Enhancing the Digital Experience
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How do you define customer experience?
- Engagement focused within retail or customer service
- Speed at which call centres solve problems
- Website or smartphone interactions (digital experiences)
Harvard Business Review simply explains it as “the sum-totality of how customers engage with your company and brand […] not just in a snapshot in time, but throughout the entire arc of being a customer.”[1]
Influencing Visitor Behaviour
There are external factors that influence customers’ behaviour and opinions before they enter your site:
- Their emotions
- Their expectations
A visitor may be in a good mood or frustrated before they visit your site, depending on their search for their particular requirements. They could have browsed your competitor’s website that hasn’t offered them what they wanted fully or delivered their services poorly.
They may also have a perception of your company due to other customer reviews or posts on social media about their experience. Once they have been attracted to your website, it is then how your company engages with them that will provide them with their own good (or bad) experience.
Connecting with Customers Emotionally
To get customers to connect with your products and services, your company needs to surround it in a feeling rather than sell the benefits.
For example Apple may make the smallest of changes between the current iPhone and the next one, but consumers are hell bent on being the first to get their hands on the new device, some go as far as camping outside the store.
How have they achieved this?
Apple has created a sense of urgency surrounding their products, customer do not want to feel like they have missed out or are uncool.
It will be with their use of language that customers connect with “A touch of genius” “Live a better day” these phases used alongside their products are telling customers they need them to improve themselves and their lives, these products are life changing and not just to get them to part with money.
Meeting Customer Expectations
If previous customers are speaking positively about your company they are being advocates for your brand and providing you with some free marketing, great right? To encourage this, your organisation can reward the individuals or company with discounts or free delivery, as a thank you for sharing their positive opinions.
On the other hand, those publically sharing negative feedback need to be responded to immediately. Mentions of your brand online can be monitored with the use of free tools, including Talkwalker Alerts and Google Alerts; alternatively there are tools for monitoring mentions specifically across social media platforms. Your company will need to respond in the most appropriate manner remaining professional and offering an apology / resolution quickly, otherwise risk the business reputation.
“News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for a good service experience.”[2]
We have used this great customer service example previously, however this is still a firm favourite amongst Click4Assistance staff – Tesco’s William the Worm:
“A customer had brought a cucumber from Tesco and had found a dead worm inside the packaging; the customer service representative brilliantly matched the tongue-in-cheek tone of the customer, went beyond a standard reply and joined in creating poems and songs for the dead worm”[3] all in the public eye of Facebook.
It’s these types of customer complaint turnarounds that help build customer loyalty and attracts visitors to your brand “Resolve a complaint in the customer's favour and they will do business with you again 70% of the time.”[4]
You Got Their Attention…
…Now it’s time to engage. Help visitors to reach out to the company easily by having communication tools available on your website, this includes live chat that instantly connects them to a representative. Your operator now has the opportunity to deliver great customer service by answering questions fully and in a way the visitor can understand. By comprehending the visitors needs the advisor can offer information or suggest products and services the visitor hasn’t thought of.
“People want this level of engagement from the companies with which they do business ... even the best of what formerly passed for good customer service is no longer enough.
“You have to be no less than a customer concierge, doing everything you can to make every one of your customers feel acknowledged, appreciated, and heard. You have to make them feel special, just like when your great-grandmother walked into Butcher Bob’s shop or bought her new hat, and you need to make people who aren’t your customers wish they were. Social media gives businesses the tools to do that for the first time in a scalable way.”- Gary Vaynerchuk, “The Thank You Economy”
Click4Assistance will be releasing the new enhanced solution ‘Experiences’ in the next upcoming months. The solution will help your organisation enhance the digital experience for your customers, encouraging them to engage. For more information, register your interest by emailing theteam@click4assistance.co.uk
[1] Harvard Business Review, 2010, Understanding Customer Experience
[2] Help Scout, 75 Customer Service Facts. Quotes and Statistics
[3] Equities, 2016, Chatbots Aren’t Ready to Dominate the Conversation
[4] Help Scout, 75 Customer Service Facts. Quotes and Statistics
