Five signs you need to rethink your customer experience strategy

Have you ever lost a client to a competitor and wondered why they left? Read five signs you need to rethink your customer experience strategy.

Today’s customers are savvy and have plenty of choice – which means they’re often quite happy to move their business to the competition if they feel dissatisfied with your service. Indeed, a huge 55% of US shoppers would pay more for a guaranteed customer experience.

So it’s essential you have an effective customer experience strategy to meet or exceed your customers’ expectations. And hopefully increase their satisfaction and loyalty.

Five signs you need to rethink your customer experience strategy

Businesses that skillfully manage and execute customer experience have fewer cases of customer defection to other firms, and reap massive rewards as a result. So how are you faring? Here are five telltale signs that you need to rethink your customer experience strategy.

1) You’re getting customer complaints about it

If your business receives complaints about the quality of your customer service, it’s a good sign you need to rethink your strategy.

On average, only a few consumers pluck up the courage to complain to businesses directly. Most won’t tell you – but they WILL happily complain to their friends, family, or anyone they come across who mentions your business.

So not only do you lose one unhappy customer, but you could also risk losing their entire social circle too.

This is why you not only need to make it as easy as possible for customers to get in touch with you (and actively encourage feedback), but take complaints seriously, and act on them.

Document every complaint you receive and share it with your team. Look into the areas that customers are complaining about and come up with a better strategy to improve customer experience. And let people who complain know you are taking their complaint seriously and will act on it.

If you do this, not only can you hopefully please the customers who complain directly, but avoid any hidden mistakes that are putting off customers who don’t tell you what you’re doing wrong.

2) You don’t have an active relationship strategy

Anyone who walks into your business (or visits your online store) for the first time to make a purchase is a potential long-term customer. However, the way you handle them can determine whether they will come back for more.

Do you have a customer relationship management strategy in place to make sure that such customers will remember to buy from you? Or do you just let them leave and hope that your services were satisfactory?

If you don’t have a system to follow up with customers, you could be losing business. So come up with ways to create customer relationships to draw first and second-time buyers back into your business.

For example, you could send them a follow-up email thanking them for shopping with you, or invite them to join your newsletter to hear about offers and new products.

When customers feel valued, they will be loyal to your business, recommend you to their friends and family, and spend more with you – all of which translates into better profits for your business.

3) You don’t have any customer feedback

Customer feedback is essential for any business that seeks to deliver excellent products and services. It is the only way you know whether your customers are satisfied, or if they have any recommendations for improving your offering.

So if your company doesn’t already have strategies to encourage feedback, then you’re missing a trick.

Use your social media platforms to engage consumers and get their opinion on your product and their customer service experience. Or run an online survey (like the GameStop customer experience survey) to get feedback.

4) You’re losing long term customers

Over time, you’ll find that a number of your customers will become valued, long-term repeat buyers who love what you do (and will happily tell their friends about you).

If you start losing these long-term customers, it’s a sign that your customer experience strategy is no longer working.

So what can you do? A good start is to speak to the people who are leaving and find out why. If you have a bricks and mortar business, you may be able to chat to them face-to-face or over the phone. If your business is online, can you get in touch via email?

If you can find out what is turning off former fans of your business, you can use the information to work on your approach and make improvements. If they have complaints, reassure them that you are working on it and invite them to do business with you again.

Even if customers are being lured away by a competitor, there’s still a great deal you can do to make your offering more appealing. As they are a valued customer, you could offer an incentive such as a discount on their next purchase to win them back.

5) You have low employee morale

A good customer experience strategy is only useful if it’s properly executed. And as your employees are the ones who deal directly with your customers, they have a big role to play in customer satisfaction.

Employees who lack motivation, who work in poor conditions, or lack proper resources may not interact properly with your customers, and this reflects on your business. Although low employee morale is not as a result of poor customer service, it always creates negative consumer experience.

So, if you need to, work on motivating your employees and empower them to make good decisions. This will rub off on the way they interact with your customers.

Need more customer service advice?

A business that seeks to retain customers, acquire new ones, and receive more referrals should focus on improving its customer experience strategy. Assess your business and look out for these signs that indicate that you need to employ new strategies.

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