How Can You Provide A Great Customer Experience?
Is your company currently providing a wonderful customer experience to your clients or users? If not, then how can you provide a great customer experience? More than just a buzzword, everyone from website development companies to online retailers are placing more of an emphasis on the customer experience (CX) and we have a handful of great tips to help your business stay ahead of the competition when it comes to CX.
What exactly is CX?
Customer Experience, or CX, is the connection fostered between a business and the customer over the life of the relationship. The specific nuances will always vary based on how and when you interact with your customers.
For example, for some businesses the CX is based entirely around digital experiences and interactions on your website. For others, it has to do with face-to-face interactions such as in a brick-and-mortar retail environment.
The important thing to remember about the customer experience is that it is ongoing and ever-changing, adding to the total each and every time a customer engages with your business and brand and only ending when your relationship ends.
It is an important concept because if your business places a focus on constantly improving each and every customer experience then you will be able to exceed the expectations of your customers which lead to both increased customer satisfaction and loyalty towards your business and brand.
Ways to improve CX
- Embrace the philosophy – The idea or philosophy of providing a great customer experience needs to become part of who you are as a business and it needs to start at the top. It can’t simply be something that you do sometimes; it needs to become part of the expectation for how you regularly go about your business. In this way, it will be delivered consistently to customers.
- Get input at all levels – Rather than having management simply craft a CX program, take the time to talk to everyone about it from your sales people to customer service to the receptionist in the lobby. Anyone who interacts with a customer at any point will have important insights and ideas about what matters to customers.
- Think long term – This concept is not a quick fix or something that is done for a short period. The idea of providing a great customer experience is an ongoing one. That means making adjustments to the culture of your business and strategy at all levels that intersect with your customers. It might start slowly but that is fine because it is a long term strategy.
- Put yourself in their shoes – Being empathetic to the customer is critical. You need to put yourself in their shoes and understand their wants, needs, frustrations and issues. Once you do that then you can start looking for ways to improve interactions to meet those wants and needs, alleviate frustration and solve issues.
- Connect emotionally – Creating loyalty is often about fostering an emotional connection with a customer.
- Train the staff – Don’t just tell people how to provide a better experience, teach them. You want them to understand what they are doing, why they are doing it and to feel confident in their actions.
- Say “Thank You” – This is one of the easiest things you can do and in numerous ways from actually saying it to also showing it with customer appreciation events, discounts or even gifts.
The bottom line is that providing a great customer experience can be a tremendous benefit to your business and brand. Increased customer satisfaction and fostering loyalty are both important to growing a business that will last.
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