“Customer is the king” every business follows this motto to always keep their customers satisfied. Increased competition in the market has put business owners on toes. With improved technology, there are a lot of options available for the customers and businesses are fighting for the same targeted audience customers and they’re mostly concentrating on retaining the customers rather than acquiring new customers.
In a recent survey, 60% of customers are willing to pay high for a better experience. When you concentrate on enhancing your customer experience, it can bring subtle changes to your approach to retain customers. But when your existing customers are satisfied it will automatically pave the way for new customers.
What is the customer experience?
Customer experience is defined by the interactions between an organisation and customer in a business relationship. This interaction can include discovery, awareness, advocacy, purchases, services, etc. It is an integral part of CRM (Customer Relationship Management). If you’re wondering why is it important? If a customer has a positive experience with your brand, he would come back and is more likely to become a loyal customer. Businesses are now concentrating more on improving customer experience. They are interacting more with customers like never before, understanding their needs and satisfying them.
Customer experience & business
Every business is now trying to keep their customers happy. Why? Because a happy customer remains loyal to your brand and they even have the potential to bring more customers to your business. So offering them poor experience may not only affect your current sales but may affect your future business too. Statistics prove that now the power is in the hands of customers compared to the past few years. In true sense, the customer is the king now.
Imagine yourself in the shoes of a customer, if you’re happy with a brand then you would come back to purchase from them right and if they treat you properly, you would stick with the brand for a long time. Outstanding customer experience is the one that keeps making your customers come back for more. You must train your employees also accordingly to resolve any issue that customers bring to them. Empower your employees to handle your customers and avoid any negative experience.
Why is it important?
Can you imagine a business without customers? Impossible. This is why businesses are mostly focusing on winning new customers and at the same time retaining existing customers. Delivering great customer experience is of top priority to many businesses. Customer experiences are raising, so it becomes important for a business to stay on par with those expectations.
Most companies focus on post-sale experience but what they tend to forget is pre-sale experience is also important. You could simply say that it is the beginning of your relationship with your customers. So, you must give your complete effort to convert a lead into a customer and then the customer into a happy customer. It is your responsibility to deliver the brand promise and not let them regret the decision of associating with your brand. Higher customer satisfaction rate will decrease overhead and increase revenue.
Customer experience
No two businesses and their natures are the same, but when it comes to customers their wants and expectations are mostly the same. If you’re wondering, how to improve your customer experience then here are a few tips for you.
Understand customer’s evolving needs
No two people have similar thoughts. And not all your customers think the same way. So to serve them you must understand their needs. Not to forget their needs are evolving every day. You must understand and honour the different needs of your customers. Businesses will succeed when they listen and understand their customers. To understand your customers the best way is taking their feedback.
Make sure you implement their feedback and it will show your customers that you care about them and value their ideas. If you think your job ends there then no. For attaining higher customer experience you must check with your customers post-sale too. The most effective way to engage with your audience is by building a customer survey. This survey will help you in understanding your customer needs and what they’re expecting from your organisation.
Identify customer pain points
Once you understand your customer’s needs and meeting them then it is time to focus on issues that are hindering or impacting their experience. If you have already understood those pain points then great if you still haven’t then, creating a customer journey map will help you in figuring out such pain points. You can also take a peek into your policies and systems surrounding your customers to understand where you’re underperforming.
Understanding your business will automatically lead to the factors that are affecting your audience experience. You can even examine customers feedback to understand which issues are they mentioning most frequently. You can’t just pinpoint the problems and leave them. It is time to take a step to resolve the issue and enhance your customer’s experience. Take your time, interact with your personnel who interact with your customers and ask them about the issues that come up from time to time. Make these issues your top priority and work on them to resolve.
Improve yourself
One should never stop improving themselves. Same applies to your business too. You must constantly improve yourself and your products to serve your customer needs. Market changes every day and many new businesses are joining the league. So to stay at the top of your game you must evolve yourself to the changing market trends. Don’t just settle for what you have, improve yourself, be it in the technological front or operational front. Keep your customer’s feedback into the practice as it will play a vital role in improving your customer experience. If you’re already receiving good feedback from your customers then it is time to work on how to consistently stay in their good books. If you have mastered that skill then nothing can stop you from achieving higher customer satisfaction.
Well maintained relationships
The first thing that your customers remember is how you or your employees are interacting with them. If you treat them with respect and remember them from your encounter, it can earn you some brownie points from them. Well maintained relationship with your customers will always help you in understanding and knowing their needs. Every interaction matter be it purchase, enquiry, grievance. You must always serve them with respect it will not only get you in their good books but it will also help them become your loyal customers.
Remember their important days, send them a mail wishing them happiness or you can send them a card or a gift to show your appreciation. Check on them from time to time, send them an email just to remind them of your existence. Use warm or compassionate words to make them feel comfortable. Sometimes sending them a small “Thank You” card would mean a lot to them. So never shy away from showing your appreciation.
Involve your employees
Employees play a key role in creating a great customer experience. You must train your employees to pay attention to customer needs. For all this to happen you need to hire the right personnel. You must hire people with the right mindset. When hiring a person focus on their skills, interpersonal skills, how they’re connecting with people and their problem-solving skills. To make your customer interaction seamless you must have principles in place.
Concentrate on your UX too as it adds much value to the user experience. Customers come from all channels. So make sure that every stage is planned carefully and improve customer interaction and that is possible by hiring the right team that could perform all the tasks perfectly. Build a system in place that would resolve all the issues that would arise. Having a support system through the life cycle of a customer will ensure that your customer’s experience is enhanced.
Communicate on all social media platforms
Everybody under the sky knows about social media platforms. And it has taken a very important part of people’s life. Businesses are also using it to enhance their business and drive sales. Interact with your customers on social media platforms too. It can help you in understanding them better. When they tag your profile you can post information about them or interact with them in the comments. Respond to their direct messages and assist them in solving their queries. Your social media platforms can lead them to your website. See that your website and social media platforms are well optimised and improve their experience.
Conclusion
Customer expectations are becoming high with each passing day and it takes a lot of planning and research for a business to reach these expectations. So if you’re also an organisation who believes in keeping your customers happy then follow these tips and improve your customer experience and lead your business towards success.
