CX is rapidly becoming the defining quality separating your business from the competition. You can make improvements to your customer experience by keeping the below six recommendations in mind.
Take customer data security seriously
If you don’t take security seriously, the consequences could be irreparable – your business may literally go under.
Your customers realize that data breaches occur every day and that to build trust with them, you must do everything in your power to proactively protect their information, including how you choose data centers. Anything less than that is just incompetent customer service.
Be human
Just because you have a customer service line doesn’t mean you need to sound robotic or disinterested. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes for a moment. What would make them feel better? When you call up your internet supplier after being cut off three times so far this month, you don’t want to hear, “sorry sir, thank you for calling”.
Be simple
‘Less is more’ isn’t just the key to great art; it’s also how you should be developing your customer experience. If you’re adding things that are confusing or unnecessary for customers, then they may decide to go with a competitor if one is offering what they want without all of the bells and whistles (which means extra costs for you). If you make your customers work harder than they need to by offering too much information or making them jump through too many hoops (with forms, multiple clicks etc), then don’t be surprised when they give up.
Don’t offer features that no one is using either – this wastes time, money and resources; plus, it takes up valuable space on websites and in the memory of a computer. If it’s not used, get rid of it. Simple.
Be consistent
It may be tempting to have something that is just for your company or even just for one big customer, but if you’re going to do that, then don’t post it on your website, blog or advertise it in any way because you’ll miss out on lots of potential customers who see this and instantly lose interest. It’s better to have limited options than no options at all – otherwise, what will differentiate your business from everyone else?
Your brand needs to be recognizable across channels, so make sure whatever you offer is exactly the same wherever you offer it (even if it’s physically different). It confuses people when they can’t find the same thing in different places, or if the logo is slightly different so think about what you post on social media platforms too.
Be immediate
You could have the best product in all of history, but it won’t do you any good if nobody knows about it. You need to spread the word about your business, and the easiest way to do this is through your website.
If there’s anything that needs changing, then go for it – make sure you’re positive in everything that you say because attitude reflects on companies too much these days for them to get away with being rude or negative (even if your customer service team is used to dealing with difficult customers).
Be accessible
Your website doesn’t just need to be functional; it needs to be accessible too. That means having good navigation (so people can find their way around easily), lots of information about your product or service, website copy that is written well (i.e. no spelling mistakes!), and images of staff, products etc. if you can afford them.
Conclusion
Take some time to think about what you’re offering on your website, social media pages etc, because if you don’t, then it won’t be good enough for your customers. You need to give them what they want, or else another company will come along that does – and they will spend their money with that business instead of yours.
You need to give customers the impression that you care if you want to improve their experience, and in order for this to work, customer experience needs to follow the above guidelines.
