With recession knocking on the door, businesses are looking every which way and trying whatever to win the few dollars remaining in fickle consumers’ pocketbooks. They’re slashing prices, enhancing product offerings, and stepping up customer service.
But when it comes down to winning customers, do these measures — taken individually — ensure loyalty? Will a customer return to your studio just because she got a great deal?
From Good to Great
Customer satisfaction drives repeat sales and loyalty — at least it did in the past. But now we’re facing a challenging business environment and economy. Being “satisfactory” isn’t enough to get customers to repeat; it certainly isn’t enough to prompt a compelling endorsement.
How do you go from good to great? By addressing the customer experience, that is, improving every aspect of customer interaction, every touch point.
Before you can do this, you know you’re going to have to understand your customer first. So get paper and pen and answer these questions.
- Who is your customer?
- What kinds of products or services do customers want from your studio? (This is not what you give them, but what they want. Ask them.)
- How can your studio match the customer’s goals? (What will it take?)
- What does the customer expect from the studio?
- What does the customer value?
Create Compelling Customer Experiences
Forrester Research found that customers who have seamless, enjoyable experiences with a company become loyal customers. As relationships form, emotional attachments deepen. And as we know, enjoyment is a strong, positive emotion. Studios that want to create strong emotional bonds would do well to insure customer delight and a pleasant experience while removing potential sources of customer frustration and disappointment. This is no small feat.
Of course Rome wasn’t built in a day. So before you reconstruct your Website to make sure every page engages the customer and provides relevant information, think about the immediate things you can do, like addressing customer service. Do you and your staff answer the phone pleasantly? Greet people by looking them in the eye and by name? Offer a warm drink and snack? Is your service personable? Do people have to wait?
How about the folios and packaging of finished photographs? How can folios — another touch point — be so important? If the packaging doesn’t speak to the customers in their language, then the products inside will be greeted with an equally skeptical eye.
And last, what about your thank you for business? Do you hand write a thank you note on your stationery? This personal, final touch point is so important, and so overlooked.
Everything matters in delivering a seamless, positive experience. Everything.
You can win sales, or you can win customers. Becoming a customer-centric business and focusing on customer touch points will help you win the real prize.
