You may think that winning customer loyalty is all about offering the best products and services. While this may have been true in the past, it’s not so simple anymore. Customers today want to feel respected, understood, and excited when they interact with your company. According to a study of customer emotions conducted by Motista, customers who feel both satisfied and emotionally connected to a brand are 52% more valuable than those who are just highly satisfied. Great customer experiences are therefore less about products and more about the way your company engages with each individual. Is your brand meeting these six customer expectations?
Customers expect honesty at all times. Indeed, many of the customer service scandals that have occurred recently have been due to companies withholding information or failing to show empathy for customers. For example, Apple customers expressed outrage over the company’s admission that old phones were being slowed down deliberately. The airline industry has also suffered setbacks due to mistreatment of passengers and poor communication. Such examples illustrate the need to set clear policies in place, show transparency in all communications, and satisfy unhappy customers in a timely manner.
Yes, the modern world is digital, but humans are at the heart of customer experience. Simply put, your customers still want the reassurance of a human touch. While chatbots might help them obtain information more quickly, many customers still wish to speak to human agents when their issues are complicated. For this reason, your brand must balance digital and human assistance, ensuring that technologies function seamlessly and that humans are available to support customers when needed.
When your brand responds quickly to customers, you are doing more than saving them time. Timeliness is a means of conveying respect for your customers. As in any human relationship, attentive listening and ongoing dialogue are key to fostering a close connection. So if your company wants to earn the trust and loyalty of customers, be sure to respect their time.
An effortless experience is always a must. In every way possible, reduce customer effort and give them what they need proactively. For example, your brand may follow up on customer service cases, send live chat invitations promptly, and provide detailed information regarding purchases and deliveries. In addition, ensuring that all processes are optimized for mobile devices is essential to our increasingly mobile population.
All customers deserve empathy, whether they are frustrated or not. While it’s critical to listen closely to your upset customers, your brand should show empathy in different ways. For example, paying attention to customer preferences is one way to connect with them emotionally. In addition, sending thank you messages and special gifts on birthdays or holidays further shows your respect. Lastly, showing support for charitable causes that matter to your customers demonstrates your desire to connect with them on a personal level.
Customers love brands that meet their needs at all times. But just what does it mean to be versatile? For one, it means offering a great omnichannel experience. When customers know that you are available to them on their preferred channels, your brand projects itself as truly customer-centric. Versatility also means moving customers from one channel to another as needed to provide better service, as well as offering additional support hours when demand increases. Your company should be able to adapt to customer needs as necessary in order to ensure satisfaction. As your company works hard to improve products and services in the new year, do not underestimate customer experience. As a Walker study affirms, by 2020 customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. Keeping your customers’ interests at heart will ensure brand success and customer satisfaction.
