Sales and Marketing - Jen Jordan

Sales and Marketing - Jen Jordan
Jen Jordan brings a wealth of life and leadership experiences to her writing. After 10 years creating a variety of content for a nonprofit, Jen decided to establish her own writing business. She specializes in creating high quality blog and website content for small businesses. When she's not writing, Jen is a competitive triathlete with a goal of completing a triathlon in all 50 states.

4 Practical Ways To Improve Your Small Business Customer Experience

4 Practical Ways To Improve Your Small Business Customer Experience

Unfortunately, many small businesses fall short of offering excellent customer experiences. Yet, offering a great customer experience can make or break a small business, especially in our increasingly competitive and digital global economy.

When your customers are just one click away from doing business with any number of companies, offering a quality customer experience can set your business apart from your competitors.

A recent survey found that 68% of customers say they are willing to spend more with a business where they are sure to have a positive service interaction and experience. And another study revealed that 71% of participants say they ended their relationship with a business because of a bad customer experience.

Customer experience is not the same as customer service

Offering quality customer service is one piece of cultivating a great customer experience. However, "customer experience" is not the same as "customer service." The customer experience metric refers to your customer’s impression after engaging with your business and how they think of your brand across every stage of their customer journey.

Customer experience can encompass everything from the quality of your products and services to your prices and the support you offer customers who use your products or services.

Benefits of cultivating a great customer experience

Ensuring your consumers have an outstanding customer experience helps increase the lifetime value of a consumer, improves brand awareness, and even turns your loyal customers into brand ambassadors.

Having an excellent customer experience also boosts loyalty and satisfaction in your employees. Your team is proud of the products and services you offer, and they are motivated to give their best effort to you and your customers.

Easy ways to improve the customer experience with your small business

While there are many ways to improve your customer’s overall experience, here are some specific and practical steps any small business can take.

  1. Conduct customer surveys to discover what your current customers like about your business and learn about any pain points they may experience. You may have one perception of your customer experience, but your customers may have a different opinion or feeling.

    Customer surveys can help uncover your actual customer experience and identify growth opportunities.

  2. Understand what causes a bad customer experience. From long wait times to rude, unprofessional, or under-trained employees, everything can contribute to a bad customer experience. This knowledge can help you implement processes and systems to prevent future problems.
  3. Train your employees and equip them for success. Training all your employees on good customer service should be a priority when building a quality customer experience. It’s equally critical to ensure your employees have all the tools and resources needed for success.

    Whether it’s quality software or updated product descriptions, going above and beyond to provide the proper employee training and resources will improve your employee and customer satisfaction at the same time.

  4. Don’t make unreasonable promises or guarantees. Be honest, upfront, and reasonable with your promises to your customers and your employees. For example, if you promise a technician will be there in an hour, ensure that they’re at your customer’s door within that timeframe.

It’s a competitive world for small businesses. Offering a great customer experience can give you the edge and differentiate yourself and your product. Even the smallest business can benefit from greater customer satisfaction without making much of a financial investment.

Works Cited

https://usersnap.com/blog/customer-experience-strategy/

https://keap.com/business-success-blog/customer-service/customer-experience/why-customer-experience-must-be-a-small-business-priority-in-2020

https://customerthink.com/how-to-improve-your-small-business-customer-experience/

https://www.benchmarkone.com/blog/small-business-customer-service/