2. Audit your current customer interactions and refine them.
How many interaction points does your business have with customers? Often times, it’s through marketing efforts to build awareness, sales and customer service. These three departmental functions entail basic deliverables that must be carried out.
Audit how you’re performing by developing a simple roadmap that captures the tactical steps you take to meet customer needs. Then, study your best-in-class competitors and assess what they’re doing well (possibly better than you). Lastly, use your internal data and competitive research to fine tune your interactions with customers.
The end goal is to simplify all interactions and make doing business with your company easy, painless, pleasurable and memorable.
3. Dare to do what your industry won’t do.
Now that you’ve taken time to understand your customer and made some simple refinements it’s time to “wow” customers with something that they wouldn’t likely expect from your company — perhaps even within your industry. Don’t be afraid to set a new standard or think about your business and industry differently.
For example, one of the areas that Apple beats out the competition is in customer service and in-store experience. It’s generally unheard of to have a “good experience” when dealing with technical issues surrounding consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers.
“Apple uses this conundrum to its advantage. Because it keeps product SKUs simple, the salespeople inside the stores know the products really well. Notice that when you go into an Apple store and are greeted by one of the sales staff, you’re not asked, “How can I help you?” Instead they ask, “What would you like to do today?” They go right to the heart of any technology user’s question, a question that’s always related to what they want to do with the technology the user is interested in.”
This is a simple example, yet the power of their approach has left an indelible mark on Apple aficionados around the world. The idea is to create new standards that are simple, unique and most importantly – that can easily scale.
Creating a better experience for your customers starts with paying closer attention to them, digging into the details of your own interactions and daring to do things differently.
How does your company improve customer experiences? Let me know in the comments section below.
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Photo Credit: Blanco
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