Welcome back to our 3-part series on how different stakeholders (Customer, Company Executive, Customer Support Lead) think about understanding the customer’s voice. We sat down with Christopher Bevans, Creative Director and CEO of Dyne, a line of technologically advanced sportswear, to get his thoughts around understanding their customer voice.
Bevans has been a stalwart in the fashion industry — working as creative director with some of the most influential names in the industry, including Nike, Prince, Pharrell, and Sean John. He recently collaborated with Kanye West on his Adidas Yeezy brand.
With Dyne, Bevans wanted to focus specifically on the customer experience through the use of NFC, near-field communication technology embedded within each garment. The technology works similar to services such as Apple Pay — allowing devices like smartphones, to collect information from NFC tags. With Dyne’s NFC-enabled clothing, customers in the US and Asia can learn more about the garment using their phone, watch videos and review seasonal lookbooks. “I believe NFC will be a central part of the shopping experience in the next 20 years” Bevans remarks.
Below are some his additional thoughts on the impact of NFC on Dyne’s customer engagement:
The biggest challenge is converting customer feedback into revenue. We are constantly trying to go above just utilizing our social media to share our developments and keep people engaged. We really look to take the customer through the journey of Dyne and keep them coming back. Recently, we are trying something new and exciting: launching street teams of young fans. We find customers who are interested in the technology, the style and then we send them gifts and train them to be advocates for Dyne through speaking to their friends and communities. Customers are becoming ambassadors — it’s like being part of a movement. They are more likely to lock in when they feel like they have ownership in a young brand.
One of the most important factors of our business is communicating with customers and sparking their interest. We have seen that through reaching our customers with product information sent via NFC directly to their phones, we have been able to achieve thousands of followers. Our product gets better when we get feedback from these customers. Our customers range from young kids and influencers to businessmen, all giving their feedback on multiple channels on how we can keep on improving fabric reviews, sizes, and features. We want to build a community of people that are engaged in what they do and what they wear.
Pay attention to response time. Empower the people you trust and build the empire together brick by brick. Encourage your team. Every idea is a good one and you never know where that next good idea may come from. Of course, quality of the products is first and foremost. And most important, take time for yourself to think and stay grounded. Data overload sometimes allows people to lose track of the brand’s manifest! Spend time reflecting on the successes and failures you have had and learn how to grow from them.
