IBM > Case Studies > Improving Online Customer Experience: A Case Study on American Eagle Outfitters

Improving Online Customer Experience: A Case Study on American Eagle Outfitters

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Technology Category
  • Cybersecurity & Privacy - Identity & Authentication Management
  • Robots - Wheeled Robots
Applicable Industries
  • E-Commerce
  • Retail
Applicable Functions
  • Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
  • Retail Store Automation
  • Traffic Monitoring
About The Customer
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (AEO) is a leading global specialty retailer offering high-quality clothing, accessories, and personal care products for teens. AEO operates more than 1,000 stores in North America and ships to 77 countries worldwide through its ae.com e-commerce website. To maintain its competitive advantage in the competitive fashion retail industry, AEO relies on IBM Tealeaf customer experience management (CEM) solutions to ensure a seamless retail journey across all online channels.
The Challenge
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), a leading global specialty retailer, was facing challenges in delivering high-quality shopping experiences across all its digital channels. The company relied on limited information from customer feedback forms to understand digital customer experiences. This approach resulted in incomplete information, making it difficult to replicate the exact circumstances that prevented customers from successfully completing their purchases. Consequently, it was challenging to identify 'sticking points' on the online and mobile journey that frustrated customers. The company was also struggling with low conversion rates due to issues such as a corrupted shopping cart and incorrect discount codes. Additionally, AEO was facing difficulties in understanding customer interactions on the mobile channel due to the complexity of multiple mobile devices, browsers, and screen sizes.
The Solution
To address these challenges, AEO implemented IBM Tealeaf customer experience management (CEM) solutions. This enriched its existing voice-of-customer solution with insight into real-world customer behavior, enabling proactive experience improvements to the digital channels. The team could replay sessions that resulted in negative customer feedback step-by-step and truly understand the obstacles that customers described. With IBM Tealeaf CEM solutions in place, AEO could rapidly identify website issues and be proactive in its site optimization efforts across the online and mobile channels. The company was able to reconcile cryptic customer feedback with what actually happened in each digital journey. AEO also detected and corrected a mobile compatibility issue on its review pages, redesigned its review page for touch-based devices, and improved the account login and password reset process.
Operational Impact
  • The implementation of IBM Tealeaf CEM solutions has significantly improved AEO's operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. The company can now implement improvements to its digital channels based on real-world customer behavior, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and nurturing loyalty. The analytics team can quickly find the root causes of negative customer feedback about its digital channels and resolve them rapidly. This has resulted in improved customer satisfaction, boosted retention, and increased customer loyalty. Furthermore, the company has been able to rectify issues such as a corrupted shopping cart and incorrect discount codes, thereby recovering lost sales and improving the overall customer experience.
Quantitative Benefit
  • Recovered tens of thousands of dollars in lost sales by fixing a corrupted shopping cart
  • Increased mobile traffic by 20 percent by rapidly identifying experience issues
  • Recovered customers from incorrect discount codes within minutes

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