One area of your business that you should never shy away from investing in is customer service. Taking a proactive stance and making sure that you and your staff are doing everything possible to ensure that the experience that the customer gets is the most positive one possible is essential. It will not only help to grow and develop your business but is also a great form of marketing. Word of mouth has always been and will always remain to be the most powerful tool in your marketing toolbox. A great customer experience will mean recommendations and referrals. We also know that generally, it is cheaper and easier to retain existing customers than to attract new leads.

So, what is it that you can do to make sure that you are offering the best customer experiences? Let’s take a look.

Know your product inside out

To provide excellent customer service, you must understand the product completely. Be certain that you and your customer-facing employees understand how your goods or services operate. Be aware of the most frequently asked questions by consumers and be prepared to have responses that will answer them. 

Make sure that you are always friendly

This should go without saying, but it is so important that we think it needs reiterating. A great customer experience starts with a smile and a friendly greeting. Even if it is over the phone, a customer will be able to pick up as to whether you are smiling. Sometimes, you might need to fake it, but always be friendly.

Thank your customers

It is simply good manners to say thank you, whether at the end of the face-to-face interaction or by sending a quick automated email if they have purchased something from you online. It is a simple and easy to implement way of ensuring a great experience for your customers.

Remain polite at all times

There are always going to be customers we don’t want to be polite to, but it is vital that you swallow your personal response and act professional and courteous at all times, even if the customer is being difficult. 

Make sure your staff are trained

It is important that all of your staff, not just your customer service representatives, learn how to communicate with, engage with, and otherwise help customers. Provide employee training that equips the employees with the resources they need to provide excellent support across the entire customer experience, from the top management level to the people on the shop floor.

Respond to your customers

When a customer wants help, has an issue that they need resolving, or simply wants to find out more about what they are looking at buying, there is nothing more frustrating than a lack of response. As soon as you receive an inquiry, it is important to respond to them as quickly as possible. Even if that is just a ‘we are looking into the issue’, it shows that you have listened to them and are not ignoring them.

Ask for feedback from customers

We are all used to them – requests for feedback or links to surveys where you can give honest feedback about elements of your customer experience after making a purchase. These are a great way of finding out what your customers think. They can be done anonymously or you can incentivize them to do it by entering them into a prize draw.

Make sure that you act on feedback

There is little point in asking for feedback from your customers if you do not act on it. You need to act on the customer feedback you get to make it useful in your customer experience strategy. Take the time to review feedback regularly, identify opportunities for improvement, and implement fundamental changes in your business.

Seek advice

Sometimes, it can be hard to know whether you are offering the best experience for your customers. They seem satisfied, they aren’t giving you any negative feedback – but how do you really know? Making use of a customer experience optimization program can give you some pretty good insights. You could also use a mystery shopper – someone who is sent into your store under the guise of a regular customer and scores you on all sorts of things, including the overall customer experience. 

Excellent customer service mostly boils down to engaging with your customers regularly to make sure that they are satisfied with the goods and services you are offering as well as the process of buying, ordering, and working with you. If you succeed, you will be well on your way to establishing a reputation for delivering an outstanding customer experience