Customer experience is the holy grail of retail in a physical as well as the digital environment. Sure, great prices are something that can drive the audience your way, but great customer experience is what brings you return business. Needless to say, this is something you desperately need in order to stay in the game.
Phrases like ‘customer is always right’ are completely outdated because no one needs to hear your approval; what they need is to see it in action.
Here are a few ways in which you can improve your digital customer experience as well as measure how good of a job you are doing.
1. Referral System
One of the most obvious methods of assessing customer experience is using the referral system. Before a person conducts a purchase, you can make a simple one-question survey. Here you will ask if you were referred to by someone they know and if the answer is ‘yes,’ by whom.
Usually, people get some sort of a reward for a referral, so if you see a few names repeating continuously, you will know that you have a group of people on a hunt for points. On the other hand, if you see a plethora of different individuals recommending your business to others, you will definitely know that you are doing a great job.
Word of mouth is still one of the most effective marketing methods and this too can be enhanced by a reference system.
2. Eliminating the Middleman
Let’s imagine for a second that you are hosting an event and that you have a certain number of tickets to distribute. If you entrust this to a third party, you have no way of gathering reliable intel on people attending. For example, some people will be present only because the tickets were a part of a giveaway (and no one is crazy enough to let a free ticket go to waste). Then again, some people may be eager to come, only to give up because the party that distributes the tickets overinflated their price.
All in all, by installing an event ticket sales plugin, you assume direct control over sales and distribution, which gives you the oversight you need.
3. Improved Communication
Quick and efficient customer service is obviously one of the most important aspects of quality digital customer experience. But instead of stressing both your customers and employees with busy phone lines, don’t wait a minute longer to integrate the modern VoIP phone solution into your business model. This particular system features a set of tools that can be used on computers and mobile devices in order to fully replace and enhance the use of traditional desk phones.
From regular calls, videos, and chats to hosting conferences and assessing live data, this is the software that can make a huge difference for the office efficiency, and, consequently, speed up the response time for improved customer experience.
4. Point System
Another reliable way to measure customer satisfaction is through a loyalty program. The easiest way for you to do so is to make a system that will award points for every purchase made. These points are supposed to be traded for a discount (usually quite modest one so that you are not at a disadvantage). Sure, this may gain you repeat customers who won’t allow their points to go unspent, but if they are not satisfied with your business, they may still avoid you. So, this comes down to simple math, the fewer points used, the worse the overall customer experience is and vice versa.
5. Care for Vanity Metrics
One of the greatest hazards in this estimation is how easy it is to get sidetracked. Some people try to evaluate how well their business is faring based on the number of likes, shares, or even comments on their page. While this may mean a great deal when it comes to your overall image, its connection to your actual sales is yet to be determined.
In other words, there is no way of telling how many of these likes come from actual customers. Because of all this, vanity metrics are something to thread carefully about.
Conclusion
This is just the tip of the iceberg of all methods you have available. On the one hand, sometimes all you need to do is ask your customer what they think of your business. You would be surprised by all you may hear when you ask such a straightforward and seemingly simple question. In other situations, you need to be a bit more creative and even manipulative in order to get an honest answer.
All in all, when it comes to the world of modern business, you can get nowhere without proper customer feedback.
