How to Create a Customer Experience That Stands Out
As a business, it is all about the customer experience. You could be damn good at what you do but if your customer doesn’t have a good experience, you can bet they won’t be coming back and they’ll find someone else who gives them a better overall experience. This week I’m talking about what you can do to make your customer experiences stand out, how to do it without getting overwhelmed and what to do when things don’t quite go according to the plan.
What makes a customer experience memorable?
Think about the last time you ordered a take out, what do you remember the most? Maybe there was a super simple online system where you could order, pay and leave a note for your delivery driver, but maybe there wasn’t and you had to squint at a blurry photo of the menu online and then make the dreaded phone call to place your order, scramble around to find cash because they don’t accept payments over the phone and the whole reason you’re ordering a delivery is because you’re already in your PJ’s so there’s no way you’re popping to the shop to pay by card! Customer experiences can either be memorable in a great way, or in the worst way, remember the stressful phone call, the hunt to get enough cash together and the food that arrives 2 hours late and freezing cold? That’s probably going to stick in your mind for all the wrong reasons. You want your customers to remember how simple your processes were, how lovely and personal you were when dealing with them, how you delivered on what you said you would. All of those things are what is going to make a customer remember you and either come back for more, or recommend you to a friend. Beyond sticking to expectations and making things simple, you can do other things to give your customers a memorable experience such as sending a card or a small gift to celebrate achievements, send a handwritten thank you note if they’ve ordered a physical product from you or check in, just because you want to and not because you’re trying to make a sale.
How can a small business owner create that personal touch without overwhelming their workload?
Adding a personal touch to your customer experience doesn’t have to overwhelm your workload. It’s all about being intentional and working smarter, not harder. You could create memorable moments by automating thoughtful gestures like friendly check-in emails using warm templates and setting up reminders for key dates. I have an automated reminder to send my clients a gift when we have been working together for a year, it’s a really lovely opportunity to celebrate the achievements we’ve made and although I’m still manually choosing and sending the gift, having the automated reminder in place takes away the mental strain of me having to remember to do it! It’s good to choose one signature personal touch rather than trying to do it all, and you could consider batching these into your workflow to make it easier to manage, for example if you send out hand written thank you notes, you could write a batch of these at once and then they’re ready to go when you need them.
How can small businesses update their systems to improve their customers experience?
Making sure you have good systems in place is vital for ensuring a positive customer experience. You need to consider this from two sides; how this works for your customer, how it helps you. First you need to make sure that anything you’re asking your customers to do is as easy as possible - I’m talking forms, payments, contracts. If they can click 1-2 buttons and achieve what you’re asking of them, not only are they more likely to do it, but they’ll likely have a better experience. If things are too complicated and there’s a lot of manual steps, it can put a real dampener on the amazing work you’re probably going to deliver later. A good CRM system is ideal for making sure you don’t forget things, you’re able to set up those automations I mentioned before and manage your clients or customers in a way that enables you to provide that stand out experience.
Top tips for handling when things don’t go to plan
As in anything, there are always going to be times where things don’t quite go to plan. This doesn’t have to mean the end of a positive experience for your customer, there are still ways to turn it around! In my experience, honesty is usually the best policy when something isn’t going to plan. It’s important to explain to your customer what has happened and, where appropriate, why it’s happened. Addressing the issue head on allows you to be in control, explaining any external or mitigating factors will also help them to understand the situation better and avoid them jumping to conclusions. Once you’ve addressed the issue, it’s important to explain what you’re doing to rectify it and manage their expectations, how long will it take to fix, how will it impact future work or products and what can they expect from you to make sure it doesn’t happen again. It can also be a nice touch, if appropriate, to offer a ‘good will gesture’ to compensate for what has gone wrong.
Final thoughts
Customer experience is key and there’s a lot you can do to make it memorable! First, communicate clearly and deliver on the expectations you’ve set. Make sure things are as straightforward as possible for your customer and utilise your systems to automate and make things easier for yourself to avoid getting overwhelmed. If and when anything goes off the plan, address it head on, apologise (if appropriate) and manage their expectations for how the situation will be rectified and what the impact is. Remember, we are all human and mistakes do happen but it’s usually how you deal with them that has the biggest impact.
