Top Ten Ways Disney Sets The Bar For The Retail Customer Experience

Disney retail customer experience

As I am preparing to take my two young boys to Disney I am struck by what we in the retail space can learn from the Disney retail experience. Wait! Disney is not a retailer. It doesn’t matter. The customer experience Disney provides IS a retail experience. Here are some moments of excellence and how we can adopt them into the retail space:

1. Recommendation Engine (with real people!):

Booking online, a chat agent was immediately available to assist me with my room and category needs. Of course in retail this translates to ecommerce chat to assist with size and fit.

2. Up Sell:

Immediate email confirmation of my booking with links to everything I might want to do (purchase a PhotoPass as an up-sell, book Disney Dining to increase basket size and book advanced ride passes to guarantee a magical experience).

3.Single view of customer :

Every single booking I’ve made ranging from restaurant to ride passes to PhotoPass are all in my single customer record. Disney knows who I am and what I plan to do and then makes suggestions for what I might want to do next.

4. Logistics:

My Disney bands and luggage tags arrived within 48 hours of my reservation. It exceeded my expectations. Oh and they were sent in a plain box – no spoiler for my kids who didn’t know yet. Retailers can learn from BOTH of these. (Thanks Amazon for ruining Christmas present surprise by shipping an item in its box with a PHOTO of it on the outside of the box.)

5. Ship to Store:

Wait you say, Disney isn’t shipping anything to a store! Well their online check-in option is similar, I can check in on line make my room preference known and when I land in Orlando my room number is texted to me and my Magic Band will be switched on to open my door.

6. Loyalty Card/Payment:

The Magic Bands provide a loyalty card/payment option for me. No need to recite my phone number bring a credit card, or provide another ID. It is a simple way to get into the park, get into my room, pay for dinner, and buy merchandise in the shops at the property.

7. Useful App:

The Disney app tells me when what restaurants have availability and ride wait times. It is appropriate for the media (phone) and relevant to my geo-location and needs. It also tells me where Mickey and Donald will be at what time and how long the wait is for their autograph.

8. Householding:

Disney knows my kids and my husband and knows we are all a single household. It allows me to book different kids on different rides and have a Single view of our plan. In retail imagine if I could get recommendations for clothes or food based for each member of my household appropriately and under my control.

9. Appropriate Meaningful Well Organized Content:

Disney has the ability to search restaurants and rides by preference and posts restaurant menus and costs and height limits for each ride. The website is easy to navigate on my PC, Mac, iPad and iPhone.

10. Magic :

The entire Disney pre-trip experience has been flawless across all channels (phone, email, web, mobile and app). It has lived up to its brand promise of Magical. Stay tuned for the trip report …. Related Solution: Transform your Customer Marketing with Manthan’s Customer Analytics Solution

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Author- Hillary Ashton

Hillary Ashton
Hillary Ashton has 20 years of experience in helping Fortune 500 companies across various industries such as retail, financial services, telecom, manufacturing and hospitality. As SVP of Customer Analytics at Manthan, Ashton is focused on helping B2C businesses leverage marketing, analytics and technology to better understand their customers and drive profits. Prior to Manthan, she served in various marketing leadership positions at SAS, Digitas and several technology startups.

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