Business VoIP Featured Article

How the Customer Experience Can Turn Your Business into a Competitive Threat

November 05, 2014

By Susan J. Campbell, Business VoIP Contributing Editor

Have you encountered that arrogant company? You know, the one where they are so convinced that their products are irreplaceable and therefore the customer experience is not a priority. For a while, this strategy can work – the reputation of the product may bring people to the door. But the real question is whether or not customers will continue to return.


The customer experience is truly what gets people to patronize a business time and again. Most products and services are replaceable, with a few exceptions. As consumers, we always have a choice. If you don’t want your customers to look to the competition when it comes time to make that choice, it may be time to invest in the customer experience.

Business VoIP provider, Nextiva recently posted a blog on the topic, stressing the point that there is a lot of business to be generated simply by taking care of your existing customers. While you’re at it, why not also get the benefit of your customers turning into your best advocates? It doesn’t take much to become a quadruple-threat of customer service and the outcome can be more than worth the effort.

The first step is to create the enjoyable customer experience. How do your customers want to interact with you? What do they want to experience when in your store, on your website or talking with an employee on the phone? If a customer makes the effort to contact you or enter your establishment, the minute the connection is made, your focus should be on that experience. The little things really do matter, so it can be as simple as the smiling agent on the phone or complex as the personal shopper in the store. The point is to optimize the experience for the customer.

Next, make sure doing business with you is not only seamless, but also enjoyable. Retailers who take back products with little effort on the part of the consumer and no questions asked earn a customer-first reputation. Offer 100 percent customer satisfaction guarantees and then stand behind them so all customers report a fantastic experience when interacting with your company.

If you let a customer down, do whatever necessary to make things right with that customer. Mistakes do happen and how you respond makes a bigger impression than a quality customer service policy. Take swift action when you learn that a customer is unhappy and do whatever necessary to make it right.

Finally, don’t forget to create the personal relationship. It’s easy to develop a customer service initiative that focuses so much on activity that you forget the individual. The small things really do matter, so if you run a restaurant and have a frequent customer, bring them their favorite dessert as a free perk every once in a while. The fact that you know their favorite will strike a chord more so than the fact that it’s free.

In the corporate environment, you may have business VoIP to streamline communications, but it’s your activities that focus on the customer experience that will truly set the tone.




Edited by Alisen Downey

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

HOME
READ THE NEXTIVA PARTNER BROCHURE


Key Benefits

  Unlimited Calling & Faxing
  Number Portability
  Auto Attendant
  Voicemail-to-Email
  Instant Conference Calls
  HD Voice Quality



LEARN MORE