Customer experience is one of the most influential aspects of client feedback and reviews. A positive experience will help you set your business apart while a negative experience could result in low scores and ratings, which put others off. As a business owner, it’s always beneficial to strive for more. In this guide, we’ll outline some steps you can take to elevate customer experience.
Get to know your customers better
The first step to take when drawing up plans to take customer experience to the next level is to get to know your clients better. Use questionnaires, surveys, online polls, focus groups and interviews to ask for ideas and opinions and find out more about your ideal customer. Learn about their shopping and buying habits and get an insight into what matters to them and what makes them tick. Ask questions about how they make decisions and what draws them to certain brands. Gather information about pricing strategies and promotions and find out what people are looking for when they walk into a store, call a company, visit a website or open an app.
Keep a close eye on the competition
To elevate customer experience and offer your customers more, it’s beneficial to have an accurate idea of what is already out there and what your competitors are offering. Keep a close eye on rival firms and brands and try to be agile and adaptable to enable you to capitalise on new ideas and trends. Whether that’s to find the best venues and put on more launches or to improve your product features. You need to make sure that what you’re doing far outshines what they are.
Develop your website
Business websites have never been more important. More and more of us are starting the process of finding companies or searching for products and services online. Even if you don’t sell products online, you can benefit from having an online presence as it will enable you to promote your business and attract new audiences. If you have a basic site, or you’re getting a lot of traffic but you have low conversion rates, it’s important to try to develop and improve your website. If you don’t have web developers or experts in IT on your team, look for a web application development company with an excellent track record. View examples of previous work and case studies and meet with agencies to discuss ideas for your company website. A brilliant website can make the difference between making sales and losing out to other businesses.
Provide outstanding customer service
Customer experience is not just about having access to high-quality products and services at attractive prices or enjoying the process of browsing a website or using an app. Customer service is an integral component. If customer service is poor, or there is a lack of support for clients, this will impact customer experience and leave a bad taste even if the product is outstanding. Prioritise customer service and support and monitor performance. Collect and analyse client feedback and reviews and provide quick and easy access to support. If you have a website, live chat is a brilliant feature. You can also use social media to offer advice and support and handle enquiries via phone and email. If you provide a face-to-face service, or you field calls from customers, your employees should have the relevant customer service training.
Find ways to add value
When searching for products and services, customers want to feel like they are getting the best deal. In some cases, this may mean paying the lowest price, but often it’s a case of finding the offer that represents the best value for money. If you have two offers in front of you and the difference in price is negligible but one company includes free shipping or gift wrapping in the price, for example, the customer will choose this offer because they’re getting more for their money. Look for ways to add value for your customers. Ideas include using high-quality materials or ingredients, offering personalization or customization options, earning loyalty points or rewards or accessing perks such as next-day delivery.
Address pain points
One of the best ways to optimise customer experience is to learn about the experience your business provides. Take a walk in your client’s shoes, read comments, feedback and reviews and identify problems and pain points. Addressing issues promptly will help you enhance the experience and lower the risk of negative feedback in the future.
Customer experience plays a crucial role in influencing buyer decision-making. If you are eager to offer your clients more and ensure that they become repeat customers, there are lots of ways to elevate customer experience. Get to know your customers better, communicate and engage with them and keep a close eye on your competition. Develop and improve your website, find ways to add value for customers, take feedback on board to address pain points and prioritise customer service and support.
