recalled. “It went on forever, all day.” In all, there were 700 emails from customers interested in buying a computer. Compare that to the 30 or so machines the store normally sells at a sales event.

It became plain the Hawk Shop had tapped into a lot of “people who want the convenience of in-store shopping but not necessarily the face-to-face of it,” she said. The questionnaire provides personal service, combined with speed and 24/7 convenience, with educational discounts as an added benefit.

The questionnaire was also handy for the twice-a-year faculty and staff sale. “Professors and staff want you to respect their time. They want it to be very easy to use,” Bollinger told the session audience. “They liked it. The next year we had amazing results.”

For freshman orientation, the store partnered with the admissions office to send out a special email with the survey link to incoming students. It took a couple years to get the admissions folks on board with the idea, but now they send the email after the welcome packet has been delivered. The email explains how the store can help alleviate stress by enabling the student to choose the right computer and have it waiting for them when they arrive on campus (or they can arrange for shipment).

The orientation pitch paid off. “Before the first day of the term, we had sold as many computers as the whole term before,” she said.

Bollinger said orders are tracked on a massive color-coded spreadsheet. The data also assists store buyers “so they know what they’re ordering for next year.”

Potential customers coming directly to the Hawk Shop’s website will find a “Buy Your Computer” promo right on the home page, with a link to “Find the Right Computer” immediately underneath. The link takes the customer to the orientation page and a bright yellow box with the “Get Your Computer Recommendation” survey link.