If Walker’s report ‘Customers 2020: A Progress Report’ is to be believed, customer experience will be the key brand differentiator over price and product by the year 2020.
If that be so, you as a business owner will need to improve the customer experience of people buying your product or service. Positive customer experience will make your customers keep coming back for more.
Improving customer experience
There are some key steps that you can take to improve customer experience. Let’s see what these are:
#1 Make the customer experience your priority number one
Gone are the days when you could win loyal customers on the strength of your price and product alone. Times are changing, and customer experience is gaining momentum. As a business owner, your priority should be to check whether you are delivering excellent customer experience to your customers. This will help you in retaining customers.
Quality of product or service
Substandard products or services just cannot be forced down the throat of discerning customers. Thus, great customer servicecan never override the quality of your product and service. They both go hand in hand. So, make your product or service meet customers’ expectations and also work towards giving them an excellent customer experience.
Technology is the key
Go in for CRM (Customer-Relationship Management) system that in today’s date is quite inexpensive. Such an automated customer service system helps monitor staffs’ interaction with customers, saves time in dispersing information to employees, and such other benefits.
Make the buying process easier
If your customers are required to wait in long queues to check out or look around for shopping baskets, this could be a great turn off for them. So, make the buying process easier by increasing the number of billing counters, have adequate trolleys or shopping baskets and place them at vantage points for easy access, place the staff at each section to assist customers, ensure that prices are clearly mentioned on each item, and suchlike steps.
Sync all communications
You will use social media, websites, advertisements and emails to promote your business, to ensure that all communications through this media are consistent. Also, make the information easily accessible by customers. Your communication should be straightforward and not create any confusion. Not doing so may cause customers to lose interest.
Customer feedback is important
The only way you can get to know whether your customers have a positive experience is to ask for feedback. In the absence of feedback, you will never come to know what your customers are facing, while dealing with your staff. The only indication then will be dwindling footfalls, and by then it may be too late reverse this trend. Encourage the customers for feedback by making the feedback process easy and less time-consuming.
Act before the customer does
If a customer has placed an order with your business, he or she should not be the one to inquire about its delivery. This added hassle may make them lose interest in your business. So, be proactive and take prompt action to inform them about dispatch information, such as likely delivery date and time. This positive customer experience will build trust and boost customers’ loyalty.
Cash on positive customer feedback
Positive customer feedbacks need to be conveyed to other customers to build their trust in your business. This is the reason why many online businesses have incorporated star rating and reviews. Communicating positive customer feedbacks to your potential customers will make them try you out. So, encourage your customers to post positive feedbacks on consumer review portals, such as Trustpilot and Feefo.
Keep your staff in the feedback loop
Customer feedback amounts to nothing if it is not acted upon by your team. So, it is essential to share it with them. However, be careful while sharing negative feedback. It should be done constructively, so as not to undermine the morale of your employees. Also, don’t forget to pat the backs of employees, if the feedback is positive.
Conclusion
The best way to improve customer experience is to become a customer yourself and find out the drawbacks ailing your business, whether it is the buying experience, checking out process or issues related to delivery. Using the tips mentioned above will help you in building a great customer experience.
