I have seen a number of retailers, after a purchase, offer their customers an opportunity to choose an inspirational message from a jar. I think this is a nice gesture and one that can easily be duplicated in your store.

Plus it will give your customers a happy thought when thinking of your store.

For ideas on inspirational quotes, turn to these websites:

MotivatingQuotes.com
HeartsandMinds.org
FinestQuotes.com

Today's guest post is from Poornima Apte, Editor-in-Chief of GIFT SHOP Magazine and Specialty Retail Report.

Around two weeks ago, my oldest daughter and I headed out to the local mall (Natick Collection) to find a precise shade of eye shadow for her dinner dance dress. Once she was done with that, we wandered over to her favorite store, American Eagle. We were just checking things out—not really planning on buying anything—but we ended up spending quite a bit. Why? The store's customer service was excellent.

First case in point: When my daughter went into the fitting room to try on a couple of shirts, the attendant told us he could get her the same shirts in other sizes if she needed them. All she had to do was press a bell on the wall. The message American Eagle was sending? “Don't abandon the shirt because looking for other sizes might be a chore. We'll do the legwork for you.” He also told “mom” to relax and enjoy five minutes to herself. Second case in point: The attendant noticed which shirts she picked up, and about five minutes later, he tossed my daughter a couple of lace tank tops that would match her shirts. We ended up buying those as well.

Here's what American Eagle did really well: They looked at things from the customer's point of view and designed a simple solution that worked. They probably found that many who tried on clothes abandoned them because they were too overwhelmed to go back out on the shop floor, find the right size and retry them on. Solution? “We’ll do that work for you—you, the customer, just stay right there and keep trying on new clothes (and buying them all).” As a mom I also appreciated not having to do that legwork myself.

Two days later, we decided to buy a last-minute gift for my younger daughter for her birthday. We bought her a video game online from Best Buy and decided to try out their “Pick up at Store” option. This was supposed to be a quick in-and-out. It wasn't. There was to be a separate line for the “Pick up at Store” option—there wasn’t. What’s worse, we were assigned to the returns line—which took forever. So while Best Buy's idea might be a good one, the follow-through fell short of expectations.

When it comes to customer service every detail counts, as these experiences demonstrate! There are lessons in here for every retailer.

How are you anticipating your customer's needs? Are you implementing ideas, making sure you have staff on hand for follow up and execution from top to bottom? Because if you do, you too might have customers wandering into your store and walking away with more purchases than they planned on.