We all understand the importance of providing our customers with a great experience in the services we offer. Over the last 20 years, terms like “Customer-centric”, “memorable experience”, “customer satisfaction”, “customer experience” and “user experience”, among others, have become staples in business discussions and strategies. Companies have invested in creating Customer Experience departments, hiring service designers, experience analysts, and implementing sophisticated software and strategies to measure and increase the satisfaction of an increasingly demanding clientele. We are facing a more competitive market, and delivering a disappointing experience is no longer an option. The experience we offer our customers must be, in a word, phenomenal. But how do we achieve this?
Tres claves para generar una buena experiencia del cliente
1. First things first: Solve the customer need, then add the additional layers of the experience
You take your car in for a mechanical inspection. Your appointment is scheduled quickly and efficiently. You arrive, and the staff greets you kindly. They offer you a comfortable waiting room, a delicious coffee while you wait, or, if you prefer, you can head back to the office, and they’ll bring your car to you when it’s done. They send updates on the progress of the inspection to your phone. They return your car clean, smelling wonderful. Everything’s perfect… except the car. The noise that started a few weeks ago is still there; they returned it to you just the way it was, despite this being the reason you brought it in. And on top of that, they charge you a hefty fee because, with all those extra services (which you didn’t actually ask for), they deserve it, right? Well, no. First things first… give me the car in perfect condition, and if you want to embellish my experience with everything else, great, but I won’t trade one for the other.
2. Measure the success, not just the satisfaction, of your customers
They are related, but they are not the same. Customer satisfaction is a metric that measures how pleased the customer is with a particular interaction or transaction. On the other hand, customer success is a broader strategy that focusses on helping your customers achieve their goals and the value you generate for them. The auto repair customer we mentioned earlier might have been very satisfied while waiting for their car, but in the end, they didn’t achieve their goal. That’s why they probably won’t repeat or recommend this service. The reality is that it’s important to measure both success and satisfaction. The first will help you increase customer repurchase and loyalty. The second will help you generate differentiation, increase the perceived value of your service, and the price of your products.
3. Don’t stand still: What works today may not work tomorrow
A universal law; nothing lasts forever. What works today may not work tomorrow. Keep up with what’s changing in the world, in the industry, in the tastes of your consumers, in what your competitors are doing and offering, and what advances in technology can offer you. Not just what has already changed, but what will change. Steve Jobs once said “You cant’ just ask your customers what they want and then try to give that to them. by the time you get it built, they’ll want something new”.
Service design is a structured methodology that helps you generate a great experience for your customers, ensuring that you exceed their expectations and help them achieve outstanding results in their goals. At Blaster, we research and design services strategically to achieve exceptional results. Contact us to find out how we can do this for your service.
