7 Ways To ‘WOW’ Your Clients For Higher Profits And More Referrals
By: Jonathan Young
Tags: Customerexperience, Customerjourney

First published at FloweMedia

In recent years, companies are focusing more and more on customer service. They expend a lot of their resources on efforts to improve customer service to maintain customers in a competitive environment and boost their profits. It’s almost a cliché today that the focus should be on the customer.

Unfortunately, customer service is not enough. In fact, too much focus on customer service could be holding your business back. While you’re working to ensure that your customer gets their needs met and leaves each transaction with you satisfied, other companies are going the extra mile and producing memorable experiences for their customers that turn them into lifelong advocates.

What Is “Good Customer Service?”

Good customer service means helping customers in a way that is efficient and friendly. It involves handling issues for customers in a way that leaves them satisfied.

Although we can all recount instances of terrible customer service, every business that hopes to succeed (or even stay alive) must, at the very minimum, offer good customer service. Bad customer service drives away customers. But this is a fundamental of running your business, and it doesn’t help your business excel.

Although it’s fundamental, it’s not enough. First, it’s quite likely that your competitors are also offering good customer service. If everyone meets this baseline requirement, customer loyalty can easily change to a competitor that offers lower prices, special deals, different products, and so on.

Secondly, good customer service is expected, but it isn’t remembered. No one will remember that you met their basic needs, but they will remember it if you make a mistake or provide incompetent service. This means you need to do more than satisfy your customers as a bulwark against problems and complaints.

Creating Customer Experiences

Successful businesses do much more than provide great customer service. They go the extra mile and create memorable personal experiences.

Here’s an example:

You order a product from an online dealer. The wrong product arrives, and you contact them to make an exchange. For the exchange, they offer free delivery for the replacement item and say that you can keep the first. The replacement item comes with a gift card for future purchases and a handwritten apology from a staff member using your name. The company sends a follow-up email a few days later to make sure everything got there, alright.

How would you feel about this company? You’re not just “satisfied.” You’re probably delighted, if not ecstatic. You feel that the company isn’t just dealing with you for profits, but instead takes a real interest in your well-being and happiness.

Now, let’s look at how the company created this experience for you. First, they provided good customer service. They met your expectations by quickly offering a replacement at no cost to you. They also let you keep the old one, which is a nice gesture but still meets basic needs (you don’t need to repackage and send it back).

But here’s where the company went above and beyond. They added a few little surprises. They didn’t tell you about the gift card, and it doesn’t say anything about gift cards on their exchange policy. It was a total surprise when you opened the package and found this gift.

And they went even further by giving it the personal touch. The handwritten apology on the gift card shows that an employee went out of their way to apologize personally to you, and they even bothered to get your name right.

Finally, they contacted you a few days later to make sure everything was alright. Maybe you had one comment or question, but you felt it wasn’t worth asking after all, since you got what you wanted. But now you have an easy opportunity to offer that comment or ask that question. This shows that the company truly values you and your feelings.

The “Wow” Factor Explained

This is called the “wow” factor. It’s the feeling you get when you see the gift card with the handwritten note. An experience like this surprises the customer and blows them away. It produces delight and an unforgettable impression in the customer’s mind.

The “wow” experience has many elements. In the example above, you could see how surprise and the personal touch play a role. But there is one simple core to every “wow” experience, and that is that you have exceeded expectations. Good customer service meets expectations, but a “wow” experience blows them completely out of the water.

Here is what employing the “wow” experience can do for you:

The main benefit of the “wow” experience is that it builds a strong relationship and leads to customer loyalty and retention.

Wowing your customers will lead them to sing your praises, thus bringing new people to your business.

Experiences such as this lead to excellent branding. Your company becomes known for the way it treats its valued customers.

This personalised and delightful experience offers a countermeasure against mistakes or incompetency. Your customers will overlook any problems they have with your company because they feel a strong personal bond.

All of the above leads to larger profits for your business in the long-term.

7 Things You Can Do Right Now to Elevate Your “Wow” Factor

To create a consistently wowing experience with your company, you’ll need to implement various protocols and strategies across your organization. This requires a great deal of strategic thinking, but the result is a huge boost to your business. But here are a few things you can do right now to wow your customers.

Offer Something Free Unexpectedly with No Strings Attached — When delivering your product or service, throw in a little extra for free. Add a smaller product you think your customer would enjoy with the one they ordered. If you offer a service, perform some extra work to show you appreciate them. Follow up with the Customer to See How They’re Doing — Reach out to your customers sometimes and ask them how they’re doing. Ask whether they have any comments or questions about your product or service. They may have something to say but are too shy to say it. Even if they don’t, they’ll feel that the channels of communication are open. Wish Your Customer a Happy Birthday — Create a calendar and put your customers’ birthdays on it. Wish each customer a happy birthday or, for even more “wow” power, offer a gift. You can find out your customers’ birthdays by getting to know them on social media, or asking when you ask for other data such as an address, and so on. Write a Handwritten “Thank You” — Write a handwritten note thanking the customer for their patronage and use their name in the note. If possible, call back to some experience you shared, a personal detail, or a detail from a previous transaction. Offer a Better Deal — A straightforward way some companies wow their customers is by talking them out of high-ticket purchases. Instead, they suggest a lower-ticket purchase that’s more suitable. The company loses a bit of profit in the short-term, but they win in customer loyalty. This shows that you have your customer’s best interests at heart. Remember a Detail — At each encounter, try to remember some detail of the transaction or a personal detail about your customer. Write this down in a file with similar data. Remember the detail and bring it back up the next time you talk to them. For example, if you have a pet store and a customer mentions their dog is sick, ask them the next time how their pooch is feeling. Ask for Feedback — When dealing with a customer, take a little time to ask them for feedback. Ask what they like or don’t like about your service, or what can be improved. Listen carefully and try to find ways to make the changes your customer suggest.

Wowing Your Partners and Employees

Really great organizations don’t only seek to “wow” their customers. They employ the same techniques with their business partners and employees. They try to create a delightful experience for all of those who come into contact with them.

For example, a company might include personal get-to-know-you lunches as part of the onboarding process. Or a vendor might send personalized birthday cards to their affiliates, letting them know that they appreciate their hard work.

All of this can be incorporated into your regular business procedures so that it’s not hard to do, and this little bit of thoughtfulness goes a long way in retaining employees, attracting new talent, and getting business partners to do their best for you.

Don’t Just Satisfy… Delight

Yes, you should offer good customer service. But this is a given. Instead of investing a great deal of time and effort into making sure your customers are satisfied, why not go that extra mile and “wow” them, creating unique experiences that will build long-term and personal relationships.