Businesses and organizations in every industry are realizing the importance of customer experience on their growth and bottom line. Countless statistics and data show that a better experience builds loyalty, and that loyalty increases sales tenfold.
How do you ensure that your customer’s experiences are positive ones, though? Crafting an effective and excellent experience for consumers can be done with five relatively simply ways. All it takes is a little know-how, dedication, and investment.
1. A Vision and a Team
Customer experience begins with a clear-cut vision of how your organization plans to implement its strategy. The following tips will help you craft that plan, but the overall customer-centric focus needs to be in place. Make sure every department understands the direction the company is taking.
At the same time, you need a team dedicated to making positive experiences happen. Without one, your attempts will come across as half-hearted and fail to grow your business as you intend. They’ll craft new ways to reach customers, utilize customer value management tools, implement plans, and measure the results.
2. Creating Emotional Connections
Brands that flourish retain a distinct emotional connection with their customers. That can look as simple as positive interaction through customer service or ad campaigns that align with customer attitudes, like Nike’s ad featuring Colin Kaepernick.
Even something as simple as a customer loyalty or point program can make a difference. However you choose to approach this method, ensure that it is focused on fostering engagement that builds a positive emotional connection with your audience.
3. Utilize Feedback
Capturing feedback is the best way to know if your customer experience efforts are working, and if you are building that emotional connection. Emails, social media, and live chat tools are all useful ways to hear from your consumers.
Don’t just capture the feedback, though, utilize it. When your customers feel that their voices are heard, their loyalty increases. So, take their suggestions and make the changes your highest-value customers want to see.
4. Know Your Customers
Demographics are vital in knowing who is doing business with your brand. They’re also vital for crafting experiences. There’s a large difference in focusing on Generation Z as opposed to Y, X, or Baby Boomers. Chances are, though, that your business sees customers from all four generations.
Once you’ve crunched the data on who is making purchases, the best way to approach the segments in this vast audience is to create personas/customer profiles and train your customer service team to help each profile.
Imagine that a customer calls into your CS department asking for help with a product. Tanya, 32/Gen Y, is going to be tech savvy enough to watch an online video tutorial. Thomas, 58/Baby Boomer, is less likely to be tech savvy and would find clear instructions on a web page more helpful. Even with simple personas like these, your CS department will be able to effectively create positive experiences.
5. Employee Feedback
Your employees are the ones who deal with customers on a daily basis, making them the most knowledgeable about the experiences customers have. They hear first-hand from the people you’re trying to reach, providing insight, while also providing the experience you’re looking to give.
So, utilize their feedback. When you ask them their opinions on how to improve the customer experience, you’ll find that they have all sorts of ideas worth trying. Give them the chance to implement these ideas and you’re building a happier, more positive environment for each person who does business with you.