Wondering how to take on the task of improving customer experience to the next level? It’s a question many managers are asking themselves. To take your business to the next level, you’ll need to change some business processes, including getting rid of some old ones and adding some new ones. You’ll also have to create a more customer-oriented philosophy among your staff. That’s a challenge. To do it, you’ll need to walk in your customers’ shoes. See what they see. Experience what they experience. Then revamp customer experience accordingly.
Obviously, this takes work. It also takes time. This is how we do it at 31West.
How To Improving Customer Experience?
You can get the ball rolling right now. Below are 7 things you can do today to improve customer experiences at your business.
1. Understand Your Customer
Understanding the customer is the key to improving customer experiences. Strive to understand who your customers are and what their real needs and wants are. It’s the key to revamping customer experience, successfully.
Savvy SMBs create customer personas. They even give customers names and personalities, so frontline staff can relate to them. Creating personas and giving them personalities helps bring the customer to life for frontline staff.
2. Define A Clear Customer-Oriented Vision
Create a clear customer-oriented vision and communicate it to your staff. An easy way to do this is to develop a set of statements to define this vision clearly and succinctly. Include ways to exceed customers’ expectations as part of this vision.
Some managers make this the first step in improving the customer experience. Others make it the second step. Regardless of what step you make, it’s critical that you define a clear customer-oriented vision that your staff accepts and adheres to.
3. Get Rid Of Useless Processes
Useless processes detract from customer experiences. If a process doesn’t add value to the experience or further it somehow, dump it. Getting rid of just one of these processes can make an immediate impact. It can quickly and efficiently boost customer satisfaction.
Action Point: Review your business processes. List the processes that no longer add value to the customer experience. Revamp them or eliminate them.
4. Create An Emotional Connection
Creating an emotional connection is the Holy Grail of customer service. It creates memorable customer experiences that customers brag about.
Ideally, you want to create powerful operational customer experiences that achieve and/or reinforce emotional connections with customers—an approach that’s worked for many SMBs.
5. Anticipate Needs For Improving Customer Experience
To really drive customer experiences, you must anticipate customers’ needs. Leveraging all the data you accumulate when working with customers and sharing it with agents is a critical part of anticipating what customers want.
Use the data you collect to proactively address current and future needs. It can also help you anticipate unspoken needs.
To do this well, you must first understand your target customers and then commit yourself to altering business processes.
6. Be Consistent Across All Touch Points
Make no mistake. Improving customer experience is pivotal to any business & must be consistent across all touchpoints.
Many SMBs are lax about consistency and it impacts their customer experiences. Customers expect consistency from every channel.
Delivering consistency has one other big advantage. It can dramatically reduce costs through increased use of self-service capabilities and reduction of repeat calls and misdirects.
7. Use Online Communities To Your Advantage
Use online communities and customer forums to learn how customers really feel about their experiences with you. Listen to what they are saying to gain a better understanding of their behaviors and preferences.
How do you take customer experience to the next level or simply put improve? Create a seamless customer experience with excellent service.
To do that, you need to walk in your customers’ shoes and evaluate what’s happening every step of the way. Then you need to change business processes accordingly.
It takes work. But the payout is enormous.
As an outsourced helpdesk provider, we harness our proven experience in delivering top-notch tech support to small and medium-size companies, aiming to cater our expertise specifically for your needs. Reach out to our sales team and request a quote today!
