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  • 9| How Retail SEO Strategy Became a Customer Experience Question.

    9| How Retail SEO Strategy Became a Customer Experience Question.
    Jan 11 2026
    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 search engines anymore. It's about understanding how people make decisions, where they go for information, and what builds their trust.

    We explore:

    - How customer discovery has fragmented across platforms (and why that matters for category managers) - The multi-visit buyer journey and what content you need at each stage - Why SEO is actually customer experience, not just a technical marketing channel - Category page optimisation as a practical starting point - EE-A-T principles (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust) and why reviews matter more than ever - How to get buy-in from teams who don't care about search - The four biggest mistakes retailers make with SEO - Why AI-driven discovery is the opportunity right now (think October 1998 for the internet)

    If you've been treating SEO as someone else's problem, this conversation will change how you think about customers and product discovery.

    Guest: Paul Culshaw

    Paul Shaw is a certified business strategist and AI integration specialist who's spent 25 years in online marketing. He's worked in-house with Littlewoods Shop Direct, N Brown (JD Williams, Simply Be), and agency-side with clients across retail. He now helps businesses prepare for AI-driven discovery through his Authority Engine framework.

    Connect with Paul: - Website: https://www.paulculshaw.com/ - Instagram: @CoachPaulCulshaw

    Thanks for Listening!

    Did anything resonate with you from today's conversation about retail SEO strategy? I'd love to know. Get the full show notes with all the links and resources at https://wheresyourcustomer.com/9 Let's connect – Find me on Linkedinlinkedin.com/in/jo-williams-ccxp Never miss an episode – Subscribe to Where's Your Customer? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Found this valuable? Please leave a review. It helps other retail professionals discover these conversations. Share the knowledge – If someone in your network could benefit from rethinking their approach to search, please share this episode with them.
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    39 Min.
  • 8| Customer Experience Lessons From a Year of Learning (and Feeding)

    8| Customer Experience Lessons From a Year of Learning (and Feeding)
    Jan 4 2026

    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, but the patterns emerging between them. I found Customer experience lessons that most of us know but struggle to act on consistently.

    The 9 Customer Experience Lessons

    Lesson 1: Reactive Customer Experience Is Already Too Late. Most businesses wait for customers to complain before taking action. But those winning customer loyalty build intelligence into operations so they can act before problems become customer problems.

    Lesson 2: Culture Beats Strategy Every Time. Your culture determines CX, not your strategy. Employees need authority to solve problems in the moment.

    Lesson 3: Customer Understanding Requires Discipline, Not Just Data. Having data isn't the same as understanding customers. Real insight comes from weaving together feedback, personas, and journey mapping.

    Lesson 4: Customer Journey Maps Are Worthless Without Action. Beautiful maps become wall art without clear decisions and committed action. Know what your map will change before you create it.

    Lesson 5: Excellence Lives in the Basics. Great Customer Experiences aren't built on surprise and delight tactics, they're created through consistency and removing friction from fundamental operations.

    Lesson 6: Metrics Follow Experience, Not the Other Way Round. Fix the experience and metrics improve. Chase metrics and you often make experiences worse.

    Lesson 7: Customers Decide With Emotion, Then Justify With Logic. Emotional triggers matter more than feature comparisons. Reduce cognitive effort rather than adding functionality.

    Lesson 8: Physical Spaces Shape Behaviour. Every design choice influences how customers feel and act. Your environment tells a story, make sure it's the right one.

    Lesson 9: CX Is Built in Everyday Moments. Customer loyalty is determined by small interactions: answered phones, kept promises, empowered teams who care.

    What Connects These Customer Experience Lessons

    These customer experience lessons reveal that CX isn't about tactics or technology, it's about people. Understanding customers deeply, empowering teams, and getting basics right consistently.

    My Reading List

    The nine books behind these customer experience lessons:

    1. The New Customer Experience Management - Ivaylo Yorgov
    2. The Customer of the Future - Blake Morgan
    3. Store Design and Visual Merchandising - Claus Ebster & Marion Garaus
    4. Creating a CX That Sings - Jennifer L. Clinehens
    5. The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences - Matt Watkinson
    6. Customers Know You Suck - Debbie Levitt
    7. Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy - Phil Barden
    8. Customer Understanding - Annette Franz
    9. Moments of Truth - Jan Carlzon

    Get the full show notes with all research sources and detailed insights at wheresyourcustomer.com/8

    Thanks for Listening!

    Which of these customer experience lessons resonated most with you? I'd love to know.

    Subscribe for more – Don't miss future episodes! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

    Please leave a review – If you found value in this episode, a quick review helps other retail professionals discover these conversations too.

    Connect with me – Find me on LinkedIn or visit whereyourcustomer.com for more customer experience resources and insights.
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    18 Min.
  • 7| The Complete Guide to Customer Journey Mapping That Actually Works in Retail

    7| The Complete Guide to Customer Journey Mapping That Actually Works in Retail
    Dec 28 2025

    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 decide on something only to find it's out of stock.

    I needed something from the pharmacy recently, so I nipped out to Asda in my lunch break. Guess what? It was closed for lunch - when people actually need a pharmacy. It got me thinking about how some retailers aren't understanding what's going on in their customers' lives and how they're either supporting their experiences or disrupting them.

    What We Cover in This Episode

    My 5-Stage Customer Journey Framework. Most journey mapping starts when customers first interact with your brand. I prefer starting earlier, with the customer's actual need. My framework covers: the need trigger, planning the shop, going shopping, the purchase, and usage.

    Running Effective Workshops. The magic happens when you bring the right people together with clear objectives. I love facilitating these workshops; they're creative, observational, and analytical all at the same time.

    Essential Mapping Terms. Touchpoints, pain points, moments of truth, and emotional potential. Understanding these four elements helps you create maps that actually drive results.

    Common Mistakes to Avoid. I've seen teams make the same mistakes repeatedly. Don't overcomplicate it, don't ignore the data, don't forget post-purchase, and remember you're creating a customer journey map, not a process map.

    Quick Wins That Work. You don't need a complete transformation to see results. Small changes like simplified checkouts or clearer signage often create surprisingly big improvements.

    A Retailer's Lesson

    The Body Shop noticed mobile traffic growing but sales lagging. Instead of accepting that mobile customers just browse, they mapped the actual mobile experience. What they found was interesting. Customers wanted to buy, but the navigation was too confusing. Once they fixed those pain points, they saw a 28% increase in year-on-year orders.

    That's the power of really understanding and improving the points in your customer's experience.

    Key Takeaways
    • Start journey maps with customer needs, not brand interactions. This reveals insights traditional lifecycle mapping misses
    • Successful workshops need clear objectives, customer-facing team members, real data, and a consistent customer perspective
    • You're building layers: actions, thoughts, emotions, touchpoints, pain points, and opportunities
    • Common mistakes include overcomplicating, ignoring data, forgetting post-purchase, and slipping into process mapping
    • Small changes often deliver surprisingly big improvements in customer satisfaction
    • Journey mapping isn't one and done - successful retailers revisit maps regularly
    Resources Mentioned
    • The Body Shop mobile optimisation case study
    • Digital mapping tools: Miro and Lucidchart for remote teams
    • Customer journey mapping workshop templates
    Get Customer Journey Mapping Support

    If you're struggling and want some help creating a customer journey map in your business, I'd love to help you. Visit wheresyourcustomer.com/cjm for more details, and you can book a call with me.

    Thanks for Listening!

    Did anything resonate with you from today's conversation?

    Get the full show notes with all the links and resources mentioned at wheresyourcustomer.com/007

    Subscribe for more – Don't miss future episodes! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

    Please leave a review – If you found value in this episode, a quick review would help other retail professionals discover these conversations.

    Connect with me – Visit wheresyourcustomer.com for more customer experience resources and tips.
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    19 Min.
  • 6| What Department Stores Teach Us About Customer Experience

    6| What Department Stores Teach Us About Customer Experience
    Dec 21 2025
    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 curated what deserved your attention. Staff knew their departments inside out. You could discover something unexpected wandering from cosmetics to homeware to fashion. There was trust, too. They stood behind what they sold. So what went wrong? And more importantly, what can the survivors teach us about creating customer experiences that actually work? The research tells a stark story. In 2003, Debenhams was loaded with £1.2 billion of debt after a private equity buyout. Refurbishment spending plummeted by 77%. Meanwhile, John Lewis invested £800 million in their stores and tripled profits. The difference? One extracted value, the other created it. What We Cover in This Episode The real reasons beloved department stores collapsed (hint: it wasn't just online competition)How private equity's asset-stripping approach destroyed Debenhams, BHS, and House of FraserWhy John Lewis invested £800 million and tripled profits whilst competitors failedSelfridges' "sensorial experience" strategy that online shopping can't replicateHarvey Nichols' "large boutique" approach that jumped them from 21st to 3rd in customer experience rankingsSix strategies every retail business needs to create experiences customers actually want The Department Store Landscape Today Some department stores haven't collapsed dramatically - they've just faded. House of Fraser shrank from 59 stores to just 14. Kendall's in Manchester, that beautiful Art Deco building locals still call by its original name, faces conversion to offices after years of closure threats. These stores still open their doors each day. Staff still turn up. Customers still browse the aisles. But everyone seems to be going through the motions. They've stopped listening to customers. They've stopped evolving. Meanwhile, the survivors show us exactly what works. Six Strategies That Create Winning Customer Experiences 1. Choose Your Lane and Own It Harvey Nichols chose the large boutique experience. Selfridges chose sensory overload. John Lewis chose brilliant fundamentals. Each made a clear choice about who they serve and how. None tried to be everything to everyone. 2. Create Destinations, Not Just Distribution Points Successful stores host workshops, exclusive events, and create genuine reasons to visit beyond buying products. They integrate hospitality - cafes, spaces to breathe, places to spend time. John Lewis is testing cookery schools with Jamie Oliver and rooftop bars. 3. Make Technology Serve Human Connection Smart mirrors, AI recommendations, and mobile payments are just expected now. But the magic happens when technology helps your team serve customers better. Harvey Nichols connects online browsers with in-store experts through video chat. 4. Develop Experience Facilitators The best stores evolve their people from checkout operators to consultants and problem solvers. They use customer insights to help staff create moments of discovery and delight. 5. Become Part of Your Community's Fabric Support local causes, create shared experiences, and strengthen social connections around your location. Stores that become integral to local life earn loyalty that pure transaction can't buy. 6. Perfect the Physical-Digital Dance Customers don't shop online or offline anymore - they do both simultaneously. Click and collect must work flawlessly. Real-time inventory needs visibility across every channel. Key Takeaways Department store failures weren't caused by online competition alone - they were caused by extracting value instead of creating itJohn Lewis, Selfridges, and Harvey Nichols each chose different strategies, but all invested in customer experienceThe stores that survived defined their unique value proposition and stuck to itTechnology should enhance human connections, not replace themCreating destinations rather than distribution points earns customer loyaltyThese lessons apply to any retail business, not just department stores Resources Mentioned Centre for Retail Research - UK retail closure and job loss statisticsJohn Lewis Partnership - £800 million store investment programme and profit growthHarvey Nichols - 360-degree service proposition and customer experience rankingsSelfridges - "sensorial experience" philosophy and store transformationHouse of Fraser decline - from 59 stores down to 14 What's Next? The magic hasn't disappeared from retail. It just needs redefining for how we live today. Think about your own customer experience strategy: When did you last examine whether what you're offering still matters to the people you serve? When did you last invest in ...
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    17 Min.
  • 5| Boost your AI skills - AI Literacy for Retail Professionals

    5| Boost your AI skills - AI Literacy for Retail Professionals
    Dec 14 2025

    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, with 78% of organisations globally now using AI in some form.

    Right now, individual professionals are learning faster than their companies are rolling out formal training programs. When your company does start deploying AI more broadly (and they will), you want to be the person who can guide those decisions thoughtfully.

    What We Cover in This Episode
    • What AI literacy really means for customer-focused retail leaders (it's not about becoming a tech expert)
    • A practical 4-week learning roadmap you can start today
    • How to experiment with AI tools safely whilst respecting company guidelines
    • Why AI literacy makes you a better customer-focused leader
    • Real examples of how retail professionals are using AI to serve customers better
    Your 4-Week AI Learning Roadmap Phase 1: Understanding AI Fundamentals (Week 1)

    Download ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and spend 15 minutes daily having general conversations. Get comfortable with how these tools think and respond. Learn basic vocabulary like prompts, hallucinations, and context.

    Phase 2: Work-Adjacent Experiments (Week 2)

    Create hypothetical customer scenarios and test AI responses. Practice with public information only. Try different types of requests to build intuition about what these tools excel at.

    Phase 3: Real Work Challenges (Week 3)

    Pick one recurring challenge; analysing feedback, meeting prep, or drafting communications for example. Use AI as a thinking partner whilst maintaining human judgment and decision-making.

    Phase 4: Building Team Awareness (Ongoing)

    Start conversations with your team about AI experiments. Share learnings in team meetings. Model responsible experimentation for others to follow.

    Key Takeaways
    • AI literacy for retail professionals means understanding what these tools can and can't do, not becoming a tech expert
    • You can build AI skills responsibly without formal training or breaking company rules
    • The goal is to become a bridge between technology possibilities and customer needs
    • Leaders with AI literacy can spot opportunities, ask better questions, and guide change thoughtfully
    • Professional AI tools (£20/month) are worth the investment for serious skill-building
    Resources Mentioned
    • ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini AI tools
    • ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, and Gemini Advanced (paid versions)
    • Stanford AI Index Report on global AI adoption rates
    • Forbes' research on generative AI workplace usage
    What's Next?

    Start with one small experiment this week. Download an AI tool on your phone and spend 10-15 minutes daily getting familiar with it. Don't overthink it, just start building familiarity whilst keeping customers at the centre of everything you learn.

    Found this useful?

    Don't let these insights get buried in your busy week. Subscribe now and get each new episode delivered straight to your podcast app. If today's episode sparked an idea or solved a problem you've been working on, a quick review would mean the world and help fellow retail professionals find customer-focused ideas, too.

    Tired of staring at customer data that tells you nothing useful?

    I've created "10 AI Shortcuts for Understanding Your Customers" specifically for retail professionals who know their data holds answers but don't have time to become data scientists.

    Download your free guide at wheresyourcustomer.com/ai-shortcuts and start making sense of your customer insights today.

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    18 Min.
  • 4| The CX Metrics That Turn Customer Experience Into Competitive Advantage

    4| The CX Metrics That Turn Customer Experience Into Competitive Advantage
    Dec 7 2025
    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 power. Perfect for retail professionals, CX managers, and marketers who need to prove ROI to skeptical leadership teams. What You'll Learn: • Why Customer Effort Score predicts churn better than NPS • How First Contact Resolution drives both trust and efficiency • Why Customer Lifetime Value transforms CX from cost centre to profit driver • How to build predictive dashboards that spot problems before they hit your bottom line Key Takeaways ✓ Customer Effort Score (CES) - Your friction detection system that predicts churn more accurately than traditional metrics ✓ First Contact Resolution (FCR) - Target 85%+ to build trust whilst reducing operational costs by up to 16% ✓ Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) - Show leadership how CX improvements increase CLV by 15% to transform budget conversations ✓ Customer Loyalty Index - Measure what customers actually do with their wallets, not just what they say ✓ Leading indicators matter - Watch channel switching patterns and employee sentiment to predict problems before they affect your bottom line Episode Highlights [02:00] Why traditional CX metrics fail in omnichannel retail [04:15] The four metrics that predict business success [08:36] Real story: Why dealer relationships mattered more than CSAT at Jacuzzi [11:15] Tesco case study: Using weather data to predict behaviour (40% sales increase) [13:45] The hidden metric: How employee experience predicts customer satisfaction Resources Mentioned
    • Gartner research: CX drives 66% of customer loyalty
    • Forrester findings on customer experience ROI
    • McKinsey data on retention vs acquisition costs
    • Retail X research on customer switching behaviour
    Your Weekly Challenge Pick one metric from today's episode that you're not currently tracking. Set up basic measurement (even if it's manual) and start building your early warning system. Consider tracking customer effort scores for your checkout process or monitoring channel switching patterns. Start small, but start now. In six months, you'll either have predictive insights or you'll be dealing with problems after they've already hurt your customers. Connect & Subscribe Full show notes:wheresyourcustomer.com/4 Subscribe: Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and wherever you listen to podcasts Review: If you found value in today's episode, please leave a review. It really helps Jo reach other retail professionals like you, so they can discover these strategies too.

    Behind every metric is a person trying to be understood. Go find them.
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    20 Min.
  • 3| Why your customer loyalty strategy might be failing (and what's working in retail now)

    3| Why your customer loyalty strategy might be failing (and what's working in retail now)
    Nov 30 2025
    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. Perfect for retail marketers, operations managers, and CX professionals who suspect their loyalty programme optimisation is stuck in 2015. What You'll Learn • Why traditional loyalty programmes are failing - Discover the uncomfortable truth about discount habits vs. genuine loyalty • How AI is transforming customer retention - Learn from Boots' life-stage personalisation that increases engagement by 40% • The omnichannel trust factor - Why 76.6% of customers switch brands after just one poor delivery experience • Gamification that works - ASDA's mission-based approach and McDonald's enduring Monopoly success • Building trust through data transparency - How brands earn permission to personalise experiences Key Takeaways The Loyalty Paradox: Growing market (£2.56B to £4B by 2029) but declining brand loyalty Personalisation that matters: Boots uses life-stage data to serve relevant content and products, not just discounts Gamification evolution: ASDA's missions turn shopping into achievements; McDonald's Monopoly celebrates customer choice Trust through transparency: Explaining data use in human language generates higher opt-in rates The real shift: From keeping customers to becoming the kind of brand customers want to keep Featured Brands & Examples • Boots - Life-stage personalisation and data transparency • ASDA - Mission-based rewards programme innovation • McDonald's - Monopoly campaign mastery • Nectar - Customer education and security awareness • H&M - Aspirational loyalty with status and community Key Statistics • 81% of customers worried about finances (McKinsey) • 45% switching to own-label alternatives • AI-driven personalisation increases engagement 40% (Eagle Eye/Retail X) • 76.6% switch brands after one poor delivery experience • £19 million built up in ASDA cash pots since launch Questions for Reflection
    1. Are you building relationships or just managing transactions?
    2. Are communications based on what matters to customers now or what they bought last week?
    3. Is every touchpoint designed to build trust or just complete transactions?
    4. Are you creating spaces for customers to connect with your brand's values?
    Next Steps Pick one small experiment for next week:
    • Personalise email subject lines based on purchase patterns
    • Follow up after delivery to ensure satisfaction
    • Create a simple challenge that makes regular visits more rewarding
    Resources 🎧 Shownotes: wheresyourcustomer.com/3
    About the Host Jo Williams is a certified CX strategist with over 20 years in retail and trade marketing. Her mission is to help retail professionals create experiences that make customers feel valued. Subscribe & Review If this episode gave you a fresh perspective on building customer connections, please leave a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. Your review helps reach other retail professionals who want to discover practical strategies that work.
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    23 Min.
  • 000: Where's Your Customer in All This?

    000: Where's Your Customer in All This?
    Oct 27 2025
    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 frighteningly easy to lose sight of the humans you're working for when you're buried in KPIs and operational firefighting.

    This teaser introduces Where's Your Customer? - a podcast for retail professionals who know customer experience matters but aren't quite sure how to improve it with the time, budget, and resources they have.

    The full podcast launches in a few weeks. We'll explore practical customer journey mapping, aligning teams, proving value to leadership, and turning insights into action. But underneath it all, we'll keep coming back to the people at the centre of everything you do.

    If you're ready to stop losing your customers in the noise of daily operations and start seeing them clearly again, hit follow now.

    Thanks for Listening! Get ready for the full launch and visit at www.wheresyourcustomer.com Subscribe now so you don't miss the first full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
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    3 Min.