Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
Kendra can't get enough of Spotify’s mobile app. From the start, her ideas are valued. She's asked to select her favorite singers. After being applauded for her “great taste”, the system creates several playlists based on her artiste choices.
So, whether at home or the office or even during a 6 am jog, Spotify delights her. The end product is a great customer experience (CX). With that kind of experience, customers like Kendra will gladly pay for premium offers.
While it seems like Kendra and Spotify have developed an intimate relationship, things can go awry. The app can develop a bug, or two. For example, halfway through a song, an ad pops up. Of course, a complaint will be lodged. And if Spotify can't address Kendra’s concerns, there goes their “number one fan”.
Today, the rise and fall of CX happen regularly. It's not just about getting a new customer. What are you doing to retain them? No customer likes to be treated as a statistic in board meetings. What customers want is personalized service delivery.
In this article, we'll examine how your company can lose its accumulated CX and how to do better. So, join us by reading on.
4 Ways by Which You Risk Having a Bad Customer Experience
This section illustrates five possible ways your brand can infuriate a customer through bad service delivery. If you're eager to improve customer retention, read on.
1. Not Personalizing Your Interaction with a Customer
Let's say you get mail from an online bookstore offering 50% off any order of six hardcovers. Sounds great, doesn't it? However, what happens when the email doesn't mention your first name? The element of joy is almost gone.
Know what’ll further widen the gap between you and the bookstore? Getting an offer to buy books that you don't like. The bookstore got your email address because you've bought books via their store. So, it's expected that any offer should be based on your purchase history.
For instance, if you've bought only crime books, a new offer should contain crime novels. This shows that the store took its time to design an offer based on your recent activity. Personalized interactions are a non-negotiable part of the CX game.
Brands like Amazon and Spotify value their customers and it shows in their quality of service.
2. Improper Use of Customer Data
A company that invests in data collection does so to learn more about the customers. It assesses their thought patterns and preferences to devise an actionable CX strategy.
However, when you don't interpret data correctly, you're bound to improve the wrong things. This results in a complete waste of resources. It also means that you've achieved nothing.
We urge you to collect only relevant data and utilize innovations like AI and Machine Learning to efficiently examine the data.
3. Disregarding Customer Feedback
It takes a lot for a customer to inform you about a concern. Whether through email, social media, or Google Play Store, you owe every customer a response. Now, we don't mean automated messages.
We're talking personalized messages that speak to the customer’s concerns. Some concerns may be specific, and sending a customer an automated message portrays you as a terrible brand.
Sometimes, feedback on your services can be positive. For instance, a customer can give you a 5-star review. Again, don't send them an automated response. Go all the way by thanking them via a warm reply. Addressing them on a first-name basis works wonders.
4. Sloppy UI and UX Design
What's remarkable about Spotify and Netflix is that their apps are user-friendly. Today, self-service is the trend of businesses. If customers have trouble with navigating through your mobile app or website, then you've gained a following of unhappy customers.
Don't just invest in design, you should also seek accessibility. What good is a pretty design if a customer can't see an icon or button clearly?
Excellent UI and UX design contribute to a good CX. Happy customers signify plenty of referrals.
How to Transform Negative Feedback into Positive Feedback
Not every customer will speak well about services. It's easy to get negative feedback if you have a track record of poor service delivery. So, what can you do to change negative feedback?
Below are some ways.
1. Take Responsibility for the Complaint
You're in a business, so the right measure of toughness is needed. So what if a customer thinks that your services belong in the toilet?
We encourage you to take that in good faith and accept the blame. You own and offer the service, so any flaw is yours to handle.
2. Customers Love Swift Response to Feedback, so Give Them That
Don't take a week to answer a question or address a concern. Within one hour is excellent for a response. Today, it's possible to reply to customers in real-time.
Using reputation management software like Grade.us, Local Charity, and Bird eye helps to update you on recent reviews.
3. Apologize for the Inconveniences
An apology goes a long way to repairing a frail relationship. If a customer is having trouble getting into their account on your website, apologize first. Doing so lessens the customer’s frustrations, making it easier to fix the problem.
4. Never Make Excuses
On no account should you blame anyone else for a service failure. Instead, explain why the customer had trouble with using your service. Adobe holds the record for informing customers about likely service failures before they happen.
5. Offer to Solve the Problem Personally
Nothing beats providing a dissatisfied customer with your contact address to discuss a problem. Once, Ethan had difficulty logging into his Netflix account. After following what the article on his problem directed, he couldn't still log in.
So, he wrote Netflix and they replied, sending him an email so they could discuss the issue. Within minutes, he logged in successfully.
Be Open to Change of CX Strategy
Customers will often have issues with your service delivery. To avoid a bad CX and an increased churn rate, you need to apply new CX strategies. The world we live in changes constantly, so should your CX strategy.
Take it from us, complaints give you a chance to improve your relationship with customers.
