We began part 1 of this article making a case for how customer experience KPIs (key performance indicators) should be woven into the fabric of the organization. The tips provided to do this are practical ways you can use to ensure you retain your existing customers and keep attracting more to keep growing your database.
Training and brand indoctrination
Train both customer facing and non-customer facing staff. I find it a failure on a business when I meet an employee who does not know the products being offered by the company because they are not in sales or marketing. All employees are not expected to know the products in detail but they should understand the basics and use the company’s products and services.
Your staff will be the best ambassadors as I have seen from companies like Unilever. If you know anyone who works for or used to work for Unilever, I bet you, you will always find Unilever products in their home and just as likely, this friend has encouraged you to buy Unilever products. The staff across the organisation understands and trusts these products and will be ambassadors for them during and after their employment. IBM succeeded in part, from the recommendations of exited staff who went into senior positions in other corporates where they would recommend buying IBM equipment.
Give and you will receive
It is not always about taking money from your customers and only giving what they have paid for. Give them a little more than they have paid for and it will come back to you many-fold. Costs for items given can be managed on a small budget and in some instances, they do not have to cost you any money. It could be information that will make their lives easier or help their businesses grow, free samples to get them to try out new products and services, money back guarantees, holiday and birthday messages and the like.
I can always tell how much a business is giving to its customers just by looking at the appearance of their shop or office. A weather-beaten location shows negligence of the business and this always trickles to the customers (and staff). Such businesses do not stay in business very long especially where there are options nearby. Giving to your customers includes the presentation of the physical and virtual space you operate in.
Monitoring and control
This is the process of measuring performance and taking corrective action to assure that your business is on track to meet its objectives and to anticipate problems and avoid crisis management.
One method of monitoring and controlling your operations is in your regular reporting. Churn is a key indicator of trouble and you should find a way to monitor repeat, new customers and where possible, customers who churn from your business. These indicators should be included in your reporting dashboards and research used to understand a change in trend in order to take corrective action.
Mystery shopping and exit interviews are great research tools to use to ensure your staff delivers service as intended, check on your competition using competitor benchmarking and get customer feedback as customers exit your branches. While the methodology may be the same for many businesses, a bespoke approach is used to ensure the uniqueness of each business is taken into account when developing the questionnaire and areas to be assessed.
Act on customer feedback
No one likes to be ignored. When a customer gives you feedback, you must show that you have received it. This is irrespective of whether feedback includes ideas that may not work for your business. Ignoring customer feedback can be extremely annoying and can have the effect of not only losing the customer but also creating a lifetime antagonist.
For every customer complaint, there are 26 other unhappy customers who have remained silent
Author: Jacqui Mwangi
Director | Buyology Co. LLC
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