Nine ways to improve customer experience in any industry

It doesn’t matter which industry you’re in, if you have customers you need to provide a great customer experience.

And make sure it’s what differentiates you from your competitors. There are so many ways you can improve customer experience (CX), but how do you know what’s right for your business? And where do you start?

It’s important to make a customer feel like you know and understand him or her, and here are nine ways to do this and get a head start on CX.

1. Make sure all employees buy-in to CX

Employees are the absolute key to improving customer experience. Employee loyalty and satisfaction play a big role in improving the customer experience, because an unhappy employee won’t give the type of customer experience you’re striving for. They also won’t go the extra mile for your customer, which would enhance CX. (Click here to find out how McDonald’s improved CX through employee experience)

When hiring new employees, hire loyal employees who commit to the company and cause, and they fully understand the company’s mission.

2. Train customer-facing employees

Give employees customer experience training from their first day on the job. This training differs from traditional job-specific training because it’s customised to reflect the company’s brand, desired customer experience and relationships with customers.

Here are four areas to cover in this training:

• The principles of customer experience;
• The concept of delivering memories and not just transactions;
• The basics of customer segmentation; and
• Your company CX strategy and vision.

3. Deliver consistent customer experience

As a business, decide on your CX strategy (see below for more on this), and make sure all divisions align to this. They must all work towards the business CX goals and everyone must know the role or part they play in this.

4. Avoid asking customers to repeat themselves

All departments and divisions that customers interact with should have the same, updated customer information, this is so your customer doesn’t have to keep repeating the same information. An updated, easily accessible CRM software will help with this.

5. Offer a self-service option

Self-service resources give support information for customers to find themselves. These include pages where you post answers to commonly asked questions or trouble-shooting guides.

This way users have access to instant and correct answers to simple questions, which leads to customer satisfaction and, of course, a better customer experience. Make sure your self-service options are clear, complete and comprehensive; or this approach won’t improve your customer experience, but rather lead to frustrated customers.

6. Have comprehensive social media support

Social media can be a good way to engage with, and listen to, customer experiences. But for this to use social media effectively you must monitor conversations through social channels. Start with putting great communicators who have social media experience in these positions. They need to listen to customer feedback and create customer satisfaction, and improve CX through the channels your customer is communicating through.

7. When customers give you feedback, act on it

To increase the number of satisfied, loyal customers, you need to listen to your customers and act on they’re saying. Clearly and openly communicate to all customers and employees. You can use customer surveys, to gather customer feedback and opinions. Click here to find out more about our survey software solution.

8. Anticipate problems before they happen

Try anticipate problems before they happen. Fixing a problem before your customer knows it’s a problem leads to customer happiness. Being a step ahead of your customer and being proactive will help you stay in control of customer experience.

9. Implement a well-balanced CX team and strategy

The best CX teams usually have a good mix of people from all areas of your business. They are responsible for reporting on the customer experience and working on your CX strategy. The CX team should include employees who focus on customer loyalty, customer satisfaction and process improvement.

It is important to make a customer feel like you know and understand him or her. There is no “one size fits all” approach to CX. And that’s where we come in. We can help you integrate CX into your business.

Let’s talk.