As a business owner, you believe in what you do. You deliver a better customer experience than you competitors because it’s what you value. You have a personal commitment to customer service. You’re confident about your business because you have good intentions.
Uh oh…
It is our friends who judge us by our intentions, they’re forgiving when we mess up because they like us for who we are. Unfortunately, most customers aren’t friends and they aren’t judging you by your intentions, rather your actions. When a prospective client or customer makes initial contact, do you excel in providing them what they want? Every time? Does your website deliver the experience you would demand if you were on the other side of the equation? Do they meet your best employees on their best day?
Nope. They meet an average employee on an average day. Or worse, they meet a below-average employee on their worst day. And you’re confused by negative reviews…
The website isn’t user-friendly and you haven’t paid attention to it since it was launched 5 years ago. In fact, you got the website launched because of the promise the internet represented at the time, but since then, it hasn’t really delivered so you gave up on it or ignored it.
One of the first and primary jobs a business has is managing customer expectations, but it often falls through the cracks. In fact, Microsoft’s 2015 Customer Service report found that up to 68% of U.S. consumers had stopped doing business with a certain brand due to poor customer service. Even scarier, more than half said they had higher expectations for customer service than they did a year ago.
the graphic was taken from a Microsoft news article. http://www.parature.com/global-customer-service-report/
Businesses can suffer from the reputation of others…but they can also be influenced by the execution of others. The proliferation of instant gratification businesses like Amazon, Netflix, Uber, and others have raised the bar for everyone. Amazon is changing the expectations of pricing, delivery, and variety of consumer goods. Netflix and companies like them are leading many to “unplug” from their traditional media habits. Uber is causing cab companies to look for increased regulation just to keep up. The customer experience is now more immediate than ever before.
In our industry we’re suffering from the reputation of others too. The over-promise and under-delivery of many of the so-called “free” and “low cost” solutions to web design and internet marketing strategy is one we have to spend a lot of time convincing our clients to believe in again.
Wouldn’t it be great if your employees were consistently delivering the experience you’ve always believed in? Wouldn’t it be great if your website delivered the experience that your customers believed in?
Maudience can make that happen.
by Greg Yokanovich
