Our customers.
They are what drive our businesses.
So it’s important that when we are looking at everything that is happening within the business we keep their experience with us at the forefront of everything we do.
Because without them, our businesses would cease to exist. It’s your customers that have the power, not you.
Their experience is everything so it’s important that we get it right. A good experience leaves people feeling seen, heard and appreciated. It minimises friction, maximises efficiency and maintains a human element (because we all hate the feeling of being just another number).
A great customer experience is critical to the sustained growth of any business. To put it simply, they will buy more, be loyal, and share their experiences with their friends. Everything we need to survive as a business! It’s your customers that generate your revenue and your employees that drive the experience.
But with the trend for efficiency, automation and making it easier for the business, comes a slip in the experience for the customer resulting in dissatisfaction, confusion, unhappiness, and a loss of the customer. These bad experiences are driving customers away – faster than you think.
In a world where it’s getting harder to differentiate yourself from other businesses, your customer experience is the perfect tool to help you stand out from your competitors.
Here’s some key ways that you can improve your customer experience:
- Know their journey – the first step to improving something is to understand it. Look at the journey they go through with you – right from their first touch point when they hear about the business, all the way through to your good-byes.
- Look for strengths, weaknesses, inefficiencies, complications, and communication that could be improved. How does their experience match with your brand values?
- Once you are clear on the journey, identify the main pain points of their experience and where you can improve.
- Plan out how you are going to implement the improvements and put an action plan in place. It’s one thing to identify what you are doing wrong, but taking action is where your power lies. Seek help where you need it from experts in their fields.
- Look at your employee’s experience. They are the ones driving your brand, values and passion. If they are not also enjoying the experience, this will be passed on to customers. How are they managing everything in the back end? Are they utilising tools to the best of their advantage? Do they have the knowledge they need to successfully perform in their role? Are there any bottlenecks that could be causing frustration?
If you need help to work through this, or cast a non-judgemental but critical eye over what you have extracted, get in touch and schedule in a time to meet with Pip.