With customer experience becoming increasingly important to today’s consumers, it’s vital not to miss out on making sure your customers are getting the very best from your company. Research shows that if customers feel ignored or badly treated they will go elsewhere with their business, so it’s up to you as business owners to step up and ensure that your customers feel valued and respected.
It’s often the small, simple touches that can change a customers experience from okay to good, or from good to fantastic, whether that’s online, on the phone, or in person. Every customer wants to feel like their custom matters to you and that they’re not just another faceless consumer.
Even if it’s after the sale, a customer still likes to know that they are appreciated. For example, if they’ve been kind enough to leave you a good review (which you’d certainly hope), how about taking a moment to reply to that review? A simple thank you can go a long way to showing them that their review has been seen by a real person and raises the customer experience satisfaction level.
Think about the things that you’ve experienced as a consumer that have made you feel extra special. Maybe it was having a salesperson dedicate their time to you, or a call centre operative being extra helpful when you called about a problem. Did the manager come out to apologise when you had to return a faulty product or send back a bad meal?
I always remember one of my favourite customer experiences as a face to face one, even though it was several years ago now. I had gone in search of a little retail therapy and happened upon a well known clothing chain. I’d never been in before but liked the look of it so I ventured in to check it out.
As I entered, I was greeted by a friendly sales assistant who had just the right combination of welcoming without being what I would consider ‘pushy’. I browsed around and decided to try a few things on, as you do when something catches your eye.
As I reached the entrance to the changing rooms I was greeted by another smiling sales assistant who kindly took the clothes I was carrying around, asked my name and ushered me through to a very plush area adjoined to the changing cubicles. Here friends and family could wait in comfort and hopefully not too much boredom whilst their loved ones tried on their selections.
My name was expertly chalked on the little slate on an available cubicle door, my chosen clothes hung on the brass hooks inside and I was assured that should I need anything, I just had to press the buzzer on the wall. Inside the cubicle was lovely, clean, soft carpet, a padded stool and plenty of room to actually get changed. Even the lighting was flattering, which as most of you will know, isn’t usual in a retail clothing store!
They really had thought of everything and the result was a pleasant, stress-free shopping experience where I could try on the clothes I liked in a place that didn’t have unpleasant smells or dirty walls and someone was to hand if I needed a different size. Needless to say I made a purchase that I didn’t end up having to go back later and return. Success all round.
Here at Go Websites we have a lot of clients come in for meetings so it’s important that we show them that we’re willing to go the extra mile and let them know how valued they are. To that end, I’d like to take you through some of the special little things we do to make sure that our customer experience is as good as we can make it.
The Go Websites Way
Long before you arrive at our door we are preparing for your arrival, in fact it starts as soon as you confirm your time and date. Those useful processes and procedures I talked about in my previous post come into play right away and a checklist is produced to ensure no step is missed out and everyone receives the same high standard.
We make sure there is fresh milk in the refrigerator and some lovely smelling hand soap in the bathrooms. To make sure there’s something for everyone, we offer tea and coffee in regular and decaf varieties as well as Michael’s every popular mint tea. For those looking for something a little special we offer beer or pimms (nice for those hot summer afternoons when they come around again). There will also always be chilled water standing ready.
To keep all the senses pleased when you arrive we make sure the air is smelling sweet with a quick whip round with the air freshener; especially important in these older buildings. We don’t want you to be too hot or cold either, so making sure the heaters or windows are properly deployed to keep the studio at optimum temperature is also essential.
When you arrive, you’ll always be greeted by name to make you feel right at home and welcomed inside. It will usually be me who greets you and takes you through to the meeting room to sit down. I’ll take your drinks order and make sure you’re sitting in the right place since each of our guests receives a personalised, hand-written thank you note.
The meeting room is always set out just right before our guests arrive, there’s even a table diagram to follow to make sure everything is in the correct place. This may seem too fussy but having a set process means that anyone can do just as good a job, even someone who is a brand new team member.
Many of you will have been on the receiving end of our particular brand of customer service experience and I hope that you all have good things you can say about it. For those of you who we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting in person yet, I hope that we’ll be able to welcome you to the studio soon.