A friendly employee who caters to the customer, and an inviting atmosphere will not only end up making a successful sale but will create an exceptional customer experience which invites customers to come back and buy again. Only 3 things matter in exceptional customer experience.
Why should you care? Because:
89 percent of consumers quit doing business with a company because of a bad customer experience.
Building a relationship with the customer is key in creating an exceptional customer experience. The effectiveness of developing the customer relationship begins with creating the right atmosphere for an outstanding customer experience. Your business environment, and the way your employees interact with customers will have a dramatic effect on the atmosphere of the customer experience.
The customer is NOT always right. But they are ALWAYS the customer.
It’s not about “the customer is always right”. This mentality misses the mark. It doesn’t matter if the customer is right or wrong. The only thing that matters is remembering that the customer is always the customer.
Customers only want 3 things:
- fast
- cheap
- help, if needed (preferably a nice atmosphere too).
Don’t spend too much time worried about understanding customers, most customers are just looking for that. Fast and cheap are simple, anyone can do that. Overnight. Atmosphere will take time, effort, training, and the right people, and following up with customers to make sure you’re doing it right.
Customer experience is doing what the customer wants, getting what they need fast.
Customers want what they want today. Not tomorrow, not next week, not when it’s in stock. When customers are ready to buy, today is the day they want it. Our digital world has made customers willing to wait for shipping, that’s true. But just because a customer is willing to wait 5-7 business days for their item doesn’t mean that you’ve mastered the customer experience. There’s a reason why Zappos overnights packages even though you order regular 3-5 day shipping. Amazon’s prime membership customer get access to their online streaming service, but get free 1-2 day shipping on all of their items purchased from Amazon.
Think about this:
As soon as the customer walks into the store, reaches your Web site, calls your company, a friendly greeting from any (real, live, human) employee will make the customer feel welcomed.
Without even thinking about it, the customer begins to rate in his head, how they are being treated. If the feeling is good, the wallets are open. If customers feel uneasy, you’ll need a crowbar to open their wallets.
It is also vital for the customer to feel relaxed when deciding to buy a product and not pressured. Feeling pressured will drive away the customer. You may make the sale with a high-pressure approach, but don’t expect them to come back.
The overall atmosphere and the personal connection of employees with your customers is what binds the customer to your brand. It’s this combination that makes an exceptional customer experience. And it starts from the management team, to the sales team, the developers or merchandizing, and ends with your front line team who interact with customers day to day.
Great customer experience should be main goal of your entire operation.
Customer experience should be the question behind every business decision. Although the online customer experience may differ a little, the goal is the same. It’s the same because customers are the same, they want a great customer experience.
Customers may be at home in their pajamas, shopping online, but in the end, they’re a customer. It’s all about the customer experience, customer experience matters. Create the right environment. Bring in the right people. Connect with your customers. Even in a negative economy, customer experience is a high priority for consumers. 60 percent say they often or always pay more for a better customer experience, (Harris Interactive, Customer Experience Impact Report).
Who wouldn’t want that? Making an exceptional customer experience the focus of all of our actions, our decisions, our decisions will help us develop the most positive relationship with customers.
