Your company’s reputation has to do with your customer’s experience with you, your company, and then your product/service (in that order). When taking into consideration the customer experience with your company, think of your customer touch points. These are your brand’s points of customer contact, from start to finish. The beginning of your company’s journey with you may be finding your business online or on a paid ad, see ratings and reviews, visiting your website and then shopping at your retail store or contacting your customer service. It is important to know all the touch points to improve the customer experience.
Figure out the touch points to improve:
- Identify what problem the customer is trying to solve by using your product/service.
- Empathize with what the customer may be feeling or thinking in that moment
- Brainstorm potential ways to enhance the touch point
- Define which key performance indicator would be influenced by any improvements so that you can determine if a difference was made by the change.
Decide on the various touch points and work on improving one step at a time.
1: The first impression
How did they find you? Were they on a search engine, recommendation site, vendor booth, or networking event? If they were shopping on line, was your web site appealing and functional? If they were on a mobile device, was the font readable? How was the upload time? Was the person at the vendor booth or network event prepared, informative, professional, and friendly?
2: Communication
When the customer calls, emails, or fills out the contact area of your web site, do they get a response in a timely manner? Is the response accurate, friendly, and solves their problem? When connecting with the customer, does the social media, future email campaigns, and phone calls meet the needs of the customer and memorable in a positive way.
3: Time of the sale
Are the client needs met throughout the sale in a friendly manner.
Evaluate these touch points. Then make meaningful and manageable improvements to your customer journey.
