Customer experience is one of the most crucial factors determining the success of an organization. No matter how good the quality of your product is, it will be in vain if you offer poor customer experience.
According to a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, 42% of customers are willing to pay more for a more friendly and welcoming customer experience, while 52% would pay more for speed and efficiency in the customer service they receive. NewVoiceMedia’s 2018 “Serial Switchers” report also reveals that businesses lose around $75 billion due to poor customer support, indicating that weakness in this sector of your business may lead to significant losses.
This can be especially crucial for startups since they’re only beginning to establish themselves in the business arena. By offering great customer experience, you can demand a higher price for your products, which is what startups need to take their business to the next level. That said, here are some proven ways to deliver a better customer experience as a startup:
1. Make Use Of CRM And Other Tools.
The advancement of information technology has made it affordable even for small businesses to get sophisticated software. Using customer relationship management (CRM) software can help keep you abreast of the recent updates of your prospects and customers. You can see their engagement with your emails, their interests, and other important facts.
CRM software makes it possible to design your marketing campaign based on this stage of the sales funnel. Furthermore, you can also connect employees of various departments via CRM software, enabling you to understand your customers better and respond to them sensibly.
In addition to CRM software, you can also use contact center intelligence to centralize your data, as well as monitor your employee and client experiences.
2. Understand Your Customers.
You can interact with your customers in a better way if you know who they are. Take some time to research about their background, age, interests, and other things. This will allow you to serve them better. For instance, a young technology-savvy customer can easily understand your product if you provide them with tutorials. However, a 62-year old customer may not be able to follow your instructions properly and may need more guidance.
Segment your customers based on their technical knowledge, age, product interest, and other factors. This way, you can make sure that they’re receiving the right customer support they need to be satisfied.
3. Provide Multichannel Support.
Customers often want a brand that’s active in all major channels. Some people might prefer communicating via email, while others may prefer social media platforms or mobile phones to reach out to you. Providing multichannel support will make customers feel you’re an authentic brand, and make them want to maintain a relationship with you.
You can also hire extra staff to manage your social media accounts if you’re receiving a lot of social media queries.
4. Connect With Customers Offline.
More and more people are craving for a personal touch in this digital era. A business uses numerous software as a service (SaaS) platforms these days, wherein they interact with their users via live chat, email, and an occasional telephone call.
But what can you do to connect with your customers offline? You can send a handwritten postcard or gifts to your valuable customers. This will make them feel special and can enhance their satisfaction with your customer service efforts.
5. Get Customer Feedback And Work On Sensible Suggestions.
You can get real-time feedback from customers to know how they feel about your brand. Encourage them to provide suggestions as well for improving your service. Send them a few queries via live chat and forward emails to ask them to complete a quick survey. Some pieces of advice may not be applicable to your business, but feedback is always valuable. Work on this to improve your customer experience so this can translate to better products or services that can cater to your customers well.
6. Forget Business Hours.
Your customers don’t always encounter a problem between 9 am to 5 pm. Of course, no one can have people answer queries 24/7. However, you can hire remote customer service reps to solve your customers’ problems regardless of the time. With that said, it’s crucial to equip your service rep team with enough knowledge to provide excellent support whenever needed.
Final Thoughts.
As a startup, you can’t afford to compete these days solely based on price as this will simply take away your profit margin and sink your business. Focus instead on offering a great customer experience to acquire and retain your customers.
There are many affordable technologies to help you with enhanced customer experience. Leverage those tools to get the most out of available services. Give your customers multichannel support and serve them based on their comfort. Moreover, forget business hours and exert extra effort to provide a better customer experience to ensure your business sustainability and growth.
