WINNING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES
Much research has been done on what the makes a winning customer
experience. What is it that makes customers come back to your
business instead of going to someone else's? If your repeat
business is low, what is it that you are doing to drive your
customers away? There is a consistent theme that emerges across
the research - winning customer experiences are built on
consistency. Michael Gerber in his book "The E-Myth Revisited"
calls this orchestration. "Orchestration is the glue that holds
you fast to your customers' perceptions".
This may seem a glib response to a complex issue, but take a
moment to consider it from the customer's viewpoint. When
dealing with a business for the first time, the customer
probably has no set expectations on what the experience will be
like. With your first interaction, you set the standard in the
customer's mind. If you set a positive standard, the customer
will likely return. The next time they do, the customer will
expect the same from you. Fail to deliver, and ultimately you
will lose that customer.
So if consistency is the key, how should a business go about
ensuring the consistent experience for the customer? First,
start with the end state that you want to create. What
experience do you want your customers to have (cheerful,
professional or very fast service, friendly, feel valued etc).
With this in mind, think about all the ways that your customers
interact with your business. Your business may have many
touchpoints - telephone, face to face (single or multiple
sites), email, web-site, snail mail and so on. Your business
needs to be predictable at each touch point, and predictably the
same. The customer notices when they get one experience by
walking into your shop, and a different experience when they
speak to you on the phone.
Achieving consistency comes down to documenting exactly how you
want your business to respond in each situation. If it's not
documented then how will the people in your business know what
you mean. Sure you can tell them, but this process falls over in
larger businesses with many employees and multiple sites. You
must create systems and procedures that consistently deliver
your chosen experience at all levels of your company. With
everyone in your business responding the same way, every time,
the customer knows exactly what to expect, and can depend on you
to provide it each time. Being able to replicate the same
(winning) experience for the customer will build your brand and
their loyalty.