By – Susan Reilly, Head of Sales and Marketing
Customer Perceptions, having been in existence for almost a quarter of a century now, have completed over one million customer satisfaction/feedback assessments in this time.
What does having one million pieces of feedback mean? It means we can pull together some fairly robust statistics as to exactly what your customer wants.
One thing for sure is, times have changed, whilst 10 years ago, the primary focus for customers was a “good price”, this has dramatically changed since. Customers are now much more complex when it comes to the decisions they make. Below you will find the key drivers resulting in higher satisfaction levels and ultimately higher spend and likelihood for repeat business.
1.) Feelings.
It might be unusual that we talk about feelings when it comes to your customer, however feelings matter. Fact! Customers want to feel loved, to feel wanted, to feel important, to feel valued. Take a minute to make your customer “feel” special. The more feelings a customer can attach to a store, the more memorable the event, hence the more likely they are to return.
2.) Time.
Time is key to customers, and everybody has less and less each day. Nobody wants to “waste” time. Queues are the single most annoyance when it comes to shopping. A queue will deter a customer before they even fully step into your store. You have no chance if your stores have long queues. We need to be ahead of the game, ensuring we are utilising every tool in our reach to minimise the time spent queuing and waiting. Efficiency is key.
3.) Knowledge.
Customers hate bluffers. They can spot them a mile off. Don’t put staff in front of customers if you have not trained them in fully on the products. This does your reputation considerable damage. Staff need to be confident in what they are selling, and also need to be confident in saying “I don’t know, but let me get the answer for you”.
4.) Promises.
Empty promises are a pet peeve for customers. Don’t tell your customer that you will give them a call in 2 days time if you have no intention of doing so. If you commit to something, you must deliver. Have a robust system for recording when following up calls must be made and stick to it. The system should be transparent so any staff member can pick up the calls if needed.
5.) Answer Me!
How many times have you felt like screaming this down the phone, or to your laptop screen when you just want somebody to answer your question. Customers want to talk to you, and they want to talk to you through a variety of channels. Keep the lines of communication open at all times. If you have a phone number listed on your website, then answer the call when it comes through. If you have an email address listed on your website, then answer the email when it comes through. If you have a facebook page, then answer your messages….. see where I am going with this? If you list a channel for your customers to communicate with you, then you absolutely must have this channel manned in a timely manner, i.e. within a 24 hour period max.
Make sure to follow our Linked In page, and check out our blog section on our website regularly as we will be telling you exactly how to achieve each of these points in much more detail.
Our first tutorial on making the Customer FEEL good, is coming soon…………….
