Last week, Twitter erupted when a restaurant-goer shared an image of the rather unusual cheese and biscuit selection brought to her restaurant table. Whilst she expected to receive a traditional plate of savoury crackers to accompany her cheese selection, she was instead presented with sweet sugary biscuits. This incident teaches us far more than just to steer clear of cheese and chocolate biscuits. It also acts as a reminder that sometimes businesses don’t quite deliver what their customers expect.
With the ever increasing use of online technology, social media, and instant access to information, we are functioning in a very different business environment from days gone by. Misconceptions amongst customers can be easily avoided but can also quickly escalate. Consumers have a stronger voice than ever before thanks to the social and digital revolution, so knowing how to maximise customer satisfaction has never been more important.
Understand customer expectations
In our digital era, customers will talk about your business online regardless of whether they are encouraged to, as with the recent Bree and Bourbons saga so perfectly highlights. Where a call to customer service was a one-to-one interaction, consumers’ feedback is now very much in the public domain. The only way you can really know how your customers expect to engage with your business is to ask them directly, helping you gain insight to improve customer experience programmes and marketing strategies. Social networks, as well as a number of emerging online reviews platforms, enable direct communication between consumers and brands.
Respond to feedback
Engaging customers through honest, transparent communication tools such as review platforms can leave businesses open to criticism. As a business it is impossible to keep all of your customers happy all of the time so criticism is going to come your way at some point. However feedback is undeniably something brands are better off embracing than shying away from. Our Trust Economy research shows that 15 per cent of consumers would actually be more likely to shop with a company where online complaints have been successfully resolved. People accept that mistakes happen and expectations aren’t always met. The real test for your business is how you respond.
Personalise the experience
Not every customer expects the same thing from your business and everyone will respond slightly differently to a sub-par experience. Seventy five per cent of customers would return to a business that delivers personalised content. Harnessing unstructured data (gleaned through social media, online reviews etc) is a great way for your business to embrace personalisation: tools such as location tagging can help you collect insightful data, such as reviewer demographics and preferences, whilst unstructured data can provide your business with an honest and constant stream of information to analyse. This all helps you to better segment your market to tailor customer service and build customer loyalty programmes to cement trust amongst your customer base. Personalisation helps create strong brand advocates, helping you to make sure you are keeping up to speed with changing customer demands and delivering what they expect from you in real time.
Whilst last week’s cheese and biscuits news certainly hasn’t caused lasting damage to that particular restaurant, it does remind us of the importance of making sure you understand and meet the experiences your customers expect you to deliver. Consumers hold the power to shape a brand’s consumer reputation in this new Twitter-fuelled world and the power of your customers’ word-of-mouth makes your business part of a wide circle of influence. Being aware of the risks and opportunities associated with your customers’ experiences and expectations has never been more important.
By Jillian Falconi, VP Marketing at Trustpilot.
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