Finding the Pain: How to Start Improving Customer Experience – Part 2
Yesterday, we learned that “finding the pain” with your customers could mean a huge difference in your overall customer experience. I even provided you with some working examples on how other companies are doing this.
Today, I want to quickly sum things up and discuss how you actually “find the pain.”
The best way to do this it to simply have a conversation. Talk with your customers. You could even implement a survey in order to get a large sampling with very little effort. However, I have found that actually talking with your customers takes things a step further and even earns some customer loyalty in return. At New Harbor, we do both. We send a quarterly survey to our clients asking them to provide us with feedback. But, “how can we make things better, or even more fun” is always a part of ongoing client conversations.
Ask your customers what they don’t like about buying from you. Do they feel that the sales reps are not knowledgeable? Are the people who answer the phone too eager to get the sale? Is it too cold in the office? What is their pain? At first they may think there isn’t one. After all, they came in didn’t they? But probe a little. What is the “bummer” in their whole buying experience? The “bummer” is the subtle weakness in their time with you. It’s the fact that they found what they wanted easily on the shelf but had to wait in line too long to buy it. Or, the staff was friendly, but you could tell that they had a lot going on and just wanted to get you on your way so they could get back to what was on their list. See, it doesn’t have to be something huge like the examples I gave yesterday. It just has to be…well..a bummer.
One example I may find when surveying this website is that “the content is great and relevant, but I have to set aside a lot of time to read it because the posts are too long.” See, not the end of the world but it’s a bummer.
It is important to note that you don’t want to ask just one customer. If you do this, you’ll end up changing the thermostat for the old lady who’s cold and forcing the rest of your clientele to sweat. Talk to everybody.
Also, talk to your staff. What are some things that they are seeing in your company? Are they finding that there are a lot of customers that are bored by how long it takes to write up an order? Maybe they don’t have a lot of the answers when their customers have questions. It is important to get a lot of opinions from both your staff and your customers.
Now that you’re armed with a list of “pains,’ head over to your competitors’ place. Watch their clients. Do they look to be experiencing the same pains as yours? Why or why not? If they aren’t having these issues start to see how you can implement similar strategies. I’m not telling you to copycat your competitors but it is kind of hard to create a better experience than them if you have a worse one already. Use this time to level things out before trying to take the lead.
In the end, it is all about subtle changes. You don’t need to make sure everyone that walks into your office gets greeted with champagne and caviar. Find out what’s bumming them out and fix it. That could make all the difference.
