Every company’s ultimate goal is to retain customers and bring in new ones, especially if it is through word of mouth. That is truly the most effective way of getting the word out for most companies. Customer service representatives are on the front lines and interact with your customer more than anything. They are, along with the look of your business, the face of your company. It is very important that they are trained to give your customers the best experience possible because, at the end of the day, the experience is what they will remember and the experience will be what they are referring to their friends. Here are some ways you can build up the customer experience for your business.
Focus on appearances
One of the biggest ways you can impact a customer’s experience is through the way your store looks and feels. Even if customers are doing online shopping, the experience of your store is affected dramatically by the look. According to Forbes, you will want to ensure the place stays clean and tidy because a chaotic and dirty store will make a customer feel grungy and unwelcome. That is the first step to ensuring it feels right. It also needs to be very easy for customers to find what they are looking for, which might mean putting up clearer signs directing customers to the products they need or just laying out the products in a manner that makes the most sense. Even the use of more technology throughout the store will make it feel cleaner and more easily accessible for customers.
Add more technology
Getting more technology into the store will drastically improve customer experience because many customers are beginning to expect the ability to interact with a computer when they want it. Of course, your customer service representatives should still be trained in how to best communicate with customers and address their needs, but this doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for technology within the business. It could be as simple as a text marketing campaign where your customers are able to send two-ways texts to get answers to their questions. Or it could mean adding more machines throughout the store for item look-ups so customers who are introverts can choose to use those instead of having to ask for help from an actual person. Even having price checkers available or the ability to scan an item and check the price on your phone through an app has significant value to a customer. At the very least, having the right technology will make it much more efficient for customer service reps to answer questions and get the customer exactly what they are looking for.
Whatever you choose to do to update the look and feel of your store, remember that a customer-central experience is what people are looking for and what is becoming the expectations for most customers.