Showing your customers some love

And watch their satisfaction turn into loyalty

Let’s face it. People do business with you because they like you. It’s not B2C. It’s P2P (person to person). And you know better than anyone how fierce the competition is—online and brick and mortar. How do you keep customers feeling the love and coming back for more? It’s time to focus on customer experience to keep the people who need your products and services passionate about doing business with you—while getting them to keep swiping left on your competition.

For better or worse

We’re talking relationships here, not transactions. Customer experience (CX) is the sum of the feelings your customer has about their interactions with your business—from their “first date” or initial awareness and extending way beyond purchase. So, the responsibility for creating and delivering exceptional CX is a team effort, not just one department, like customer service. Customer service is all about transactional processes—orders, billing, customer support, and returns and exchanges. And while making these transactions easy and seamless is part of the customer experience, it’s only one facet of capturing your market’s heart.

In relationship terms, CX is less about the score (or transaction) and more about a lifelong connection. Why? Because studies show that roughly 65% of your business is likely coming from existing customers and by increasing customer retention by just 5%, you can increase profits by anywhere from 25-95%.1 So yes, showing your customers some love with CX REALLY matters. Now let’s talk about how to move your business from the friend zone to Romeo status.

Don’t hate the player or the game: CX tips

Every step of the customer journey is an opportunity to gain their affection. The more your customers feel connected to your business personally, the more loyalty they’ll have. And that loyalty shows up in recurring sales and word of mouth—you can’t put a price tag on social media shout outs or great reviews for your business. Here are some meaningful touch points to consider offline and online to keep customers feeling the love:

What’s in store. First impressions. You only get one. Your storefront says a lot about your business and your brand. Do guests feel like they’re interrupting an episode of Hoarders? Try to keep things uncluttered. Make sure lighting sets the mood—yes, everyone looks good in candlelight, but think properly lighted task areas and retail areas. Obnoxious lighting is a huge turn off.

Keep shelves stocked and make sure your sales floor or office areas are visually appealing and easy to navigate. Are things clearly labeled to guide interaction and give direction? All these things create pluses and minuses, attracting or repelling customers and prospects. In a world filled with distractions, creating a simple, relevant, empathetic experience is important.

Basic training. And beyond. In a market where attracting new talent is tough, training the employees you already have really matters, especially if you’re short staffed. Give them authority to make decisions that will bring quick resolutions to common customer issues. Create language unique to your brand and teach your employees to speak it. Everybody in the Southeast knows which chicken sandwich chain’s staff reply with, “My pleasure.” Differentiate your business by coaching your team with signature responses and empathy. Teach them how to listen for clues in the conversation with customers that will help identify what the customer needs or wants.

Make it personal. SMBs can be guilty of treating digital marketing like cologne—pouring it on for special occasions or using it to overpower inadequacies. Get to know your customers inside and out by doing your research and letting data drive your decisions. Don’t make assumptions. And maybe you don’t need to harness the metaverse to get the conversation started. Around 51% of customers prefer to be contacted by brands through email over any other channel.2 But you have to use it more like texting a friend than Craig’s List.

Remember that time you invited that gym crush to dinner? Yep, everybody heard the proverbial bomb drop when you made that move. That’s how customers and prospects feel when you send mass email campaigns. Data allows you to create campaigns that reach the right people at the right time with the right message. And personalizing email with relevant content based on context (e.g., your customer’s behaviors, where they are at in their lifecycle) makes your message meaningful, and even appreciated, by the customer.

Love Wins. Taking your customers' needs into account is always the right move. Showing up for them in expected and unexpected ways will pay off in long-term loyalty and repeat business.

How have you integrated changes into your business to show your customers love? What’s your favorite place to shop based on the customer experience? Share with the community in this thread.

Be sure to check out the rest from All About Love: