Improving Your Customer Experience Like A Pro
You might have a fantastic idea for a product offering, but if you can’t keep your customers satisfied then your great idea will get quickly pushed to the back of the queue. In this article we look at how you can make sure your service level goes above and beyond your competitors esuring you have loyal and returning customers for years to come.
Where would a business be without customers? It wouldn’t be anywhere – it simply would not exist.
Each and every one of you reading this is a customer. We all spend our money on everything from food and clothing to cool gadgets and streaming services every day and as a customer you’ll know that it doesn’t matter how convenient it is to buy a product or service from a particular business, if they give you a poor experience the first time, you’re unlikely to go back there again.
What this means for you as an entrepreneur and business owner is that, if you want to succeed, you need to give your customers a really great experience – the kind of experience that they won’t forget (for the right reasons) and that they will tell other people about. That’s how you’ll succeed.
What Exactly Is A Positive Customer Experience?
Even though you’ve probably had hundreds of customer experiences, both positive and negative, it can be hard to pin down exactly what constitutes a “positive customer experience”. Basically, a good customer experience is about interacting with the customer in a pleasing way; it’s about making them feel important, answering their questions; solving their problems, and making them feel comfortable. If you can do this, then they’ll become a card-carrying member of your brand’s fan club and provide you with the best kind of PR of all – word of mouth!
Sounds great. How do I improve the customer experience at my company?
If you want to offer a positive customer experience to everyone who interacts with you or your company then you need to, first and foremost, sit down and draw up a strategy. Good customer experience won’t just happen by itself. Include some of the following ideas into your strategy, and you cannot fail.
Don’t Be A Template King Or Queen
If you really want your customers to be valued, then should they send you an email about an issue or concern they’re having, don’t just stick their name into a pre-written template and hope that satisfies them, and definitely don’t fob them off with an auto-response – both these things have their uses, but not when a customer is looking for direct contact. Write a meaningful, non-generic reply to their correspondence, that is perfectly tailored to its contents. This will show them that you are taking them seriously and that you do care about what they have to say. If you don’t have time to do this yourself, hire a freelancer to answer your emails if possible.
Be Consistent
When you’re dealing with a customer, you should always be consistent. The tone you use in your emails should be the same tone that you use when you’re on the phone or when they visit your office (if you have one), and that tone should always be, at the very least, polite and accommodating.
Make Them Comfortable
Customers don’t tend to do much business with people or companies that make them feel uncomfortable in any way. Should they go to a used car dealership, for example, and get the feeling that the salesman is trying to con them, or even on a less serious note should they go to a meeting only to find the furniture is old and uncomfortable, it isn’t exactly going to give them a good experience, or much faith in the company. So, invest in good office furniture, hire non-creepy, honest staff, always be your authentic self, use open and welcoming body language, and do whatever you can to make your customers feel comfortable. They’ll keep coming back if you do.
Go Above And Beyond
One of the best ways to get your customers onboard and give them a great experience with your brand is undoubtedly by going above and beyond and exceeding their expectations time and time again. If they buy an e-book for you, throw in another one for free, or if they pay for standard delivery, send it, so it gets there next day, especially if they repeat customers. They’ll appreciate the extra effort you’ve gone to, and that is what will keep them interested.
Make Sure Your Customer Service Is Tight
Customer service is obviously a really big part of the customer experience and a bad experience with a customer service agent, or the lack of any customer service at all, can really sour relations between business and customer. That’s why you have to go above and beyond in this regard particularly.
Ideally, your customers should be able to speak to you, or one of your representatives in real-time whenever they feel the need to. If that isn’t possible, your website should make it perfectly clear when and how they can reach you, and you should deal with their issues promptly.
To be a good customer service person, you need to really listen to what the customer is saying, acknowledge the way you feel and come up with a solution that makes them happy, even if it might not always be optimum for you or your company. Never leave a customer hanging – sort their problems out quickly, politely and efficiently, and they’ll love you for it.
Admit To Errors
Every business experiences it’s difficulties from time to time, and yours is unlikely to be any different. Sometimes, these difficulties will affect the customer, and when this happens, it’s important that you hold your hands up, admit to the problem and promise to make it up to the customer. Ask them what they would like and try to deliver it, or at least offer them some sort of compensation, even if it’s only a small discount.
Customers understand mistakes, and most are gracious, but they don’t take being deceived or left to live with a company’s mistakes lightly, and the bad reviews will start showing up.
Offer A Phone Service
This might not always be practical, depending on exactly what your business is, but if you are able to do so, it’s always a good idea to provide a contact number where customers can reach you.
Although younger people often prefer to solve problems and get in touch with companies using text-based mediums like email and live chat, a lot of people still prefer to talk to someone the old-fashioned, especially at the beginning of a business relationship or when something has gone wrong. Anyway, the more ways a customer has of contacting you, the more likely they are to do exactly that, and that’s only ever going to be good for business.
Add Value
As a business, you should always be looking at ways you can add more value to your customers. Let’s face it, if you start out offering an e-book about using your iPhone X and that’s all you ever sell, you aren’t exactly going to be in business for long, nor are you going to keep your customers satisfied. What you need to do is follow-up with another e-book about the best apps for the phone, or how to fix it should it break and offer special texts or apps for your existing customers. This is just one example, but you always need to be innovating and giving your customers reasons to stick with you and come back again.
Be Good To Brand Ambassadors
These days, it doesn’t matter whether you offer SEO services or sell high-fashion, there are always going to be bloggers out there who write about you, vloggers who make videos discussing your services, etc.. Some of these people will love you, others not so much, but the ones who are good to you – they are your brand ambassadors. If they’re out there singing your praises, then the least you can do is give them lots of freebies, perhaps meet up with them, plug their stuff for them – they deserve it and if you can maintain good relations with them, well then that’s free advertising for you, too.
Invest In Yourself And Your Team
If there’s one thing that’s pretty much universally true, it’s that when you’re happy, and your employees are happy (if you have any) it’s much easier to deal with customers, particularly difficult ones when the need arises. That’s why you should invest lots of time and money in not only training and development but also in having some fun and taking the time to relax and enjoy yourselves as a team. A happy, well-trained workforce is exactly what you need if you want to improve your customer experience and this is a very good way of achieving that.
Invest In The Right Tech
There’s no reason to make providing a good customer experience harder than it needs to be, which is why you should utilize the latest tech to make it easier. Everything from website templates that make your site easier to navigate to intelligent software that remembers your customer info, so you can treat them on their birthday or call them by name when they call the company, will make life easier for all involved. It’ll make you seem like a really great company too!
Get ready to be deluged with satisfied customers!
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