These days, the average customer jumps from one digital channel to another with ease. More and more consumers are using their smartphones and laptops to search for and engage with a business, and yours should be one of them.
Consumers expect a digital experience at each company they interact with, and are not willing to settle for less. Delivering an unparalleled experience means harnessing the capability of engaging and interacting with your customers online as well as in person.
To do this right, you have to know what your customers need and want, and offer them an experience that encapsulates their every desire. Sounds like a tough job? It doesn’t have to be. By implementing tools like vcita’s all-in-one business management platform, you can improve your customer experience significantly without too much heavy lifting.
When it comes to boosting your customer experience in the digital age, our very own Maor Aharoni, Product Marketing Manager at vcita, dished out some insightful tips on how to achieve an elevated customer experience in the digital era in his Lunch & Learn webinar hosted by Enterprise Nation.
Start with a good first impression
The first part of improving your customer experience is to create a good and long-lasting first impression by way of your website. Of course, your website should have a good looking design that conveys your brand’s story and colors, but more importantly, you want a website that is interactive. Your customers should be able to complete actions and contact you via your website.
Having widgets on your site that encourage customers to take action is a great way to get leads to interact with your business right away and begin to book appointments immediately. As Maor mentions, “without these tools, your customers will need to call in order to contact you, which causes friction. They could easily find another business that does offer an online experience to take their business to, there’s nothing compelling them to keep their business with you.”
Engage your customers within context
Everyone wants to feel special, especially your customers. By being able to zoom in on each customer and understand their needs, status and wants, you can better cater your business offering to them. Using a strong CRM software provides you with instant visibility of your client interaction history, thus allowing you to service them in a better way.
“Knowing your customers’ history, payments, notes about their last appointment, as they walk in for the next appointment makes them feel seen and known, and not like just any other customer.” This does wonders for your customer experience and helps you build long lasting relationships with your customers.
Offer an immersive experience
Let your customers be completely immersed in their engagement with your business. By moving the responsibility and capabilities over to them, you are empowering your customers to engage with your business, on their own time.
Offer a customer portal where your customers can securely log in and perform any action from booking, paying and viewing their history of interactions with your business. Not only does a customer portal make your business look more professional and prepared for the digital world, but it also keeps your brand at the forefront of your customer’s mind, being that your customer portal will be branded with your logo and colors.
Personalize your offering to build loyalty
Turn one time buyers into long-term, loyal customers by personalizing your interactions with them. Send personalized promotions and coupons that target your customers at a certain time of year, or even at a certain stage of their customer journey. For example, sending out a birthday discount to each customer will surely make them feel seen and wanted, plus the discount itself will likely encourage them to use it and purchase more from your business.
You can also offer different bundles for each step of your customer journey. New clients can get an introductory discount/bundle that would differ from the discount or bundle you’ll offer your loyal customers. You can use the segmentation in your CRM to offer service packages based on client segmentation and build loyalty with your customers through personalization.
Automate the experience
In his webinar, Maor mentions that many small business owners are worried about automating their business processes because they believe their clients like the “personal touch”. However, automating your business means putting your administrative tasks, such as billing or appointment scheduling, on autopilot so that you can get back to doing what matters most: servicing your customers.
“Automating your admin tasks not only saves you tons of time, but it also helps you be there with your customers during their appointments, instead of worrying about what you’re missing out on by not answering your phone,” says Maor.
Start implementing a better customer experience
If you’re waiting around in order to start catering more to your customers’ needs, we’re not sure why. Implementing digital tools that your customers can interact with is becoming the new norm, and consumers are demanding more digital forward experiences. In order to keep customers coming back, boost engagement and ultimately, keep your bottom line happy, you need to make sure you are answering their need for a digital experience.
