When did you last personally have a great customer experience?
And as crucially, when do you think, you as a business have truly delivered a great customer experience? It is not a rare occurrence but, in my experience, I have to say that it is often hit and miss. Some businesses may get one part right but will often disappoint in other parts or forget about them altogether.
Today more than ever, it is essential businesses build a strong relationship with their customers for improved customer satisfaction. Maya Angelou, the great American poet and civil rights activist once said ‘I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’
Customer experience is the many ways a customer interacts with your company and how they perceive the experience; it is about how customers feel about every interaction they have at every touchpoint along the customer journey.
When businesses take a customer-centric approach, it is reflected in each experience. Empowered front line teams, who deliver their very best, customers, who are made to feel valued and who are listened to, and an overall commitment to treating each customer as an individual, are all elements of a strong service culture that drives richer customer experiences.
Customer service is the sum of all the actions businesses take and how they take them, to assist their customers before, during, and after the purchase of your service or product.
You will often hear people using the expressions customer service and customer experience interchangeably. Although closely related, they are in fact different ideas, two distinctive concepts; customer service is just one segment of the whole customer journey, while customer experience involves all the interactions between your organisation and a customer.
Great customer service and memorable customer experiences are intwined; you can’t have one without the other. Customer service is a key component of your overall customer experience and it can mean success or failure; you may have covered everything else in your customer experience, but if your customers can’t get the assistance and support they want, when and how they want it, you may lose them to a competitor, who is providing both great customer service and experience.
A customer’s experience is influenced by the three Ps:
- People: Customers want helpful, courteous, and friendly employees, whether face-to-face, virtually or over the phone.
- Process: Customers expect a smooth memorable experience as they walk through the customer journey.
- Product: Customers want to purchase a product or service, which will solve their problem or give them happiness and satisfaction.
So, it is not enough to have a great product or service, but the process has to be smooth and positive, and the overall experience must be a memorable one.
96% of customers worldwide say good customer service is an important factor in their loyalty to a brand
A research by Microsoft conducted back in 2016, reported that 96% of customers worldwide say good customer service is an important factor in their loyalty to a brand. This is not exactly a revelation, but it is nonetheless surprising to find out that many organisations today, still put customer experience and customer service at the bottom of their list of priorities or are struggling with implementing adequate systems, or training their teams to ensure a consistently great customer service.
The report also states that ‘there is a direct correlation between superior customer service and brand loyalty’.
Customer service is not a department. It’s a philosophy to be embraced by every employee
It is everyone’s job at every level of the organisation to create satisfied customers, and this philosophy should be every business’ mantra. Customer experience should be at the heart of front-line teams training, but it should also be the focus for every employee who has a contact with customers. Businesses must consider all the different touchpoints a customer may have with them; for instance, the amazing work the waiting staff does on the restaurant floor to build great customer relationships, can easily be undone by a grumpy welcome at reception or an inaccurate bill at the end of the meal. The great customer service and experience expert, Shep Hyken puts it simply ‘Customer service is not a department. It’s a philosophy to be embraced by every employee.’
There is no doubt that this philosophy must be adopted and demonstrated by all within the business to ensure a consistently great customer experience.
If you are wondering whether you should be focusing on customer service or customer experience, the short answer is you should do both.
Successful businesses aren’t wasting time worrying about the customer service versus customer experience debate; they are using both to improve their customers’ satisfaction, increase their bottom line and steal customers from businesses, who aren’t focusing on either of them.
If your teams need to improve on their skills in customer service, contact us now to see how we can help.
