As marketers, we all desire that “silver bullet” for our customer experience. We seek that one simple lever that will give us a boost to our business, and generates growth on the bottom line. The good news is that such a lever exists and it can transform your growing business.
The “One Thing” in Customer Experience
The one thing you can do today to impact your customer experience in a big way is have consistency. Now I’m sure you were looking for something more profound, or even easier, but frankly consistency is a core driver of your customer experience. Every time your customer interacts with your brand, whether it’s online, or in store, they come with a knowledge of what they can expect from your brand. This might have come from previous interactions, competitors, or perceptions from your advertising. Either way, they have a gauge on the excellence of your product, the personality of the store attendants, the environment of the store, smells, etc. and your goal is to make that excellent experience you created, extend to your customer every single time they interact with your brand, consistently.
Executing Consistency
So now you know, the real question is how do you do it? Well there are three areas you should review in developing consistency in your customer experience. This is by all means not an exhaustive list, but some food for thought.
- First, your human resources department needs to have a rock-solid training and performance review system around customer experience. Everyone should know the goals and metrics around the performance in relation to the customer experience. Not just a high-level company score, but also an individual score for customer satisfaction. Having your staff engaged in consistency in your customer experience should be a top priority and discussion with them on a daily basis.
- Second, everything that can be controlled in you customer environment should be. This means everything. The cleaning, lighting, temperature, humidity, odors, staff presentation and personality, and product organization all need to have a plan and be measured for success. For example, think about Starbucks and the consistency you experience from store to store. They understand the value of consistent experiences.
- And lastly, product delivery should always be consistent. Even though there is nothing special about a McDonald’s burger, I know exactly what I am getting each time. There is no doubt in the product delivery with excellent companies. Your product needs to be the same, even if its tax returns, or used cars. Your product needs to be consistent in quality and delivery, even if it is a complicated or custom product. No one is exempt.
These three items are just the beginning in establishing a consistent customer experience. Diligence and a proper execution plan can make all the difference in the success of launching a good customer experience plan. Would you be interested in talking to New North about consistency in your customer experience? Contact us today for a no-commitment conversation about your customer experience challenges.
