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A happy customer is a loyal customer, and that happiness is created by having a positive experience. That’s why it’s so important to focus on how customers interact with your products and people, and to understand how that interaction makes them feel.
Often, an experience results in customers posting reviews. This is great if the customer’s experience of your company was a positive one. But if not, there’s nowhere to hide if the experience fell short of expectations.
Ultimately, a poor customer experience impacts negatively on your company. In fact, 32% of all customers would stop doing business with a brand they loved after just one bad experience.
But on the flip side, a positive customer experience has the power to strengthen customer loyalty and increase revenue and growth.
Customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than companies that aren’t. And 92% of companies who have invested in improving customer experience report increased customer loyalty.
So how do you ensure the customer experience is a positive one?
- Walk in your customers’ shoes. Send an employee through the purchase process or bring in a ‘mystery shopper’ to do it for you. This will give you a lot of hints about what’s working and what’s not.
- Interview customers or carry out exit surveys. This will give you direct information about your organization, your products, and your people. It will also give you vital clues about your customers’ pain points, what frustrates them, and whether your brand is solving those pain points (or just adding to them).
- Be clear about your goals. Set clear objectives about what you are trying to achieve and communicate these clearly with your team. Put tracking systems in place to measure effectiveness over time. Remember, customer experience involves all touchpoints – including your website, social media, your purchase process, and after-sales.
In an increasingly digital world, customers may appreciate the speed of online tools like chatbots – but human interaction matters now more than ever.
According to consulting firm PWC, 82% of U.S. consumers want more human interaction in the future.
In the same survey, nearly 80% of American consumers say that speed, convenience, knowledgeable help and friendly service are the most important elements of a positive customer experience.
One way to accomplish this is to bring in outside help to ensure the key customer touchpoints are covered.
A remote receptionist service can help ensure that all incoming calls are answered promptly and handled in a way that’s satisfactory to your customers.
For example, our partner, Alliance Virtual Offices, provides a live receptionist service that receives and handles calls in a variety of ways, depending on the customer’s requirements:
- Calls are forwarded to a suitable member of the company who can provide the appropriate level of support.
- A message is taken with full details of the customer’s enquiry and sent to a member of the organization with further instructions – such as how urgent the enquiry is and whether the customer wants to interact by phone or email.
- A call-back or one-on-one meeting is scheduled between the customer and a member of your company, saving both your customers and your staff time and headaches.
Services such as this fulfil the most important elements of a positive customer: speed, convenience, knowledgeable help and friendly service.
Ultimately, services like this – combined with a broader, holistic approach to improve customer experience – helps to strengthen customer relationships and improve their overall perception of your brand.
Interested in finding out more? Alliance’s Live Receptionist service provides personalized live call answering and appointment scheduling to support the needs of growing businesses.
Alliance’s remote team of receptionists are highly trained and experienced professionals, who provide an efficient, yet friendly service focused on helping businesses of all sizes improve customer relationships, build loyalty, and strengthen the overall customer experience. And if you sign up in the month of September and use promo code LRSEP, you can Get $35 OFF Your First Month.
Visit Alliance Virtual Offices to learn more.
