We’ve written about it before; customer service gets a failing grade by our Quality of Customer Interaction (QCI™) Score. Other customer satisfaction metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) echo the same dismal fact: customers are dissatisfied with companies.
There are countless reasons why the customer experience isn’t up to snuff, but the fact remains that every day millions of customers endure sub-par experiences. Are you ready to reverse the tide for your company? If you are, here are 3 small steps you can take toward creating happier customers before lunchtime today.
1. Pick One Customer
Take a moment to think deeply about a recent interaction you had with a customer. What transpired during that interaction? Try to recall as many details as possible. How would you characterize the customer’s experience from their point of view? How did that one customer’s experience measure up against your ideal customer interaction? If you could go back in time, what changes would you make to this one instance?
When you do this exercise, it’s crucial to be honest about your shortcomings. Putting yourself in your customer’s shoes is an active, positive step toward change. If you truly want to improve the customer experience, you need to exercise your empathy muscles.
2. Re-read One Email
Pick an email, any email, you’ve sent to a customer. There are two key questions to ask: 1) Does it support your company’s brand? And, 2) does it support your customer? We don’t just mean that the email answers the customer’s immediate question. Make sure it looks ahead for potential questions the customer might have in the future. Re-work that one email and pass it around to other departments. Get their insights about how to improve the customer experience.
3. Take One More Look at Your Customer Satisfaction Survey
Get your hands on your latest customer satisfaction survey. The goal here is to root out those insidious survey biases (here’s a list of common ones to get you started). Gather a team, get a copy for everyone, and then take twenty minutes to look for biases. You can all work together or split up, reconvene, and compare notes. How many biases did you find?
There’s a double pay-off here. For one thing, your next survey is on its way to improvement. But there’s an immediate benefit, too: you’re encouraging your team to engage with the customer’s perspective. Conscious steps to align yourself and your company with your customers will start to re-mold your thought patterns. And as you think about the customer, you’ll begin to transform your customer experience for the better.
