For those who own or manage brick-and-mortar dive shops, creating a memorable customer experience is paramount. Dive shops are generally only located in areas where diving is prevalent, which means if you don’t give your customers their ideal experience, someone else is going to.
There is a strong correlation between customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, and we’re here to take a good look at dive shop best practices for creating unbeatable customer experiences. With that in mind, we’re going to go over some of the best practices for optimizing your dive shop layout, design, staff processes, and more, that will work to make your dive shop memorable.
As a dive shop, you want to cultivate an atmosphere of adventure and thrill, but also of freedom and being small in the big picture of the seas. Creating this atmosphere is a big part of a positive customer experience. You’ll need to incorporate nautical colors, signage, and diving or SCUBA-themed decor to bring that unmistakable dive shop feel to your store.
When laying out your store, be sure to account for the easy and natural flow and navigation of the shop. This will help people take a natural path through your shop, seeing all critical equipment and accessory categories. Group gear by type, category, and dive range, being sure that everything has appropriate informational signage.
Be sure that central in your store you have larger areas for gear fitting, sizing, and even demonstrations. Where space permits, provide seating near these areas, or within eye-line of them.
A major factor in determining the ultimate success or failure of a dive shop is its ability to offer a wide selection of products that cater to all skill levels and diving subgroups. By keeping a variety of gear and being accessible to all skill and certification levels, as well as stocking both popular and niche brands, your dive shop will be able to easily track industry and customer trends. Be sure you also showcase rotating featured products and promotions and offer well-maintained rental equipment as well.
Having staff that’s not only knowledgeable but passionate about diving and educating others on diving can be a make-or-break factor for many shops. Staff that knows what they’re talking about and can create a bond with customers are essential to improving the customer experience and building loyalty and growth.
Once you have decent staff, invest in them. Help pay for professional and personal development so they don’t feel like they are stagnating. Investing in staff development will show your staff that you want what’s best for them, which will make them feel more like they belong at your shop. Low staff churn is another way to build loyalty with regular customers.
To make your shop more than just a place to buy things or rent equipment, host regular workshops and educational clinics on subjects like diving safety, underwater photography, historical diving sites, and even marine conservation topics. This can help you engage and educate your customers, while also building community engagement and new customer interest.
Also, consider organizing group dive trips or similar expeditions. Offer refresher courses and diving certification courses and resources. If you rent equipment, you may also want to consider offering equipment repair services, as well as used and refurbished equipment. Offering a more comprehensive experience can grow your customer base as well as their overall brand loyalty.
Another big part of making sure the customer has their optimal experience is making sure they can access your brand in a way they enjoy and are comfortable with. This means your customer experience has to be “omnichannel”, providing access to your brand and even your inventory and ordering functionality across various e-commerce platforms and social networks.
Interacting in social media diving enthusiast groups, forums, and more are great ways to lend your expertise to those who may be looking to get into the hobby but don’t want to hang out at a store chatting with someone. Use these channels to showcase new products, services, or special events your shop may be involved in.
There are two parts to this, and while everyone seems to do one, the other gets forgotten much more easily.
Encourage your customers to share their honest thoughts and opinions about their experiences through surveys. These surveys should give the customer not only a chance to rate their experience but to provide feedback and details about their experience. Also, use technology diligently to monitor and respond to online reviews as well as social media reviews and comments. This gives you a chance to not only interact with your audience and customers but also keeps you in the loop on current performance trends or service gaps.
Once you have feedback coming in, hold staff meetings to not only discuss the feedback but also to collectively come up with ways to improve or address service gaps. Once strategies have been created to improve the customer experience, implement them and monitor their performance over time to ensure they’re helping general satisfaction and experience to improve. This constant focus on addressing your customers’ needs will keep you incredibly competitive.
As a trusted dive shop retail POS software, Dive Shop 360 combines physical point of sale with e-commerce to optimize and streamline your operations and help you focus on creating that ideal customer experience. Our solutions are designed specifically with dive shops in mind since we understand the unique and even rare challenges and opportunities that exist in our industry.
We’re committed to helping you implement these best practices and more, so you can experience an improved customer experience, and the feedback scores to prove it. Start building increased loyalty and, ultimately, more growth, by visiting Dive Shop 360 to learn more about how we can help you take your business into new, uncharted territory.
