The customer experience is at the heart of every business, but it’s not always easy to deliver. Achieving an exceptional customer experience isn’t just about providing excellent service; it’s also about knowing when and how to use the proper channels or tools, listening to your customers, and understanding their needs. A strategy helps you understand what customers want from your business and how you can effectively deliver this. It helps you develop ways of delivering consistent levels of service across different channels and services. It also encourages more positive interactions between staff, customers, and suppliers. If you’re not sure where to start with developing your strategy, then read on for some essential tips on how to create one that works for your business:
Strategy 1: Targeted On-Hold Messages & Music
When a customer calls you, they expect to be answered quickly. The most recommendable way to achieve this is to have on a well designed call flow with a suitable on hold systems. Your goal is to get them off the phone as quickly as possible while also having them leave with one thought in mind: will come back here again!
If you are actively placing callers on hold, the messages should be relevant and engaging. The on hold recording should be enough to spark their attention, rather than causing an immediate hang up.
• Keep it brief and simple; don’t try to include all of the company’s history or product information in this time frame. Instead, focus on one relevant point for each recorded message paragraph. Examples include valuable tips relating to your product or services, or key explainer points why calling now will benefit them (e.g., free shipping or special offer).
• Make sure there’s a clear call-to-action at the end of your message so customers know what comes next when they press 1 or 2 (or whatever number you’ve chosen). This could be something like “Press 1″ if you’d like more information about our products today!” or “Press 2 if there is anything else we can help with today!” Call to actions also help you measure response rates and campaign effectiveness.
There are many times when on hold messages don’t work best at all. Instead consider playing known on hold music to callers. This can be music your target group can best relate to. Such on hold music can improve the mood and make the wait time feel shorter than it actually is.
Strategy 2: Inform, Don’t Persuade
The second strategy is providing informative and not persuasive information. It’s tempting to try and convince the customer to do something or buy something, but this is a bad idea because it can backfire. Instead, stay focused on being clear and concise. Please don’t use your hold message as an opportunity to sell the customer anything (or imply that selling them something would be helpful). You shouldn’t make them feel guilty about not buying anything right now or try to scare them into doing what you want by explaining how dire their situation will become if they don’t do what you suggest.
It’s easy to be persuasive when you want someone to do something, but this strategy doesn’t work well with customer service because customers are likely already frustrated. They don’t need any more pressure or guilt; they need the information to help them make an informed decision about how best to resolve their problem. Giving informative message is a great way to achieve customersuccess.
Strategy 3: Be Creative and Change it Up
One of the most important things you can do to improve your customer experience is to be creative and change it up. Here are a few ways that you can do this:
• Use humour. Humour is one of the best tools in your arsenal for creating an engaging and memorable C experience. If you have funny or witty employees, let them use their talents! And if not, then get some professional help!
• Use music. Whether it’s calming background music or something more upbeat like pop or rock music, adding music to your call centre will make it more enjoyable for staff which will translate to better moods and better experience when staff take those calls. Music can increase productivity by 15%, so don’t be afraid to use it!
• Use different voices when talking with customers on the phone. Whether they’re speaking English or another language (or even accent), changing how you speak with people on the phone can make all the difference when trying to create better connections between people who are miles apart physically but very close mentally and emotionally through technology. When you make telephone calls, try calling someone today using something other than just “hello” before ending your sentence with “bye-bye.”
Strategy 4: Create Holiday Themed Messages
Holiday-themed messages are an effective way to increase customer loyalty. When you have a special message that celebrates the spirit of the holidays, it’s easy for your customers to share on social media—which can generate additional buzz about your brand.
Consider how holidays impact your business. If you sell toys, it might be fun to use a holiday-related themes in messaging around back-to-school time or the Christmas season. Or perhaps you sell seasonal products like outdoor gear or swimwear; in these cases, consider using seasonal themes to promote sales throughout July and August.
You could make an extra effort by sending an email with a fun holiday message every week during December leading up to Christmas Eve—even if there is no sale going on! It’s important because it shows that you care about your customers. It also helps strengthen their relationship with your business over time (and may even encourage them) to come back next year when there IS something new going on at this; same time next year!
Strategy 5: Educate Your Customer
An essential part of the customer experience is educating your customers on what to expect and how to use your product, service, and brand, as well as how to operate any software or hardware you provide them.
This could be in the form of online tutorials, instructional videos, articles, or even webinars.
Why should you do this?
It helps ensure they can get the most out of their purchase. Your training materials can also be used as sales collateral if you expand into new markets or target different segments within an existing one.
On top of educating customers about how to use your product or service, you can also educate them on navigating your website or app. You’ll want these platforms to be accessible to consumers so they don’t feel they have wasted their time or money browsing through them.
Conclusion
Excellent customer support is a major part of any business, and it can have a significant impact on your bottom line. It’s essential to keep this in mind when designing your customer experience strategy, which should involve both the front-end (customerservice) and back-end (technology). Customer experience is a multifaceted concept that relies heavily on careful planning, understanding your audience and listening to their needs. While there are no “silver bullets” for creating great customer experiences, these tips are a good starting point for ensuring that every contact with your brand leaves a positive impression.
