Many businesses think they have excellent customer experience, but many customers don’t agree. Instead, they feel unseen and unappreciated. Here are five basics that are often overlooked.
Problem: not identifying yourself to the customer.
Who are you? I’m your customer (or your patient or your client). You know my name, I don’t know yours. You’re not wearing name tag and/or you haven’t introduced yourself on the phone. I only see you once a year, and you’re looking at my info on a screen. It’s awkward and offputting at best, and feels downright rude at worst. (Especially if I’m wearing a thin open-backed gown and sitting on a paper-lined table.)
Customer experience standard: employees wear name tags up on their right lapel areas (not on a lanyard at belly button level). Employees always answer the phone by first identifying themselves.
Problem: failing to follow up with the customer
The number of times a nonprofit has reached out to me for a meeting but never followed up to get it scheduled would astonish you. The same goes for sales people and customer service people who promise a responsive answer, then vanish, never to be heard from again. It can make the customer or prospect feel a little guilty or unumportant. But why? It’s not their responsibility to do your job.
Customer experience standard: employees follow up within 24 hours. If an email is not answered, they pick up the phone and call. If employees have a large volume of follow ups, then it’s incumbent on leadership to provide a good CRM and automation tools to help them do their jobs.
Problem: blaming the customer
In a restaurant recently, my husband sent back a hamburger because it tasted like it was on the verge of spoiling. A manager quickly appeared at our table—we thought to apologize. Instead, the manager began explaining how fresh the meat was and how careful the cook always is… basically saying the issue was my husband’s problem, not hers. It was extremely uncomfortable. We felt dismissed, belittled and unheard. It will be a while before we return. If we return.
Customer experience standard: Listen, acknowledge, offer a solution. It’s good that a manager wants to stand up for the team, but not at the expense of a customer relationship. Leaders must train, practice and model good listening skills to protect their brand reputation.
Problem: ghosting the customer
Similar to “failing to follow up,” but worse. The customer reaches out with a need. The customer is acknowledged. Then no answer is given. The customer follows up. No answer. No answer. No answer. How is this even acceptable? If your brand is the only show in town, you may be able to get away with it. For a while. But eventually, the customer will find a substitute for you. Good bye forever.
Customer experience standard:
Make sure you have systems in place so that customer requests don’t fall through the cracks. Have a centrally-located internally shared document or CRM so if personnel changes occur (as they always do), customers aren’t left behind.
Problem: irritating hold music
Customers who have a problem that can’t be solved online, via live chat or through email and must call in, are already irritated. The feeling is exacerbated when they’re stuck on hold for a lengthy time and forced to listen to irritating or repetitive hold music. Sound effects and music are powerful—often emotional—cues for a brand. So when they’re irritating, they contribute to a negative feeling about the company.
Customer experience standard: use the on-hold time to build customer good will. Limit on-hold times with adequate staffing. Let customers leave a call-back number so they’re not tethered to their phones feeling helpless. Use music and messaging that builds your brand. Bonus points if you let people select the type of music they’d like to hear while they wait.
For more best practices on customer experience read our article Dear Valued Customer. We’re a marketing firm with solid strategies for implementing better experiences for employees and for custoemrs. Want to know more? Call Martha direct at 785.969.6203 or
Photo credit from Unsplash: Andrej Jlsakov.
