If you run a B2C business, you have to make your customers happy. Failure to provide adequate customer service will stifle your sales, causing your business to go under almost as soon as it gets started.
The question is: what is customer experience, or rather, what makes for good customer experience? The answer: quite a bit. Without further ado, here are 7 tips for making customers happy.
1. Stay Positive
First and foremost, you have to stay positive.
Greeting dissatisfaction with negativity is a surefire way to increase the severity of the situation. Be positive in your voice, in your body language, and in the message that you’re delivering.
For instance, let’s say that a customer complains about his or her shipment not arriving on time. Don’t make excuses for the late arrival; don’t provide empty apologies; don’t indicate that your company is anything less than uber-professional.
Instead, give the customer an apology and then tell him or her how you will rectify the situation. Maybe you could give him or her a 25% off coupon for the next order? Maybe you could send him or her a free item?
Whatever the case may be, you need to maintain a positive interaction.
The customer might still leave the conversation unsatisfied. But, at the very least, he or she won’t be able to complain about poor customer service; this will help to maintain the reputation of your brand over time.
2. Make Your Information Available Online
These days, fewer and fewer consumers want to deal with businesses directly. Generally speaking, when a modern consumer has a problem with a company, he or she heads to that company’s website and looks for answers.
This is why your company needs to make its information available online. The more your customers can avoid human interaction, the happier they’ll be (in most cases).
Set up a website that’s aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate. Create a page with a FAQ (frequently asked questions) section. Then, use this section to answer common customer questions.
You’ll want to post your contact information closeby as well, just in case a customer does feel like talking to a human being. And for good measure, post an email address as well.
The more avenues of communication that you provide, the greater the overall customer experience will be.
3. Keep the Customer in the Loop
When it comes to customer satisfaction, it’s vital to keep the customer feeling important.
If the customer doesn’t feel valued, he or she will soon become disenchanted with your business, and will likely cease to buy products from you in the future.
How do you keep the customer feeling important? By keeping him or her in the proverbial loop.
For instance, if your customer has a complaint against your company, it’s best to correspond with him or her until the dispute is settled. In doing so, you’ll show the customer that he or she is important to your business.
It’s also wise to make use of email marketing, as it can help to retain customers who have already done business with you. Build an email list and correspond with it on a regular basis.
4. Make Use of Customer Experience Software
There’s an app for everything these days, and customer experience is certainly no exception.
These apps provide all types of features and are even designed to cater to specific industries. For instance, take a look at this app that supports banking customer experience.
By making use of software like this, you can seamlessly draw up reports, send messages to customers, manage client loads, and much, much more. An app like this is sure to make your life much, much easier.
5. Go the Extra Mile
It’s one thing to solve customers’ problems. It’s another thing to facilitate a great customer experience. How do you do it? By going the extra mile.
Rectify screw-ups with freebies. Make the extra call to verify that your customer received everything that he or she was looking for. Engage with your customers on social media.
The farther you go for your customers, the more loyal they’ll remain to your company. And if you can establish a loyal customer base, your business will thrive.
6. Be Welcoming
Let’s say you run a restaurant. You have two options: 1. you can stand quietly behind the cash register and wait for your customers to approach you, or 2. you can greet your customers joyfully the second they walk through the doorway.
Which interaction would you rather have if you were the customer? Odds are, you would prefer the latter. Why? Because the representatives of the business are making you feel welcome.
This is perhaps the most important part of creating a solid customer experience.
If your company has a reputation for being open and approachable, new customers will approach it. If it has a reputation for being closed-off and unfriendly, new customers will be reticent to come your way.
7. Train Your Employees
You might be the nicest, most welcoming, and most helpful person on the planet. But if your employees don’t match your qualifications, it will all be for naught.
This is why you need to train your employees to facilitate an outstanding customer experience. A good portion of the time, they’ll be the ones representing your business. Teach them how to represent it the right way, and you’ll reap the benefits over the long run.
No More Asking “What Is Customer Experience”
And with that, there will be no more asking “what is customer experience?” Put the tips above to use, and your business stands a good chance at succeeding. Fail to use them, and your business is almost sure to falter.
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