To ensure your customers endure beneficial experiences in the channels they cross, it is vital to view your services from their point of view. A customer’s perception of your business is often the difference between happy returning customers, and those who are unsatisfied and therefore unlikely use your services again. Reported statistics highlight this point, claiming that 86% of customers stopped liaising with a company due to a poor transaction or service experience. This shows that getting it right first time really is key. Here are some tips on how you can incorporate a strong, customer focused approach into your consumer strategies:
View your service from a customer’s stance
First and foremost, and just as the title of this blog post suggests, adopting a customer’s viewpoint when connecting with a service is crucial. Whether your business provides directly to the customer, or if you’re reaching out to further commercial industries, mystery shopping is very effective. Our experienced and impartial mystery shoppers at Bigwave Media produce tailor-made reports incorporating all aspects of the customer experience, including personal visits and telephone calls. This enables your business to gain a genuine insight into the way you are observed as a company, providing you with feedback and improvement recommendations.
Furthermore, it remains essential to view the services you offer from a digital perspective as well. With 60% of the UK’s population now owning a smartphone, it is vital that your website is streamlined and displayed in an easy format on various screen sizes. You can simply check if your website adopts this method of structure here.
Get to know your customer
It is imperative not only to understand the demographics of your customers, but also to understand the service and products that are expected and required. Friendly but professional customer service is a small but important step which makes a big difference in maintaining satisfied customers. Going above and beyond these expectations is often what provokes a reaction from clients and customers. One way that companies can do this is by incorporating ‘Random Acts of Kindness’, be it by way of upgrading a customer’s order so it reaches them by the following day, or offering a free workout class to a longstanding leisure centre member . It is these unexpected, but genuine actions that create a positive stir, and remind the consumer of the human side of a brand. This is great for your business as more and more customers share their daily encounters with companies through social media, and thus can confidently strengthen your online brand image.
Act on a customer’s feedback
Acting on a customer’s feedback demonstrates that your business cares. Whether it’s replying to tweets, emails or old fashioned letters, it is important that customers appreciate that you have not only received and acknowledged their contact, but that they know what you intend to complete as a result. Much like the Random Acts of Kindness mentioned above, this individual approach further strengthens the personable image of your business, and helps to reaffirm you as a brand that cares about all customer experience, be it positive or negative.
Putting yourself in the customers’ shoes is a strategy we employ here at Bigwave Media. Whether we’re designing a logo, creating a PR campaign, or developing a website, we imagine ourselves in the situation of the client in order to efficiently plan and generate the best possible outcome. Incorporate it in your business and learn how it can secure happy and returning customers!