Where's Your Customer?

Customers don't search the way they used to. They start on TikTok, or Instagram, ask ChatGPT for recommendations, or head straight to Amazon without even thinking about your website.   In this episode, I talk with Paul Culshaw, a strategist with over 25 years in SEO who's worked with major UK retailers, including Littlewoods and N Brown. Paul reveals why retail SEO strategy isn't really about sear...

Something shifts when you step back from work, doesn't it? Last summer, I had my first child, and whilst I knew maternity leave would be transformative personally, I didn't expect it to reshape the customer experience lessons I'd carry forward in my career. Between feeds and nappies, I found pockets of time to read nine customer experience books. What struck me wasn't just the individual insights,...

I don't know about you, but I've always got a job list on top of my day job list. Little things like booking eye tests, picking up paint samples, or nipping to the supermarket because you've run out of Calpol. I love it when I'm on a mission in a shop and everything just works. But then there's the flip side, when you can't find what you want, there's no one around to help, or worse, you finally d...

What Department Stores Teach Us About Customer Experience Last week I found myself in Darlington with time to spare, wandering into a House of Fraser that felt tired and unloved. Sitting in their quiet cafe, mostly surrounded by pensioners, I couldn't stop thinking about how different these places used to feel when I'd visit them with my nan. Department stores used to feel magical. Someone had cur...

The most customer-focused retail leaders aren't waiting for formal AI training. They're building their own AI literacy to serve customers better, and you can too. If you've been seeing posts about AI transforming retail, hearing colleagues mention ChatGPT, or watching competitors get smarter with AI, you're not alone. Spending on AI technologies in retail is projected to reach $85 billion by 2032,...

Walking into leadership meetings with glowing NPS scores only to face questions about declining repeat purchases? Most retail teams measure customer experience as if it were still 2015, celebrating snapshots whilst missing the complex omnichannel reality customers actually live in. In this episode, Jo shares four business-critical CX metrics that connect directly to revenue and give you predictive...

The customer loyalty strategy landscape is experiencing a seismic shift. The loyalty market is projected to reach £4 billion by 2029, but brand loyalty is eroding. In this episode, Jo explores why 45% of customers are abandoning beloved brands for cheaper alternatives and what industry leaders like Boots, ASDA, and McDonald's are doing to build connections instead of just collecting points. Perfec...

Have you ever sat in a meeting, staring at spreadsheets full of customer data, and realised nobody's actually asking about the customers themselves? Not where they are in your sales funnel, but who they actually are as people?   I'm Jo, and I've been there more times than I'd like to admit. Years of helping retail teams create better customer experiences taught me something crucial: it's frighteni...

Welcome to Where's Your Customer! I'm Jo Williams, and in this debut episode, I'm sharing why most retail customer experience strategies fail and a proven 3-part framework that actually works.   After 20+ years in retail marketing and customer experience, I've learned that 80% of companies think they deliver great CX, but only 8% of customers agree. That massive gap is costing retailers sales, loy...

In this episode, I talk about the one habit every customer-centric professional needs to master: curiosity. I'm digging into why truly understanding customers is the heartbeat of any customer-centric retail leader, and I've got five strategies you can put into action this week. Plus, I'm sharing examples and tips that prove really listening to your customers isn't just nice to do—it's transformati...