Sizing Up J.Crew

Being an avid J.Crew shopper, I chose to assess the store’s Facebook page. Over 290,000 people have “liked” J.Crew’s page, and it receives fairly steady feedback from fans.

The elements of this page are thorough, ranging from posts about the latest jewelry to videos about J.Crew’s men’s spring collection to photographs of the store’s newest kids’ clothing. Each of these posts is currently getting around 50 to 100 “likes” and a series of comments. Further, the store’s different specialties are organized well, as the wedding & party dress section along with the kids’ clothing section have their own tabs.

J.Crew is also doing a good job of posting on a steady basis. Posts are made every few days and consistently inform people about a variety of clothing, jewelry, swimwear, shoes, and formal attire. In many of the posts, the store encourages people’s feedback, which is vital when it comes to businesses effectively utilizing social media.

Yet, in my opinion, there is room for improvement. J.Crew essentially needs to focus on improving one thing: engaging in conversation with its customer base. Although the store’s posts encourage feedback from customers or ask for people’s thoughts on a particular subject, it seems that J.Crew is not engaging in any sort of conversation once customers do express their thoughts or concerns. Although 50-some comments–many of them being questions about products or store-related promotions–appear on posts, J.Crew is not responding to the majority of these.

For instance, on a video post from last Friday focusing on the store’s men’s 2011 spring looks, a male customer commented and explained he was dissatisfied with the stock that the store offers men. He commented and explained that he thinks the store consists of “at least 2/3 women’s apparel” and the “small men’s section literally in the back” of the store is “not very welcoming.” This comment got others talking, yet the store did comment on the issue.

Due to this lack of give-and-take conversation on J.Crew’s behalf, I noticed that the store’s customer base seems to be turning to one another for assistance rather than relying on the store to answer questions. Obviously, this is not good for J.Crew in terms of it maintaining a credible customer service base in the online world. Customers want to be heard and want to know that their concerns are taken into account, and, as far as J.Crew’s Facebook page goes, this does not seem to be happening.

However, I do recognize that it can be next to impossible for a store to respond to each and every comment, especially considering the high volume of people responding to posts. For this reason, J.Crew should choose to respond to comments that affect a large amount of customers.

Finally, I also would suggest that J.Crew rewards its customers who follow the store in the online world by offering them special discounts or promotional codes. Those who connect to J.Crew online are showing a degree of loyalty to the store in my opinion, and should receive incentives to continue to do so.

Overall, the store is on the right path in terms of its Facebook page. By engaging in conversation with customers more often and rewarding customers for their loyalty, J.Crew can create an even more effective Facebook page.