I was recently flying home from a wedding in Costa Rica when our flight was delayed for over an hour. It was already mid-afternoon in Costa Rica so getting home (on a Sunday) was going to be brutal. I was flying JetBlue and have always loved that airline because it truly puts its customers first.
They did that again after this flight delay by offering a $50 voucher for each passenger on our flight that was inconvenienced. To be honest I wasn’t expecting this since flight delays happen all of the time. It made the delay I experienced easier to handle.
So what did I do next? I told everyone about it.
When your customers are happy (or unhappy) with the product or service you provide, they will tell people about it. I immediately told all my friends on Facebook because I was happy to boast about what the company had done for me.
Like a domino effect, others will remember and share the experience with their friends and family.
Based on my experience, here are some tips on providing an outstanding customer experience:
Offer Them a Reason to Come Back: Use incentives to get your customer to return. For example, offer them a discount on their next purchase, or free shipping on their current purchase. You can also offer free gifts with the order.
Engage with Them: If you have an unhappy customer expressing their grievances on social media, tackle it immediately before any further damage is done to your brand’s reputation. On the flip side, engage with the happy ones as well, turning them into brand ambassadors..
Know where they like to hang out online. Are they a Facebook crowd, or do they prefer Instagram and Twitter? Find out and market to them there. Your efforts don’t always need to be product heavy either. It could be a cool meme, a fun quote or anything that grabs their attention. I follow a lot of brands simply because of their of their visual images on social media, making me more open to purchasing their product.
Do You Have a Mobile App?: Mobile apps continue to grow in importance as a customer engagement channel. Make your app experience easy for customers to navigate to increase that engagement level. I personally love my JetBlue app. Its usability is seamless and it helps with booking and flight information, among many other attributes.
Be Nice in Person: When you are addressing a customer complaint in your contact center, be nice and do you best to work with the customer’s needs and wants. I can’t tell you how many times I have remembered a brand simply because of the one-on-one interaction I had with them. It makes it more personal between the customer and the brand.