It’s so very easy to spot a business that has invested in curating its customer experience brand in an intentional way. The evidence is loud and impossible to miss. Employees are eager to serve, systems work like clockwork, processes are customer-friendly and there’s an ease to doing business. What’s the icing on the cake? When customers feel that to the business, the value of their happiness is of greater importance than the size and weight of their bill.
Customers are impressed when a business invests in making the first point of contact, the point of resolution. Ensuring that customers don’t have to go far to have their needs resolved, is a boon to building strong customer relationships. In the case of human-to-human encounters, this means that the authority to make consequential decisions is vested in the first point of contact, negating the need for escalation to upline referral. I have experienced this first point resolution several times and my reaction each time is the same. Pure delight at not having to wait, or not having to negotiate an acceptable outcome. Additionally, when, during digital transactions, the use of artificial intelligence enables customers to experience intelligent enquiry and swift resolution of their needs, that’s impressive.
Customers are impressed when a business invests in making the first point of contact, the point of resolution.
When a business takes the time to invest in systems that retain unique information on its customers, so that transactions and interactions can be personalized with a couple of clicks, customers are impressed. The simple act of pulling up a customer’s shopping history and offering a discount on a current purchase, communicates the extent to which a business is willing to go to please its customers.
A business that invests in deep, sustainable skill training for its customer contact staff, achieves a greater yield in the avoidance of encounter friction, the speed of solution design and size of the sale. Conversely, the common practice of glorifying superficial training for customer contact staff, may yield a short-term burst of excitement, during which time new techniques are taken for a spin, but this hardly results in a sustainable shift in the adoption of new skills.
A business that invests in deep, sustainable skill training for its customer contact staff, achieves a greater yield in the avoidance of encounter friction, the speed of solution design and size of the sale.
Another move that impresses customers, is when a business takes active steps to reduce its organizational baggage. You know, the baggage that shows up as cultural strife, leadership malpractice, operational deficiency and a preponderance of brand missteps. A business that is known for being a great place to work and a great place to do business, wears a double badge of honour in the minds of its customer community. This perfect storm converts positive customer sentiment, into a positive revenue stream.
Customers are impressed when a business demonstrates that its customer experience is designed, curated and managed, moment by moment, to ensure customer success. Achieving customer experience nirvana is within the reach of every business. It includes paying attention to the value points associated with the customer’s journey, discovering and remediating existing pain points along the journey, rigorous oversight of the service delivery process and diligent measuring of the customer’s experience throughout the journey.
A business that is known for being a great place to work and a great place to do business, wears a double badge of honour in the minds of its customer community.
On the other side of the coin, customers are not impressed when a business puts only enough resources in place to meet minimum experience expectations. Typically, this involves only the most rudimentary provisions to ensure that transactions can be executed, reacting to customer complaints when they occur and upgrading service solutions only when absolutely necessary. A comprehensive strategy that follows a proactive and co-ordinated approach is nowhere in sight.
Many businesses opt to follow this patchwork approach for two reasons. The effort level is low and its execution does not require major subject matter expertise. The problem with this game plan though, is that it does not deliver a permanent solution to the business of keeping customers happy, delighted and loyal.
The businesses that opt to forego this patchwork approach, typically invest in an oversight unit, tasked with managing the infrastructure that will sustain a co-ordinated, cohesive and comprehensive plan for achieving service excellence. Let me say here, that I have come across few businesses that have taken this necessary, but bold step towards infusing real science into the action plan for elevating their customer experience to a five-star rating.
A business that invests to impress its customers, is communicating loudly, that it is prepared to earn its customers’ loyalty through the time, effort and care being put into curating the brand experience.
Ultimately, a business that invests to impress its customers, is communicating loudly, that it is prepared to earn its customers’ loyalty through the time, effort and care being put into curating the brand experience. I encourage every business that is intent on being admired for stellar customer experience, to take advantage of every available opportunity to impress its customers.
Doing so, paves the way for good business and pays good dividends going forward, as well.