A BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
A basic fact about being human is that we seek to repeat experiences we enjoyed and avoid those we didn’t. Knowing this can have a profound impact on how you run your business. If what we all want is loyal customers and not just one-off sales then it is axiomatic that to create a positive customer experience is the route to good business.
Some of the elements of customer experience:
1. Know about ‘Buyer Psychology’
This is so simple but so often forgotten. When we go to buy something there are certain psychological elements that will put us into a buyers frame of mind. As is so often the case, we are not consciously aware of being in this state. This is good for the seller because it gives them a massive opportunity to create a positive experience and leave the buyer with a warm, glowing feeling without really knowing what has happened to them. Conversely sellers who fail to recognise what is going on are likely to make some big mistakes.
So what is the ‘Buyer Psychology?’ Put simply the buyer believes that they are paying the seller the greatest compliment by entering their shop, visiting their website or calling their sales line. In a very great sense, they are right. They have chosen you over the competition; from now on this customer is only yours to lose. Welcome them, make them feel important, flatter them, reassure them they have made the right decision, assist them, inform them but ABOVE ALL – repay the compliment.
Tip: Don’t ever think of the relationship with your customers as master / slave. It’s completely the wrong mind set.
2. Create a pleasant environment
Creating positive environment is relatively simple in a shop, restaurant or hotel. The interior design, the fixtures and fittings, the temperature, the lighting, the fragrance of baked bread and fresh coffee all conspire to make the customer feel welcome and, most importantly want to come back. Starbucks’ concept of the ‘third place’ acknowledges this entirely. Their intention is for their customers to think of their coffee shops as a ‘third’ environment after home and work. It’s a powerful offer and one that has been responsible for making them the largest coffee business in the world.
However, not all businesses have contact with their customers in this way. They have to create a virtual environment. This is done by building a strong corporate identity, delivered consistently at all touch points (where customers encounter the brand). The use of colours, imagery, typography, packaging, interactivity on the website all come together to create positive feelings.
3. Don’t just give them what they want – solve their problems.
We are always led to understand that the strongest business model is find out what the customer wants and give it to them, However, a much more powerful paradigm is find out what problems consumers have and solve them.
A good example of this came from the pet food industry. For years pet food manufacturers had looked at their product from an end-user perspective. I.e. the mutt! Hence sloppy, meaty tins of mush with loads of jelly. However, research amongst owners showed a big problem – it smelled and looked terrible. It was, in short, a very unpleasant experience. Based on this research dry dog food was invented – a problem solved, a better experience created and a powerful business for Eukenuba!
4. Delight by over delivery.
There’s nothing more guaranteed to make a happy customer than delivering more than they expected. There are so many low cost but high value things that you can do to over deliver. My mechanics garage – a study in customer experience in its own right – always washes my car before returning it to me. They employ two job-share mums full time to do this and it’s worth every penny. They know that garage bills are always unpleasant but returning a clean, fresh smelling vehicle is a fine way to sugar the pill. Doesn’t a clean car always seem to run better?
Tip: Be careful to manage customer expectations. Over deliver but don’t over promise. This can have as powerful a negative affect as over delivery is positive.
5. In the end it’s all about company culture
For many years creating a good customer experience has been focused on consumer goods. Although FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) marketing has its challenges, once the customer experience has been established for your product, the beauty of mass manufacturing means that the same experience can be consistently delivered over and over again.
This type of marketing is still a vital part of most economies. Product giants such as Procter and Gambler and Unilever lead the way and between them still remain the largest buyers of advertising in the world.
However the economies of the developed world have been shifting their focus. Starting in the 70s and accelerating from the early 80s, they have become service orientated, value-added economies. We no longer make things that come rolling off the production line – this is done in China and India. Companies now have to compete for the hearts and minds of their customers in an entirely different way. Just how you create a consistent customer experience in a service based business has become one of the greatest marketing challenges facing business in recent years.
How does a busy call centre in Leeds create a positive experience for a customer who may call one day to buy holiday insurance, the next to insure their dog and the next to report they have written off their car. Likewise how does a roadside recovery business do it for a customer who first runs out of petrol on a motorway on Bank Holiday Monday and then breaks down in the highlands of Scotland in February?
It’s all down to the culture you create in your company from the boardroom down. Set standards, act by them yourself and train every single member of your staff so that understand what that culture is. Never in business is the old adage ‘a chain in only as strong as its weakest link’ more true when it comes to the matter of company culture. Board members may know how to behave and so may managers. But who is in contact with the customer every day? The receptionist, the door-porter, the van driver, the road-side mechanic and the junior shop assistant all have more day-to-day contact with the customer than almost anyone else.
The longer the lines are stretched from key-decision makers to the point of delivery the more important it is to establish a strong, positive company culture and make sure that every employee eats, drinks, thinks and sleeps it.
I’ve noticed a small thing in Sainsbury recently. If you ask where something is the shop assistant ABSOLUTELY INSISTS on taking you to it. This is company culture at its best, it costs nothing but ticks all the boxes when it comes to making you feel important.
Tip: When dealing with a dissatisfied or angry customer try taking the blame. Northing defuses an argument more quickly. Once you have turned the tables in this way be swift to offer a solution which is of minimum (preferably no) disruption to the customer.
Conclusion
For so many of us buying something lifts us out of the drudge of daily life – retail therapy is a very real concept. But the thrill comes not just from the ownership of new products or the enjoyment of new services – it’s in the whole process of shopping – in short, the experience. The commercial winners are the ones who create the best experience.
For help in building a better customer experience call us on 020 8659 1457.
