The customer experience is a crucial aspect of your business. Having a positive customer experience will greatly improve your chances of retaining customers. The cost for a returning customer is a fraction of the cost to get a new customer. Optimising your customer experience will increase your overall revenue and reduce your dependence on attracting new customers. Our list of CX secrets will give you the information required to find out how to improve your customer experience.
Reducing your reliance on new customers will mean you can focus your time on other aspects of your business while it grows naturally as opposed to putting all your energy in trying to constantly attract new customers that don’t return. Eventually, the new customer pool will begin to run dry without the possibility of upselling or cross-selling.
So the big question is how do I keep getting my customers to come back? Well, there is no simple solution that guarantees a return customer. However, we can offer you ten tried and tested customer experience tips that will help you optimise your customer experience.
1. Know Your Customer
Everybody thinks that they know their customer. You probably know your customer better than most. The main issues stem from not actually understanding your customer or their needs. Don’t be afraid to talk to your customers and ask their opinion when you have them in store. You can survey your own database or purchase a database to complete surveys for you. Lest not forget you can have someone interview your customers as they leave your store.
2. Think Outside the Box
Don’t be afraid to take some risks. Is there anything that you can offer your customers that will make you stand out and feel different. A focus group can be an excellent sounding board for innovative ideas. Gather in-depth insights from an elite group of your typical customer profile and flesh out tons of ideas as well as their positives and drawbacks.
3. Measure Your CX
Are you sure that you are delivering an amazing customer experience? Your business might be a lot more relaxed when you are not around. You may even provide a good customer experience, but don’t know what is it missing to make it excellent. Use some family members or friends to visit your store and breakdown their experience. You can also outsource to mystery shoppers who are experienced in evaluating stores.
4. Look at your Direct Competitors
What are your competitors doing? Do any of your customers shop with your competitors? If so then find out what they are doing better. Doing competitor research will help you figure out which pain points you should improve in your business. You can also see where you are doing better than competitors and what you should keep doing.
5. Analyse and Benchmark
Find out the industry average in relation to your business. You can research CX benchmark figures and use these as a benchmark for your own company. You can set the industry average as your low target not to drop below or the goal to reach. Use all of the information you gather to identify your strengths and weaknesses.
6. Train Your Staff
If there are gaps based on your research that you need to address, then communication is key. Communicate with staff members and teach them the importance of the customer experience. Use training courses to upskill your staff in any areas they are lacking and if getting your staff together is a logistical nightmare, avail of some online courses instead.
7. Measure the Effectiveness of the Training
Sounds a bit repetitive, but the key really lies in measuring and tracking your CX. Otherwise, you are just throwing paint at a wall and praying it sticks. Measuring progress gives you actionable information. Re-assess your staff on the criteria which led you to identify those training gaps. Evaluate performance again and if necessary revisit training.
8. Be Consistent
Whether it is just one location or multiple, consistency is key. If you have multiple locations standardise your CX across all outlets. Ensure all store standards, POS, customer service and wait times are all the same across your stores. Conduct mandatory checks to ensure these standards are being met.
9. Ask for Feedback
Even if you have done all the hard work, don’t assume that customers are happy. It is a fact that you can’t please everyone. However, you should still provide customers with a place to give their feedback, including happy customers. Having a feedback system allows customers to give instant feedback which you can rectify quickly before it becomes a consistent problem.
10. Always Remain Customer Focused
Being customer-focused should be ingrained in your company culture. It will help you implement any changes that come around from measuring your CX. The best method to implement this is with a top-down approach with your key personnel and management being role models.
