As a customer, what would you expect from a brand? Credibility? Quality? Good Service? In short, an unforgettable overall experience. But as a brand, how can you ensure this? Let’s go by the book and say that we need to deliver WOW moments to our customers. So even if they are here only for a good experience, a WOW experience is surely going to impress them to the core. It is a tried and tested white-glove service approach that has been specifically designed to keep customers coming back to you while making them shameless fans for life who’ll recommend you to more clients. And as they say, a little appreciation goes a long way. The same is the case with the word of mouth. But creating WOW moments is not as easy as it may sound since it requires you to take care of even the tiniest needs of your customers. You need to make your customers feel like the most important people in your world, i.e., the VIPs. Let them know, if need be, you’ll bend over backward to make their day better, even if you are not flexible at all. Because at the end of the day, it is all about the overall customer experience—and the details in between. Now, when was the last time you experienced a WOW moment at a business, the one which you remember explicitly with all the details, the one which impressed you made you go like: this is really nice? The business actually did a lot more business there when it impressed you, making you tell your friends and business associates about it. Wouldn’t you like the same for your business?! Here are some of the best ways to go about it: 1. Stay Loyal to Your Words—Do What You Say You’ll Do Make no exception here. Doing what you say you’ll do shows how much you care about your customers. It becomes a piece of cake when you’re dedicated enough to build systems around WOW moments. When your aim at impressing customers, the ways to go the extra mile will make their way to you on their own. Just make sure that your entire team is on board with the same idea that they all follow up and meet their deadlines, so details don’t fall between the cracks. Giving your customers more than their expectations will be a gift, and who doesn’t like gifts! Everyone enjoys the special treatment; everyone likes the exceptional value; everyone loves to feel appreciated! 2. Admit Mistakes Gracefully and Fix Them As they say, to err is human. But to accept those errors and fix them is celestial (well, at least metaphorically). If you don’t know how to handle your customers properly, it is going to reflect negatively on your customer satisfaction, retention, and business success. Nightmare customer service, where the experience is so much poor that we tend to take it for granted at times, is rampant in the marketplace. That’s crazy, totally crazy! Why would someone spend their money on a company that doesn’t even care about its customers? Hence, fix the flaws and bridge the gaps because customers are more inclined towards businesses that own up to their mistakes and correct them. 3. Embrace Customer Feedback with Open Arms To gain respect from your customers, you got to work for it, i.e., you need to earn it. Everyone (literally every one) in your team has to put their best foot forward and must be on top of their game at all times in case you want to improve the customer experience. It includes embracing the feedback from the clients, even if it is too negative. Try to understand their perspective and how it can be changed. Getting customer feedback not only helps you gain a better understanding of your market but also the competition. Customers are a great source of information; use them wisely and strategically. Focus on what you can do better to meet their expectations and needs. 4. Learn to Let Go At times, it will be the case that the customers are a nightmare to deal with because they lack respect for the value you offer. In such cases, it is not wise to spend any energy on retaining them. You need to learn when to let them walk away. Sometimes, you might even have to fire a client, which is a critical decision since your business depends (to some extend or more) on the income from that client. It is quite difficult for most business owners to let bad customers or clients go. All thanks to the fear of the loss of income or the feelings of failure. You may want to stick with the client hoping that things will get better with time, but it rarely is the case. Know when to walk away, don’t let your business be held hostage by bad customers or clients.
Endnote Other than what we have discussed, following up with your customers also plays an important role in delivering WOW experiences. It takes a lot of time, money, and effort to chase down new customers. All of these efforts go to waste if you lose them after the first or second transaction because you (as a business) don’t follow up or follow through after the sale. Customers are likely to go to your competitors instead of coming back to you if they don’t feel appreciated. Hence, it is important to follow up with existing customers since it is where the money is!