At some point or another, we all have had steller (and not-so-stellar) customer experiences. As consumers, we tend to forget the standard, mediocre day-to-day customer service experiences. However, most of us remember the ones that made a difference for us, whether it was positive or negative. Here at Mentor, our mission is to help empower both brands and consumers by turning as many negative customer experiences as we can into positive ones. When customer experience is done right, it’s a win-win for everyone. Here are the 3 key principles brands should follow to create an excellent customer experience every time.
1 – Make the customer feel seen and heard.
You know that phrase, the customer is always right? In most cases, it’s true. As frustrating as it is to have a high maintenance customer, you never know the power of an unhappy customer until it’s too late. Unhappy customers often go to social media, Yelp, or their friends and family to talk negatively about a poor customer experience they had with a business. Unfortunately for brands, those reviews are powerful. A report from Nielsen found that 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family over any other type of advertising. Brands need to find a way to turn negative customer experiences into positive ones before customers jump ship.
Luckily, Mentor was built to help brands do this very thing. With Mentor, all a customer has to do when a problem arises is scan a QR code displayed in-store to leave their feedback. Then, the Mentor platform does the heavy lifting of qualifying and prioritizing feedback. Your customer success team can then follow up with customers directly or contact a store manager to address issues immediately. This process not only gives your business an opportunity to fix a customer issue – but to turn this experience into something positive. Brand loyalists are made through personalized, positive interactions between brands and consumers.
2 – Respond to customer concerns directly and quickly.
In the world of Amazon Prime and same-day delivery, instant gratification is basically a requirement among consumers today. The sooner you can react to a customer request, the better. Mentor’s AI-powered and patented technology analyzes customer sentiment by qualifying responses as positive, negative, or neutral. Tickets are then created and prioritized so your customer success team can make swift decisions on whether they need to contact a customer directly.
Direct customer communication is one of the reasons Mentor is working for businesses. You can follow up to customer concerns directly via SMS, email, or a phone call, allowing for a direct touchpoint between brand and buyer. Chatbots and automated phonecalls may work in the short term, but they don’t compare to the one-on-one interaction that comes when there’s a human to human connection. Modern Litho stated that “The brands who are most successful at engaging new customers and keeping them engaged are talking and acting like a human being.” Mentor gives your customers – and your brand – a voice and allows for an authentic customer experience to take place.
3 – Remain consistent across locations.
There’s a reason why Chick-fil-A – despite being closed on Sundays and sacrificing about $1 billion yearly as a result – is ranked as the number one fast-food chain in America. They’re the masterminds of building an unparalleled customer experience across all of their locations. A simple “My Pleasure” goes a long way when it becomes a brand staple that customers can depend on hearing at every Chick-fil-A across America.
This type of brand consistency begins from a company’s leadership team, but it becomes standard when a company has the means to keep it a top priority. With a customer experience solution like Mentor, you can collect, track, and analyze feedback from multiple locations to ensure brand consistency at all times. Whether you need incident-based statistics or overarching data, Mentor lets you measure it all. A brand that people can depend on is a brand that consumers will return to and become engaged fans for years to come.
Creating amazing customer experiences is a powerful way to engage your customers and bring them into your business model in deeper and more meaningful ways. If you’re looking to expand your customer experience potential, reach out to us today and see how Mentor can bring your customer experiences to the next level.