Regardless of the business or industry, delivering an effective, responsive and friendly customer experience is essential to repeat business. Any company – with a solid marketing strategy – can convince a consumer to make one purchase; the real test of a business is whether they can convince that person to return time and time again.
Customer service in general is an important aspect of the process, but businesses must strive to improve overall functionality at every point of the purchasing process. From initial inquiries about product and service benefits, to resolutions when the unexpected occurs, how a business interacts with its customers determines its long-term viability.
As such, let’s examine how businesses can provide a seamless customer experience with just a few simple tweaks.
Create a Uniform Customer Information System
When customers call your business, place an order, sign up for an account or otherwise interact with your brand in some way, shape or form, how is that information stored? There are many ways in which to collect and aggregate customer information, but providing a seamless experience revolves around organizing this information under a unified structure.
Most businesses strive to integrate information and data collected across multiple channels. In reality, this leads to two different systems: omni-channel and multi-channel networks (learn about the pros and cons of omni vs multichannel customer experiences). Ideally, omni-channel customer experiences are better because they more effectively integrate data and ensure an easier time accessing this information when it’s needed most.
Provide Your Employees with Wiggle Room
Addressing specific problem areas within your business’s customer service hemisphere is crucial to rendering the best outcomes possible. One way in which to ensure every customer is looked after properly and that minimal hassle is placed on the shoulders of the customer is to give some wiggle room to your employees.
By allowing individual employee judgement calls to be made when dealing with issues such as returns, lost packages and other problems, you’ll simplify the process for the customer, ensure a more expedient and positive solution is achieved, and ultimately build loyalty among even those who have had an initially negative experience.
Make Contacting You Easier
While integrating all of your customer data systems under one roof is crucial for a seamless customer experience, most customers will encounter other factors that influence the process for them. Most notably is the ability to easily make contact with the business. Particularly true for online businesses, ensuring that reaching out is as easy as possible is paramount to a positive experience.
By offering as many methods as possible through which customers can contact you, you’ll guarantee a better experience for customers and more positive resolutions. Likewise, ensuring that every available contact method is easily visible at the top and bottom of each page – as well as in other relevant areas of the website – can improve sales and reduce the chances of negative feedback, reviews and experiences. From social media and telephone numbers to live chat and email, extend communication and contact options to whichever mediums your business can juggle effectively.
Customers should be able to engage with your products, place orders and checkout, verify order status and follow-up with any questions without hassle. By integrating your processes, improving contact options and giving employees the ability to handle situations on a case-by-case basis, you’ll ensure a more seamless customer experience without incident.
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