Creating a positive customer experience was always one of the critical aspects of any successful company. Granted, although the acquisition of new clients should be one of your top priorities, we also need to remember that acquiring new customers costs 5 to 10 times more than retaining the existing ones while existing clients, on average, spend 67% more than first-time buyers. By investing in the
positive customer experience you are laying out financial foundations for the future of your company.
Let us take a look then at a couple of tips and strategies that will help you handle this sensitive issue in the most efficient and innovative manner possible.
Create an engaging online experience
One of the main mistakes companies make is that they use their online infrastructure solely for
marketing purposes. Of course, in the right hands, these robust resources can become so much more. Moves like starting a blog, publishing valuable content, engaging in online calls to action, offering online help, and so on don’t only drastically increase your online footprint and give people more options to interact with your brand – it also makes the whole experience far more valuable, fun and engaging.
Use the available CE platforms
Even though it deals with human emotions and affections, creating an engaging customer
experience, just like any other business procedure, is a task deeply rooted in KPIs, data processing, and repeatable procedures. This means a great bulk of these duties can be streamlined or completely automated. With that in mind, we are glad to report that finding a professional adviser platform has never been easier. Using these tools in combination with pro consulting services can set your company even farther ahead.
Leverage loyalty and referral programs
Both these assets serve dual purposes. On the one hand, they are giving your loyal clients some sort of reward and additional reason to stick around a bit longer. Choosing them for such programs also creates a certain aura of prestige and aligns clients closer to your corporate goals. On the other hand, referral and loyalty programs benefit your company as well since they use the existing consumer pool to boost repeat purchases and acquisition of new clients – we might add in a very efficient and simple manner too.
Create a customer-centric business culture
This can prove to be especially helpful in service-based sectors like for instance cleaning industry where clients affections canbe so easily bought out with physical products. Do your best then to make your clients feel cared for in other ways. Making customer satisfaction an end goal rather than an asset will easily uncover new ways you can add more value to your services, engage with clients in a more natural and friendly manner, exceed their expectations, and come up with countless similar small touches.
Listen, respond and ask for opinions
These efforts should be employed across all communication channels and touchpoints with clients. And again, the benefits you are going to get are two-fold. By listening to your client’s opinions and actively asking for their feedback you will make your clients feel more valued and cared for which improves their overall experience. That said, real-time and in-depth feedback also gives you more data to create more robust customer service, cut the issues at their root, and identify future problems before they develop.
Gamify the client experience
This topic closely relates to the loyalty programs we have mentioned above but still requires a separate conversation. Why? Well, because instead of simply offering discounts to segmented customers, you will get much more potent results by turning this simple activity into a genuine achievement-based game with various badges, accomplishments, customer levels, unlockables, secret premium items, etc. People are addicted to achievement pursuit. Leveraging this sensibility can make any purchase a fun experience.
Empower your employees
Your employees, especially in service-based industries, are not mere people assigned with various work tasks. They are the main pillars of your customer experience programs and your most valuable brand ambassadors. Keeping that in mind, if you want your employees to rise up to this challenge and be able to engage in different aspects of CE, they need to be properly empowered to do that. And, since this is the focus of your company, achievements in creating positive CE must be financially incentivized.
In conclusion
We hope these couple of examples give you a general idea about some of the most innovative and effective ways to create an engaging experience for your clients in 2023 and beyond. Just keep in mind that this important area must become one of your top priorities moving forward. Without the rock-solid foundations coming in the form of loyal clients doing repeat business, your company will have a very hard time growing. Well, now you know the direction in which you should be heading.
