5 Common Misconceptions About Customer Experience

Delivering an amazing service experience is certainly the top priority of every business these days. However, in order to create a delightful customer experience, you need to place your clients’ needs and satisfaction ahead of everything. Many businesses invest more in acquiring clients than spending on offering an exceptional service to retain them. There are companies that believe customer service is limited to one department. These are misconceptions that result in bad service and consequently loss of customers. While acquiring clients is certainly important for the growth of a business, retaining existing ones is not only cost effective but it also helps you get word of mouth referrals. Frontline and support staff are the ones directly handling customers most of the time, however to keep clients happy and contented, you have to incorporate a client-centric culture throughout your organization so that all departments collaborate towards customer satisfaction. Have a look at some other misconceptions about customer experience!

Service Experience Starts After Sale

Every business should focus on understanding potential clients’ needs and expectations before selling to them. It is a common misconception that service experience begins after a sale. It starts the moment a prospect enters your store or lands on your website. So you should focus on managing the needs of your clients right from the beginning; greet them in a special way to make them feel warmly welcomed, address their queries in detail to show them your willingness to facilitate them and even if some of them don’t buy anything from you, thank them and stay in touch on a regular basis.

Discounts and Low Prices are Enough to Please Customers

Customers love discounts and low prices but this is not the only thing that will keep them coming back to you. What they really value during a shopping experience is how you make them feel. They are willing to pay more for a better service experience. So even if a brand has high product prices and it does not offer frequent discounts or flash sales to its clients but exceeds their expectations by delivering efficient service every time and amazes them with a memorable experience, they will prefer that brand over the one that just offers low prices or discounts.

Few or No Complaints Mean Happy Clients

Another common misconception is that few or no complaints means a business has happy clients. Ruby Newell Legner in her book “Understanding Customers” has stated that “A typical business hears from 4% of its dissatisfied clients.” Most unhappy clients don’t complain to the business about their negative experience but they share them with their friends, acquaintances and loved ones. So if you are not receiving any complaints that doesn’t necessarily mean your clients are not having negative experiences, you should reach out to them and ask for their feedback.

Assuming that One Solution Works for Every Customer

Every customer is different from the other and hence you can’t handle their needs and issues using a “one size fits all” approach. Proposing the same solution to various service issues would not be acceptable to every client. For instance, if you have two complaints regarding a damaged product, both of them should be dealt according to the expectations of both the clients since one might agree on replacing the product while the other would want another solution. While dealing with service issues, personalize your communication with clients and handle every problem using a different approach.

More Money and Efforts Should be Invested in Marketing than Customer Service

Spending money, time and resources on marketing campaigns would surely help you in engaging prospects, acquiring more clients and increasing sales. But assuming that more budget and efforts should be invested in marketing than customer service is a wrong notion. Offering your clients stellar service would turn them into brand advocates and they are likely to recommend your business to others, thus resulting in free word of mouth marketing for you. Therefore, invest in marketing but make sure you use your budget and efforts in making your service standards higher as well.