Your Guide to Exceed

Customer Expectations

every single time!

Let me ask you a question. What differentiates companies like Apple, Amazon, Zappos from the rest?

Merely satisfying customer expectations is like playing the safe game.

However, if improving loyalty is the goal, then your brand needs to constantly exceed customer expectations, give your best and make sure this best is something they can’t find anywhere else!

The quality of NOT settling for the mediocre.

Collect Customer Feedback

How could you possibly exceed customer expectations without knowing what these expectations are in the first place? How would you know whether your customers like/hate your prod-uct, ambience, or staff service?

All you got to do is ASK. Ask your customers for their feedback. Get to know what your customers’ needs and expectations are. This gives you a clear picture to start with.

Create your First Survey!

Focus on the Omni-channel aspect

Omni-channel customer experience is the need of the hour as the modern-day customer is channel hopping at a ridiculous rate.

If you truly want to delight customers, omni-channel technology and infrastructure is key. It ensures that the experience you provide across multiple channels is seamless and consistent.

50% of Consumers Expect to Buy Online and Pick Up In-Store.

Source:Consumer Desires Vs. Retailer Capabilities:Minding the Omni-Channel Commerce Gap

Create a world-class Customer Service model

Metaphorically speaking, the Customer Service function is a vital cog in the CX machine, as a whole. One thing that frustrates customers is following up with multiple customer service reps, constantly repeating the issue at hand, and still not getting a solution.

Your customer service needs to be world class. And when we say world class, it’s about quality service in the shortest possible time.

78% of consumers have bailed on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of a poor service experience.

Source: American Express Survey, 2011

Institute an impactful employee training program

While employee training and empowerment might not have a direct impact on customer retention or loyalty, if done right, employees will take it upon themselves to ensure that every single customer is kept happy, loyal and delighted.

After all, employees are your internal customers. Empower them enough and they will gladly represent your brand, fight for it, empathize with end-consumers and go above and beyond the status-quo to deliver a truly amazing customer experience.

Happy employees have 31% higher productivity, 37% higher sales and 3 times more creativity.

Source: Good.co

At the end of the day, customers engage with your business as they can relate to it in some way. And as each customer is unique in their own way, brands need to go down the path of personalization.

So the next time a customer enters your shop, go have a chat with them. Get to know their interests, likes/dislikes and maybe even take them out for a cup of coffee. This might sound crazy but building this emotional connect is a sure shot means to exceed expectations consistently. 

Add a personal touch“You have to be no less than a customer concierge, doing everything you can to make every one of your customers feel acknowledged, appreciated, and heard.

You have to make them feel special, just like when your great-grandmother walked into Butcher Bob’s shop or bought her new hat, and you need to make

people who aren’t your customers wish they were. Social media gives businesses the tools to do that for the first time in a scalable way.”

- Gary Vaynerchuk, “The Thank You Economy”

Follow up with your customersIf there is one thing a lot of brands are guilty of today, it is that they don’t follow up with their customers. Following up is solid proof that you care about customers and their long-term experience with your brand.

For starters, capture the customer’s basic contact info – at least their email ID. You do that already? Great. But what do you do with it? How about weekly or bi-weekly newsletters? Include info on upcoming promotions, discounts or offers in these newsletters.

87% of customers are said to have formed a positive image of those companies that make follow-up calls.

Source: Frost and Sullivan

Don’t hesitate to apologize

Let’s face it – even the best of companies make their fair share of mistakes. Yet, their loyal following doesn’t seem to take a hit. How’s that possible?

When a business takes ownership and apologizes genuinely, customers are more than willing to empathise. In fact, the respect and love they have for your brand only goes up.

“The act was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with Amazon’s principles. We deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this

painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.”

– Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon

Don’t make a sale. Build a relationship.

In times where stakeholders talk sales numbers and intelligent metrics, the foundation to any successful business model remains looking beyond a sale – building a solid relationship with the customer.

Don’t be revenue driven. Start prioritizing customer relationships over transactions, and soon you’ll find a whole bunch of loyal evangelists taking your brand to success.

70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated.

Source: McKinsey

ConclusionThe hype surrounding customer experience is justifiably real. And if you factor in the competition in the marketspace, unless your com-pany is able to surpass customer expectations and give the cus-tomer an authentic and unforgettable experience across every touchpoint on a consistently basis, the chances of survival look very dim. Now, it’s your turn choose between mediocrity and greatness!

Start DELIGHTING Customers!

© 2016 Cloudcherry. All Rights Reserved

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ABOUT CLOUDCHERRYCloudCherry is a leading, real-time omni-channel Customer Experience Management (CEM) platform that lets customer-facing brands track, measure & improve Customer Delight - thereby increasing profitability and loyalty.

With CloudCherry, brands get to capture experiential data at every customer touchpoint using 17 channels of interaction (& counting), get real-time alerts and notifications to address issues as they happen, and view all data on a single dashboard - a centralized view of all CX data.

Many of the largest brands in the world don’t just satisfy, but delight their customers with CloudCherry’s CEM platform.

www.getcloudcherry.com | info@getcloudcherry.com