3 Top Lessons on How LUSH Employees Improve Customer Experience
Inspirational interview with LUSH
This article originally appeared on CustomerExperience.io, read the original post.
The cosmetics brand LUSH is a company that delivers above industry standard customer service and has recently been ranked as the UK’s leading brand for customer experience. Founded in 1995 in Poole, UK, the brand has worked hard to establish a special kind of relationship with its customers that few other companies have been able to replicate. Having employees who can offer a very tailored customer experience has helped the brand keep customers coming back for more of their products. Engaging its employees with LUSH’s CX program has built a base of loyal and happy customers, who generate great referrals.
We visited one of their UK stores for an exclusive interview to bring you 3 top tips on how your employees can improve customer experience.
- Recognizing different customer types
In order to deliver a very personalised customer experience, LUSH trains its workforce on recognizing different customer types. By truly understanding customer behaviours and expectations, LUSH employees offer a very tailored and enhanced customer experience. “Assertive” customers, for example, lean forward or gesture when they speak. They expect fast customer service and make decisions quickly. “Analytical” customers will ask a lot of questions and take as much time as they need to make a decision. They expect to spend less time talking about basic features, and more about discussing custom, personalized solutions. Finally, “amiable” customers will often share personal stories and build friendships with team members. Because amiable customers will often be regular customers, they will expect LUSH employees to act as their friend, remember their names and stories. For example, one of the LUSH employees shared with us how remembering an “amiable” customer’s name and interests has led to offering a superior customer experience.
“One of our customers is a passionate traveller, who always visits LUSH in-between travelling. When she comes, we would refer to her by name and remember to ask her about her past and upcoming travel journeys. This always puts a smile on her face.” — Amy, LUSH team
The customer receives a friendly and personalised customer experience, which encourages them to visit more often and recommend LUSH to their friends.
Recognizing different customer types provides LUSH employees with a deeper understanding of how their activities affect the customer journey and experience.
2. Always Go the Extra Mile for Customers
Having trained its workforce on delivering great customer service, the company empowers its employees to go the extra mile for customers. It is only the most delighted customers who turn into promoters, and recommend LUSH to friends and family by word-of-mouth marketing.
“Welcoming customers and demonstrating products is something everyone can do. But everything in-between should always be tailored to customers. We provide training but then empower our employees to serve customers the way they feel is right.” — Scott, LUSH in-store manager
LUSH gives employees the freedom to make decisions in the spur of the moment, go off script and do what they feel is the right thing for the customer. As a result, empowered employees take pride and ownership of their jobs when they know they can exercise independent judgement.
“We recently had a customer who had just lost their job and visited LUSH to be cheered up. Our team approached her, sat her down in the store and offered her tea. We then started looking for products that would uplift the customer’s spirit, while listening to her story. “ — LUSH team
The team ensured that the customer receives not just a great customer service, but a great LUSH customer experience, which is genuine and empathetic. A couple of days later, they received an email from the same customer thanking them for making her day brighter.
3. Leveraging the Power of Emotions
According to a recent HBR article, in order to retain customers and create loyalty, businesses need to design an emotionally engaging experience.
LUSH is a master of multi-sensorial customer experience. From the powerful smells on entrance through to the opportunity to touch the products and see them being made online, the retailer does not fail to impress those who shop there. Connecting with their customers’ emotions helps the brand provide a truly memorable customer experience. For example, LUSH employees shared that they use mini facts of the day, focused on how they can connect with customers’ emotions. Rainy weather outside would mean that customers might feel a bit gloomy, so employees can uplift their spirit by being very cheery and offering colourful products that add zest.
Conclusion:
We would like to thank LUSH and their amazing employees for doing this interview with CustomerExperience.io. LUSH proved that having a workforce that is engaged and empowered to satisfy customers is key to delivering an exceptional customer experience.
Business owners need to make sure that employees know how to offer a very personalised customer service, which goes the extra mile and connects emotionally with customers. The cosmetics company LUSH offers valuable lessons on how your employees can improve the customer experience you deliver and help your business become customer centric.
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