Customer is Your Boss
One of the understandings of how best to maintain a business is to understand that ‘customer is king’. Yep, they are king. And like a king, whatever we do must follow their wishes and also their will.
Why is there this understanding? Basically “without customers, there will be no business.” Several other understandings such as; it’s easier to please old customers than looking for new customers, the winning or losing of a brand can be acknowledged on how they make their customers feel ‘in awe’.
One of the branches of this understanding is Customer Experience. Customer’s experience in using our products or services is a very important core to maintaining customer loyalty and satisfaction. Building an effective customer experience and hitting the important points is not easy, it takes a lot of planning, research, and trial and error.
What are the best practices for Customer Experience?
1. Understand who your customers are.
Again, what must be emphasized in understanding this is empathy. Position yourself as a good listener for customers. Without listening, we will not fully understand what our customers want, or what our customers need.
Put your shoes in their shoes. In what ways can we listen? First, determine your company’s customer persona. Then do the survey, talk directly with the customer, and give the feedback form. Do this regularly. That way we’ll know who we are dealing with, and who our real customers are.
2. Create a customer support team.
Like a king, customers must be treated as royalty. Building a team that has a focus on ‘satisfying’ customers is very important. If the team understands that customer happiness is number one, surely the customer will feel more cared for and satisfied.
According to getfeedback.com you can invest the company’s effort to build a customer-centric customer support team by asking the following questions:
- Can your support team handle customer inquiries well and in a timely manner?
- Are the metrics regarding first-contact resolution and service level good enough?
- Can customers communicate via their preferred channel in a seamless way?
- Do you have quality assurance measures in place?
- Do your support representatives have the information they need at hand, such as a client’s purchase history, to provide the best possible help?
3. Give your customers choices.
Give options to your customers to enjoy your product. Customers like flexibility, so provide many platforms for your product that they can access to enjoy the products or services you offer.
4. Expand self-service options.
Customization of what our customers can enjoy is very important. By providing self-service, it allows our customers to get the service they need. For example, rather than explaining to them what your best option for your service is, why not make a web form that they can fill and tell them directly the best option that they need.
So what should we remember? Customer expectations will always increase and change. Therefore, CE must always be trained and invested in every division and strategy of our company. At the end of the day, we have to realize that our boss is not investors, or even our colleagues, but… our customers.