{"id":954278,"date":"2020-01-29T17:06:23","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T01:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/?p=25993"},"modified":"2020-01-29T17:11:56","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T01:11:56","slug":"go-great-or-go-cheap-making-great-customer-experiences-work-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/go-great-or-go-cheap-making-great-customer-experiences-work-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Go Great Or Go Cheap! Making Great Customer Experiences Work For You!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-25995\" src=\"http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/poor_customer_service-300x134.jpg\" alt width=\"401\" height=\"179\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/poor_customer_service-300x134.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/poor_customer_service-768x342.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/poor_customer_service.jpg 800w, http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/poor_customer_service-700x312.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 401px) 100vw, 401px\"\/>Customer satisfaction levels in the UK have had the longest period of decline since records started in 2oo8. That\u2019s according to <span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lp.instituteofcustomerservice.com\/ukcsi-report-jan-2020\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'https:\/\/lp.instituteofcustomerservice.com\/ukcsi-report-jan-2020', 'a recent report by the The Institute of Customer Service');\"  rel=\"noopener\">a recent report by the The Institute of Customer Service<\/a><\/strong><\/span> who say that the <strong>UK Customer Service Index (UKCSI) is at its lowest in 5 years.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Overall customer service satisfaction level across all brands was at 76.9, the lowest since July 2015. Despite its score dropping by 0.9 points year-on-year,&nbsp;<strong>John Lewis top the table<\/strong> with a customer satisfaction score of 85.6&nbsp; They are followed by First Direct,&nbsp;Next, Nationwide and Amazon. It\u2019s clear that <strong>customer expectations continue to rise<\/strong> and there is ever more pressure on businesses\u2026 like yours!<\/p>\n<p>How can you deal with this? Well, you have two basic options: <strong>Go For Great Service<\/strong> Or <strong>Go Cheap!<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Going Cheap\u2026.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Interestingly, at the bottom end of the league table when it comes to customer service is supermarket chain Lidl. They are the lowest scoring food retailer for customer satisfaction but they actually saw sales rise last year by 9.2%! So they give poor customer service but they out perform others. How come? Well, yes, their sales have been undoubtedly been boosted by store openings,&nbsp;refurbishments and vouchers, but the key driver is cheap prices \u2013 Only Aldi has higher satisfaction when it comes to price. They have clearly got their&nbsp;overall proposition and experience spot on and they meet the needs of their customers by doing that.<\/p>\n<p>However, lots of businesses can\u2019t (and shouldn\u2019t) compete on \u2018price\u2019 alone and there are clearly opportunities for businesses that want to avoid that\u2026&nbsp;The ICS survey suggests many customers want better service and are willing to pay for it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span>25.9%<\/span> of customers prefer excellent service, even if&nbsp;it means paying more.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><span>59.9%<\/span> of customers want a&nbsp;balance of price and service.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><span><span>Only<\/span> 14.2%<\/span> of customers&nbsp;prefer no frills, low cost service<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yes, that\u2019s over a quarter of customers saying they are willing to pay more for excellent service \u2013 that\u2019s <strong>A BIG OPPORTUNITY!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>How can you take advantage of that? Here are 3 ideas to consider to:<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Going Great\u2026.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>i<span>D<\/span>ea #<span>1<\/span>: Choose \u2018Em Or Lose \u2018Em!<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><span>3<\/span><span>D<\/span> Businesses <\/strong>focus on the customers they <em>want<\/em> to work with. They identify who their \u2018best\u2019 customers are and that can often mean those that are less price focused. It can typically be those who do things like focus on \u2018value\u2019 not price, those who consciously look for long term relationships, focus on quality, those that pay on time, or maybe even those that pay! Spend some time analysing your customers and their buying patterns. Who are your \u2018best\u2019 customers? Identify them, profile them and find more of them! Go on\u2026. Find those customers, and consider getting rid of those customers that are only bothered about price \u2013 at least, reduce your reliance on them.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>i<span>D<\/span>ea #<span>2<\/span>: Be Easy To Buy From!<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Finding ways to improve the customer experience is a something that&nbsp;<strong><span>3<\/span><span>D<\/span>&nbsp;Businesses<\/strong>&nbsp;do consistently. A key way of different<a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/123download\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-21619\" src=\"http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Stand-In-Your-Own-Queues-Toolkit-212x300.png\" alt width=\"164\" height=\"232\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Stand-In-Your-Own-Queues-Toolkit-212x300.png 212w, http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Stand-In-Your-Own-Queues-Toolkit-723x1024.png 723w, http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Stand-In-Your-Own-Queues-Toolkit-700x991.png 700w, http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Stand-In-Your-Own-Queues-Toolkit.png 747w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 164px) 100vw, 164px\"\/><\/a>iating themselves from their competitors is making the whole thing simpler and easier for the customer \u2013 it\u2019s all about \u2018convenience\u2019!<\/p>\n<p>That can be anything from answering the phones promptly (and the person answering it knows what they\u2019re talking about!), improving processes to eliminate time wasting processes and \u2018speed things up\u2019 through to sophisticated AI technology that creates automated personalised responses. (<span><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/2019\/11\/14\/be-easy-to-buy-from-ill-drink-to-that\/\" onclick=\"__gaTracker('send', 'event', 'outbound-article', 'http:\/\/www.andyhanselman.com\/2019\/11\/14\/be-easy-to-buy-from-ill-drink-to-that\/', 'Check out how Tottenham Hostspur do it here with beer!');\">Check out how Tottenham Hostspur do it here with beer!<\/a><\/strong><\/span>)<\/p>\n<p>So, have a look at your business and identify how easy you are to buy from and deal with along the whole customer journey.&nbsp; Why not <strong>\u2018Stand In Your Own Queues\u2019<\/strong> and see what it\u2019s like to be a customer of your business and identify how and where you could improve the customer experience by making things easier for your customers.&nbsp;You can download our FREE&nbsp;<strong>\u2018Stand In Your Own Queues\u2019<\/strong>&nbsp;toolkit to help you do that simply by <strong>clicking on the image<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>i<span>D<\/span>ea #<span>3<\/span>: \u2018Delight\u2019 Your Customers!<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>When some people hear the phrase \u2018Customer Delight\u2019 for the first time I sometimes see them grimace and with a look of despair say <em>\u2018Oh no, he\u2019s been to Disneyland for his holidays \u2013 it\u2019s going to be one of those seminars!\u2019&nbsp;<\/em>So, first of all, let me state what this is not about! It is not <em>\u2018Have a nice day!\u2019, \u2018Missing you already!\u2019 <\/em>or <em>\u2018Buy One, Get 10 Free!\u2019<\/em>, \u2013 obviously, it\u2019s got to make commercial sense (hey, even Lidl don\u2019t give things away for free!)! It\u2019s not a gimmick, and it\u2019s certainly not a \u2018one off\u2019!&nbsp; In truly customer focused businesses, \u2018customer \u2018delight\u2019 is part of the culture and make-up of the business. It\u2019s the way we do things around here!<\/p>\n<p>So, what exactly is \u2018Customer Delight\u2019? Well, my definition is..&nbsp;<strong><em>\u2018Surprising customers with the level of service you >provide\u2019&nbsp; and let me just emphasise, it\u2019s surprising them in a positive way!&nbsp;It\u2019s about <\/em><em>\u2018exceeding <\/em>their expectations\u2019, and the scary thing is that in many industries, that can simply means delivering things \u2018on time, on budget and in a courteous and friendly way\u2019! &nbsp;We believe that there are 6 ingredients of <\/strong><strong>\u2018Customer Delight\u2019<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"post_content_holder\">\n<div class=\"post_text\">\n<div class=\"post_text_inner\">\n<ul>\n<li><b>It produces a wow reaction!<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>It appears spontaneous or unexpected!<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>It\u2019s the personal touch!<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>It makes the customer feel valued!<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>It\u2019s genuine\u2026 and\u2026<\/b><\/li>\n<li class=\"last\"><b>It creates a \u2018talking point\u2019!<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"post_content_holder\">\n<div class=\"post_text\">\n<div class=\"post_text_inner\">\n<div class=\"post_content_holder\">\n<div class=\"post_text\" readability=\"36\">\n<div class=\"post_text_inner\" readability=\"42\">\n<p>Work out what this means for your customers and find ways to \u2018<b>empower your people to respond to, and \u2018delight\u2019 customers. Give them the&nbsp;<\/b><b>help, support and encouragement to do it, and reward and recognise those who do.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>For a more in-depth insight&nbsp;of Customer Delight, click on the image to download my free e-book&nbsp;<strong>Customer Delight As Competitive Advantage<\/strong>&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;<strong>44 pages and over 60 ideas to help you make this stuff work in your business.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>29Jan Go Great Or Go Cheap! Making Great Customer Experiences Work For You!<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPosted at 15:34h<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin #3 Create &#8216;Devoted&#8217; Customers<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAndy<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7366,"featured_media":898000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[128,84,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954278"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":954335,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954278\/revisions\/954335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}