Today's online shoppers are a sophisticated bunch that are redefining how they interact with brands. This, of course, puts the onus on Internet retailers to do whatever they can to establish and maintain a positive and functional relationship with those users - and on whatever channel and whatever device they happen to be using.
Needle is one of the companies that now sites squarely at the forefront of customer experience solutions (help desks and live chat are two examples). Website Magazine has covered Needle in the past, but for the uninitiated, it's a platform that makes it possible to connect a brands's best advocates and customers in a real-time (sales-focused) conversation.
Here's how it works: Needle recruits and certifies brand advocates (who happen to be category and product experts), then enables them to have conversations with customers that need help figuring out what to buy.
The problem for Needle however is that shoppers aren't always on their desktop computers, but increasingly their mobile devices. Needle's newly updated platform will begin serving a responsive interface so that these advocate/consumer conversations can be had on any device.
"The concept is simple but the results are game-changing. Connect a person considering a purchase with someone who is genuinely passionate about the product and the brand. Let them engage in authentic dialogue, then measure the results," said Morgan Lynch, founder and CEO of Needle. "The most valuable online shoppers are generally using mobile devices, and they want to engage with relevant advocates and experts on their timetable and device of choice. Brands and retailers that don't provide this type of service will lose out to those that do."
