One of the biggest components of a successful business is the customer experience and how their interactions go when dealing with positive or negative situations. Strategies like using AI technology and third-party sites can improve the customer experience and help build strong connections.
Business leaders can use many strategies to maximize the customer experience. Below, 12 Forbes Communications Council offer more ways that will help accomplish this.
Forbes Communications Council members discuss keys that business leaders should consider to improve customer experience.
Photos Courtesy Of The Individual Members1. Connect And Build Relationships
All companies are made up of people who require human connection at their core. When companies focus on building and fostering relationships, meaningful connections come naturally. It's a simple and genuine way to engage with customers at any point within their experience with your brand and team. We are all human and could use more connection and less automation. - Ashley Jorgensen, Mailing.com
2. Use AI Technology
Don't wait for a customer to talk about their experience. Companies can use AI-based technology to better understand their customers by analyzing each interaction in real time. With the right technology, a brand can gain insights into the experience as it happens. And better yet, issues can be solved during the interaction rather than having to address issues after it has concluded. - Celia Fleischaker, Verint Systems Inc
3. Revisit Your Approach Regularly
Plan to regularly revisit your approach. Customer needs and preferences can change over time, so your customer experience strategy should not stay the same for years and years. For example, in recent years, we had to revise our customer journey to accommodate the rising demand for virtual events. As we shift back towards live events this year, our strategy has changed again. - Jennifer Best, AAE Speakers Bureau
4. Use Third-Party Sites
Use the voice of the customer programs to listen to customer feedback to prioritize improvements. Don't limit listening to your surveys—expand team listening to third-party sites like Google, Yelp and Facebook to hear the raw customer experiences and sentiment at each location. Leverage this perspective to prioritize focus areas and monitor the feedback through online reviews and alerts. - Cynthia Sener, Chatmeter
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5. Bring A Consistent Experience
Improving customer experience is all about consistency. Customers need to know what to expect from your brand, meaning they should have a consistent experience at every location and touch point. That also extends to an online presence, which must maintain the same brand identity and customer service standards consumers receive in-store. - Monica Ho, SOCi
6. Equip Your Employees With Correct Info
Improving the customer experience starts with your frontline employees. Use technology to ensure your employees are connected and have the information to do their jobs successfully. Additionally, asking proactive questions to identify pain points and common traits will help you create more personalized solutions. This, in turn, will create a better overall experience. - Kimberley Drobny, Theatro
7. Make Customer Service Everyone's Responsibility
Ensuring customer experience is everyone’s responsibility, not just customer-facing teams like sales. For instance, engineers work in a vacuum, but having them periodically attend customer meetings or drive community forums lets them get firsthand feedback from real users on how a product worked or didn’t work. They’ll gain insights to improve the product, and thus, customer experience. - Mariana Prado Cogan, People.ai
8. Make It About Service, Convenience And Value
The customer experience is all about service, convenience and value. Your customers should feel at ease and have an easy time purchasing your product or using your service. Go over the top with those three components and you'll always have a winning customer experience. - Melissa Kandel, little word studio
9. Offer Live Support
Offering live support is a great way for companies looking to make their customer experience better. This allows the customer to interact with live support when they need them and allows for more efficient communication between the customer and the business. - Christian Anderson, Lost Boy Entertainment Company
10. Respond To Your Customer's Queries
Customer experiences are the most important element of business. Being responsive to a customer is key to making sure your clients have a good experience. Whether positive or negative circumstances, responding to your customer’s queries is a must. Feeling like their time is taken seriously is crucial in turning a prospective client to a customer or a one-off customer into a lifelong fan. - Asad Kausar, Dabaran
11. Make Customers Feel Respected, Appreciated And Valued
Employee communications are the face of the brand. Whether in-store or at the distribution center, their actions impact the customer experience. Communicating with them will engage them. Make sure they feel respected, appreciated and valued. Video messages from executive leadership let all team members hear the information and understand the company's goals, vision and priorities. - Mike Tippets, Hughes
12. Listen And Predict Customer Needs
Companies should focus on centering the customer’s voice in overall marketing and business strategy. Improving the customer experience requires listening to and predicting customer needs. Customer experience must be embedded into the innovation process and be informed by feedback systems. This ensures that companies integrates the customer’s voice into products and messages. - Kristin Russel, symplr
