Customer service and interactions are the backbones of any successful business. Many businesses tend to focus on their products or services rather than their actual customers — and they end up paying the price.
And while there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to customer service, there are some things that you can do to create memorable customer interactions and establish quality customer service.
Know Your Customers
To create memorable customer interactions, you first need to know your customers and what they’re looking for. Different types of customers will have different expectations that you will need to cater to. For instance, if your target customer is a suburban mom, your approach will likely look different than if your target customer was a teenage boy.
If you’re just starting out and aren’t quite sure who your customers are yet, then you definitely need to figure this out. Analyze your existing customers to figure out who they are and what they care about.
You can also perform market research to determine your target customer and how to best reach them in every aspect of your business, from customer service to product development to organic marketing.
Train Your Employees
Once you have a better idea of who your customers are and what they need from you, you then need to train your employees to meet those needs effectively. And while you should always hire great employees with strong customer service backgrounds from the start, additional training never hurts.
Your employees should be ready and willing to go above and beyond to meet customer needs. You need to make sure that they have the knowledge and ability to do this. For instance, some employees aren’t sure what they can offer to a disgruntled customer — so make sure that your policies and practices are clear.
Be Responsive
We live in a fast-paced world where people prioritize speed. As a result, your customer service needs to be quick. When an issue arises, you should waste no time in solving it. Generally speaking, a response should not take more than 24 hours.
A delayed response definitely turns off customers and contributes to a negative interaction.
Expand Your Channels
To be more responsive to your customers and improve every interaction, expanding your channels is always a good idea. At the end of the day, you need to be where your customers are.
Depending on your customer base, this may mean creating a Facebook profile with in-app messaging capabilities. This may also mean incorporating a live chat feature into your website.
To really impress your customers, there should be multiple different ways to reach you. For instance, you should have a phone number, email, live chat, and various social media profiles.
The good news is that there are ways to automate some of these channels so that they don’t have to be constantly monitored by an actual person.
Personalize Every Interaction
When interacting with customers, you also need to personalize every interaction to make them feel like they are important. At the very least, call them by name in every interaction. However, if you have more information on hand, be sure to include this in your interactions.
For instance, if you have their birthday, make sure to reach out to wish them a happy birthday with a special offer. If you have information about their past purchases, you can reach out and recommend similar items they might find useful. Treating your customers like more than just a number can help you establish loyalty.
Ask for Feedback
No matter how great your business is, there’s always room for improvement. However, many businesses aren’t aware of their weaknesses because they don’t ask their customers. As a result, you should never be afraid to ask your customers for useful feedback.
Make sure that you’re asking the right questions to the right people. Then make sure to respond appropriately. Your customers need to know that you’re listening and are taking their feedback into account.
Provide Perks
One of the best ways to create memorable customer interactions is to provide perks. These perks don’t necessarily need to be expensive freebies. Instead, you could implement a basic customer loyalty program where customers can earn points and get perks.
If that’s not really up to your alley, there are other things you can do. For instance, you can include a small freebie with each order — either a product or a discount on a future order. Even including a personalized note with each order can go a long way towards establishing customer loyalty.
Anticipate Needs
When it comes to customer service, you can’t be reactive — you need to be proactive by anticipating your customers’ needs and then meeting those needs. To be as proactive as possible, you’re going to need to use data. Data helps you identify potential problem areas before they actually become problematic and create issues with your customers.
Data from customer feedback also helps you address existing weak points in your business. Some issues may be one-off situations, but others are caused by larger and deep-rooted issues. So don’t let these issues destroy your business and take action to address them before they get worse.
Use Intentional Language
Language is another key component to providing excellent customer service. Sometimes just one misused word when dealing with a customer leads to even more issues. As a result, you need to be extremely intentional with your language and train your employees to do the same.
You should use proven phrases and keywords that align well with your business. Here are some examples you may want to try:
- “Happy to help.”
- “Great question.”
- “Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”
- “I completely understand.”
- “I’m going to take care of this for you.”
At the same time, you should be sure to avoid potentially problematic words and phrases. Here are some examples of things to avoid:
- “Calm down.”
- “I can’t help you.”
- “I’m not sure.”
- “We’ve never had this issue before.”
- “Let me check.”
Go Above and Beyond
The last thing you need to do to create memorable customer interactions is to go above and beyond. Think about some excellent interactions that you’ve had with companies in the past and develop ways to create similar experiences for your customers.
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to make an impact.
It could be as simple as following up with a customer to ensure that their issue has been resolved.
It could be offering them a discount to apologize for the issue and a thank you for their patience.
It could be including a hand-written thank you note in their order.
Final Thoughts on Creating Memorable Customer Interactions
Running a successful business without prioritizing customer interactions would be nearly impossible. Thankfully, Greg Gillman knows all about what it takes to run a successful business as he has helped his clients generate $4 billion in annual revenue. From marketing to customer service, reach out to see how you can take your business to the next level.
Sources:
8 Steps to Delivering a Consistently Memorable Customer Experience | Inc.com
Want Solid Feedback From Customers? Try These 16 Approaches | Forbes
The Words and Phrases to Use — and to Avoid — When Talking to Customers | Harvard Business Review
