Your customers experience is an important part of your brand strategy to consider and here’s why.
People Talk
Yes, that is right! People talk! Which means if a client of yours has a negative or positive experience from working with you, or buying from you, then they WILL tell all their friends and family about it.
Example: I opened up a bank account years ago when I was about 16 years old and I realised the other day that I’d lost my access to that account years ago, so I thought I would ring them up and see about how I could get access again. I explained my situation at the start of the call and then the guy on the phone asked me what kind of account I had… Silence. I didn’t know… I opened the account up when I was 16. I told the guy I had no idea… then I got a very curt and short reply over the phone as though he’d lost his patience with me. >>> That right there, just made a negative impression on me, and to the point where it’s the reason why I’m sharing this here and on a Facebook Live I did about this very topic. The smallest of negativity can make a negative impression on someone and you can bet I spoke to my other half about my ‘experience’.
This will be the same for you too, which is why it’s so important to think about every aspect of your customers experience while working with you.
Referrals
When you provide a positive experience, what do you think will happen? Your clients will rave about you to everyone else. And this will result in referrals, and who doesn’t want those? Your clients will not only become raving loyal fans of yours, but they’ll also become brand ambassadors for you and your business without realising.
Remember to be different!
In order to create the best experience possible, get creative and be different to everyone else. This is where your branding touchpoints come into play. Your touchpoints are when someone comes into contact with you. This could be a zoom discovery call, an email to book in that discovery call, a DM on instagram expressing interest to work with you… meeting you at a networking event, a comment you’ve made in a Facebook group. >>> These are all branding touchpoints. So one way to get creative is look at the touchpoints you currently have in place and think about how you can enhance those touchpoints even more. Also, are you missing any touchpoints? Consider the 5 senses.
First impressions count!
They really do and people are judgemental. The first impression you make on a potential new client will be a deal breaker, so surely you want it to be best impression.
So what actions can you take today, or over the next week to enhance your customers experience with you?
- Analyse your customers journey with you.
From start to end – map it out (nothing beats good old pen and paper or a whiteboard for this) and look at a typical and ideal customer journey that works for you. Then look at what you can do to enhance each area/touchpoint and identify any touchpoints you could add in. - Surprise and delight!
This is an oldie, but a goodie and often forgotten about. Surprise and delight your clients. It could be with a gift in the post, a voucher, a blog you think they’d be interested in ready, a DM on instagram saying how much you love working with them. - Client care.
Keep this at the forefront of everything you do, especially with your current clients. This is vitally important because long term relationships are KEY! Treat your clients as people and show that you care about them and overcoming their problems, which you are helping them with. Think about an aftercare for your clients. So if you work with client during a 6 week, 6 month or 12 month programme, what can you do to stay in contact with them once you’ve finished working together and to build on your relationship even more.
