Surpassing the expectations of your customers is pivotal to the success of your business. According to a survey from Deloitte, a multinational professional services network, 62 percent of businesses look at customer experience as a competitive differentiator. This means that going beyond customer expectations is a major parameter for you to succeed in an ultra-competitive world.
Here are six best practices to impress your customers:
1. Personalize Your Product or Service Offerings
Although tailoring your product or service might not be possible for businesses in all industries, do check for ways in which you can make the offerings as relatable to your end customer as possible. Study customer aspirations and expectations in your industry to find out what your customers expect as a bonus from your business and go out of your way to make this bonus happen.
How can you customize it?
Get in touch with your customer the next time they send you an e-mail, call you, or drop in your office. Based on the details of the conversation, you can raise a lot of questions that could make immediate business sense to you.
If your business fixes home garage doors, for instance, consider bringing up similar services, such as garage door maintenance or converting an ordinary garage door into a smart garage door. Establishing a connection with your customers is a vital way to surpass their expectations.
2. Recognize Customers
Recognize your customers through acknowledgments. Never ignore them. Instead, make them feel valued by welcoming them back when they return and paying close attention to their needs and wants.
Your goal is to make sure that your customers don’t feel like a number to your company or sales figures. You can accomplish this by sending them a heartfelt thank-you via e-mail or postal mail on their anniversary date. Just let them know how much you appreciate their business.
Alternatively, you could send a small gift or a discount to let the customer know that you were thinking of them. Send something from your local community that they may not have access to or regularly enjoy. Examples include trinkets that are available only in your region or delicious cupcakes that highlight the flavors in your local area.
3. Highlight the Best Features Repeatedly
There’s no such thing as a company that’s great at everything. This is why you need to emphasize the best features about you in your product brochures, promo flyers, and other marketing materials.
You could begin by making a separate niche for yourself in terms of product unique selling proposition (USP), a jingle, branding, logo, or anything that will pull the crowd and set yourself apart from the rest of the pack. Figure out where you’re good at and keep harping on that constantly.
Here are a few guide questions to help you with this process:
- Is there something unique about the location of your business establishment?
- What’s special about the ingredients of your product?
- Are you providing something extra to your subscription services?
Make the answers to these questions your biggest selling point.
4. Say Sorry If You Make Mistakes
Just like many individuals, even businesses find apologizing and taking responsibility for their actions difficult when they’re in the wrong. Making minor boo-boos is perfectly all right – so long as you don’t plan to repeat them in the future.
Saying sorry for the errors made will make you appear vulnerable and humble. Customers will likely forgive your mistake because you admitted to it.
Take note that customers do possess empathy. They understand that not all humans are perfect and are ready to move on if people make a mistake. So be prepared to apologize right away and make up for errors that your business has made.
5. Help Your Customers Understand Tech
Talking about technology can put some customers off, especially if the tech product or service you’re talking about is complicated. If people are having a hard time understanding your technology, they’ll get confused and frustrated.
Instead of simply presenting the features of your tech product or service, help customers understand your technology. Use words that the customer will easily understand. If you’re a digital marketing agency, for instance, don’t simply bring up SEO, PPC, and other complex jargon. Explain how your services can help the client.
6. Empower Your Workers
Allow your employees to solve customer problems without waiting for a director, manager, or team leader to approve the action. Employees, to some extent, should be able to fix the problems on their own.
By enabling your workers to solve certain customer service-related issues, you’ll give them the ability to help the customer promptly and effectively.
Don’t simply meet the expectations of your customers. Go the extra mile by taking note of these six suggestions.
