Customer experience can be a touchy subject. Because it’s a constant process and any small action can have a huge impact, it’s oftentimes seen as a giant undertaking to try to improve customer experience or “tame the beast.” While a huge overhaul of customer experience may be necessary in extreme cases, small tweaks and improvements are enough to get by if you’re in a momentary rut or just need a little extra push.
The following tips will help you take your customer experience up a notch:
Switch up your rewards program
Rewards programs are one of the best ways to encourage repeat purchases, track customers’ purchase behaviors, and discover each customer’s personal interests to better serve them in the future. Popular choices for rewards programs include punch cards that reward you with a percentage off or free item after a certain number of purchases, or a points-based reward systems, that reward you with a discount after you spend a certain amount of money. Take your rewards program up a notch by using a tier-based system (a la Virgin Atlantic or Starbucks). Customers earn a certain number of points based on the money they spend. Earn a certain number of points in a given period and they can bump up to a Silver or Gold tier. Each tier has additional benefits to the last tier, and they get better and better.
Keep in touch proactively
Don’t wait until there’s an issue to get in touch with your customers. Make sure you’re continuously fostering a relationship with them by interacting on a regular basis. Think along the lines of a weekly or monthly newsletter or content updates. Go a step further and get personalized. Send personal happy birthday or holiday emails, offer coupons or discounts for those customers who haven’t purchased in awhile or those who purchase often. Remember important events, such as the anniversary of when they made their first purchase. No matter what type of conversation you want to spark, make sure you always offer the opportunity to give feedback. Customer love to feel heard! Which leads to the next point…
Do something with the feedback
Just hearing customer feedback isn’t enough – you need to actually do something about it and let the customers know that you took that action. Turn the issues customers are currently experiencing into ideas for innovation if the problem affects a large number of customers, it’s hitting target personas the hardest, or it’s a pain point for both new and legacy customers. Did you get an enormous amount of feedback that said your app’s home screen was hard to navigate? Revamp it in the next product update. Did you hear plenty of customers say that the buttons on your product kept falling off or getting stuck? Replace them in the next deployment. When you do incorporate customer feedback into your updates, communicate that in an update email to clients. Using verbiage such as “based on your feedback,” or “because you told us…” will increase clients’ trust in you.
Improving your customer experience doesn’t have to be a huge undertaking. If you’re taking good care of your customers and are continuously looking to please them, you can take small steps to ensure future success and prevent yourself from having to put out huge fires later on.
