Many entrepreneurs tend to consider their products or services the most important part of their business. As a result, a significant amount of time, effort and money goes into developing what people may need or want.
However, the utility or desirability of an offering is only a small part of what actually entices customers to buy. Rather, a top-notch customer experience can be the differentiating factor that convinces current customers to keep purchasing and potential customers to give a business a chance.
Luckily, making changes to a business’s customer experience can be a simple process. To help entrepreneurs ensure they are properly taking care of their customer base, 17 Newsweek Expert Forum members share “low-hanging fruit” ways for businesses to effectively improve their customer experience.
1. Proactively Respond to Inquiries and Offer Solutions
Customer experience (CX) is everything when it comes to increasing sales. One of my favorite “low-hanging fruit” methods includes promptly responding to customer inquiries and proactively offering new solutions to problems before customers ask. This approach will make it seem like the business is intuitive, which will set it apart from the competition and give customers an edge through unexpected advantages. – Lillian Gregory, The 4D Unicorn
2. Hire a Customer Success Representative
Customer experience is a critical business pillar for growth, as companies should focus on the customers and their needs. A simple first step is to hire a customer success representative (CSR) to answer the organization’s phone with a pleasant and positive tone and to follow up on all calls the same day. This will assure customers that the company’s focus and goals are to help solve their particular concerns. – Alan Wozniak, Business Health Matters (BHM) Executive Consulting
3. Implement a Thought Bubble Booth
I strongly advise implementing a thought bubble booth. Using this simple yet effective tool, customers can share their thoughts, feedback and concerns anonymously. You can then foster a customer-centric approach by comprehending their needs and making strategic improvements. This strategy aligns with the psychological concept of active listening, which will boost customer satisfaction and loyalty. – Dr. Kira Graves, Kira Graves Consulting
4. Ask Open-Ended Questions
Ask and listen! The simplest thing an organization can do is to ask questions of their current customers and act on their responses. Ask open-ended questions such as: “Are you happy with your experience with our company?” “What are we doing well?” and “What can we improve upon?” Once the organization has the answers, they need to use them to begin a cycle of improvement. – Donna Marie Cozine, Consult DMC
5. Disseminate Messages Directly from Customers to Executives
Stop doing surveys. Your executives are now numb to numbers like net promoter score. Your customers rarely trust that survey feedback will lead to lasting change. Instead, ask your customers one simple question: If I could deliver one message to our top executives on your behalf, what would it be? A keyword analysis will reveal repeating themes. Distill top themes into top priorities and then act. – Karen Mangia, Salesforce
6. Prioritize Existing Customers
Focus on your existing clients. They remain our best endorsers and brand ambassadors. If you do well with your current clients, they will bring in more. – Collin Plume, Noble Gold Investments
7. Create a User-Friendly Website
Creating a simple, user-friendly website is the best and most effective way to achieve a top-notch consumer experience. I’ve had all the bells and whistles on former websites like IP zone detection and zonal maps to lead customers to the perfect plants for their zone and it was chaos. I then realized that what enticed me and seemed upscale was totally confusing to our customers. – Tammy Sons, Tn Nursery
8. Keep the Lines of Communication Open
Making sure that the lines of communication are as open and transparent as possible is key. We recently shifted one of our frontline teams to offer more of a white-glove approach when it comes to communicating with current partners, and it has vastly improved the partner experience. – Ryan Carroll, Wealth Assistants
9. Add Personal Touches Through Milestone Celebrations
In scoping, identify significant calendar milestones for the organization and executive. For example, this could be a virtual coffee gift card sent the opening day of an annual meeting or a handwritten card of celebration or condolence. These are the personal touches that make a business relationship a partnership. – Lowell Aplebaum, Vista Cova
10. Have Real Conversations With Customers
Just ask them what they think. Sometimes we overthink and overanalyze things, especially with statistics and AI. The simplest way to get new insights is to go ask the customer and have real conversations with them. – Zain Jaffer, Zain Ventures
11. Establish SOPs for Negative Feedback
Avoid black holes of customer feedback. Many companies are quick to deploy satisfaction surveys, yet proactively fail to architect an efficient feedback cycle. Positive survey results are often celebrated, but negative ones are suppressed. Instead, establish standard operating procedures where negative responses are immediately nurtured. Similarly, have a process for thanking your loyalists swiftly. – Sabina Pons, Growth Molecules
12. Send Thank-You Cards
One “low-hanging fruit” action for improving the customer experience is sending thank-you cards to those who buy your products or use your services. This builds customer loyalty and keeps new customers interested in buying from you again. It also lets your customers know that you appreciate them and sets you apart from other companies who view every interaction as just another sale. – Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
13. Maintain Consistent Communication
Once we retain a client, consistent communication is critical. Clients want to hear progress or even nonprogress and takeaways from what we are learning in our search. – Tony Stajduhar, Jackson Physician Search
14. Create an Intuitive and Seamless Digital Experience
My go-to “low-hanging fruit” tip is focusing on website user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design. These are your customer’s introduction to your brand, and their importance cannot be overstated. I recommend ongoing A/B testing of your website to create an intuitive and seamless experience that will decrease your bounce rate and increase customer satisfaction and engagement. – Gergo Vari, Lensa
15. Keep Customers in the Loop Regarding Feedback
Communicating how, when and at what point in time you’re taking care of customer feedback is the best first step. If you’re not keeping customers in the loop about how their own issues with the service are being taken care of, you’re making the assumption that their feedback is not accurate in the first place. If you’ve made changes to your business, let people know. – Jacob Mathison, Mathison Projects Inc.
16. Pick Up the Phone
Just pick up the phone! We used to solve so many problems by speaking with people directly, but now people are afraid to speak to someone on the phone. My rule is 10 texts total where five from each side must lead to a phone or video conversation. I can’t tell you how many customers I’ve won with this practice and how many deals were saved. – Kim Estep, Branig Capital Markets
17. Be Customer-Centric
Everyone must have a customer mindset. Wherever they work they must believe their #1 job is to help the customer with immediacy and it’s critical that every employee knows how their job translates to the customer experience, who those customers are and their concerns. Whether it is legal, HR, purchasing or sales, everyone must understand customers’ challenges and how they can help. – Jack Kang, SiFive
Are you looking to Improve Customer Experience, but you aren’t sure where to begin?
Then set up a consultation with Business Health Matters Executive Consulting!
