How to exceed customer expectations? What is it for? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article. No matter how much customer service you serve, someone will still be dissatisfied - with the product, with you, with the service, pre-sales service, or whatever. How to exceed customer expectations, find out below.
Bad recommendation
Few know how to exceed consumer expectations. So, you have served a lot of customers, but someone was dissatisfied. What does this mean in terms of referral marketing? You will probably get at least one bad recommendation.
And the happy customers? If they got what they expected, they won't want to talk about it. Why, if everything was fine? This problem can be overcome by growing loyal customers.
Three nuances
Every business owner wants to know how to exceed customer expectations. How to grow a loyal consumer? The first thing you can do issurpass anticipation. By time, cost or service. It is “or”, not “and”: do not try to use all three parameters at the same time. Pick one that is more important to your business.
Exceed customer expectations on cost - organize activities so that your customer pays less than expected. This technique can be used in businesses where the buyer is given a pre-calculation of what he must pay for (for example, dentistry or car service).
Beating the customer's expectations on time - always complete a delivery or job faster than they expect. To do this, it is not necessary to turn employees into sprinters. Rather, it is necessary for the buyer to call the time “with a margin”: make a promise to deliver pizza within an hour and deliver it in 45 minutes. much better than promising in 30 minutes. and bring through the same 45.
Exceed expectations in terms of service - this means providing a service that is an order of magnitude higher than the customer expected. For example, give a person who has reserved an economy class taxi a higher class car. Choose what suits you.
Points of contact
Also here you need to be able to think through points of contact. These are any situations, places and interfaces in which the buyer (or potential consumer) comes into contact with the enterprise. We use retail as a sample. From the moment a potential customer sees an advertisement or a store sign to the moment he leaves it and starts using the purchase, he will be in contact with the catalogs, the store,employees, price tags, security, product distribution, consultants, and so on several dozen times.
At every step, something can leave a negative impression, go wrong. And it is very useful to estimate in advance for the buyer at what point in the relationship what can happen, what your customer expects at each stage and what he actually gets.
Here you need to try to reduce the gap between the desired and received feeling at each step of the service.
Feedback
How to listen to the feedback? Unfortunately, customer dissatisfaction cannot be completely avoided. But if the customer still complains, do your best to get them to complain to you first.
Give the grouchy customer a quick and easy way to make demands. Then he will be less tempted to report the problem to friends, acquaintances and relatives.
Do you want to maximize the process of obtaining returns in your business? Use in practice a very useful book by Elena Zolina and Igor Mann “Feedback. Get feedback! It describes many ways to get a return on the buyer's audience.
Bonus
Exceeding what is expected is essential as it will greatly activate recommendations. You need to give more than you promised. Let's have a variety of value added - something that customers don't expect. Some, for example, after the conclusion of the transaction give tickets to the cinema. This, you see, customers do not expect absolutely.
But this is such an attractive bonus that melts the ice between the buyer and the seller and brings them closer together. Such an emotional present.
You can specifically not include something in the contract and present it as a bonus - additional services that you can provide. You can also offer a different professional service by advertising your partners.
Doubts
The biggest risk of a consumer having second thoughts and changing their mind is in the first 24 hours. During this time, you need to convey to him confirmation of the correctness of his choice. In order for the buyer to be very satisfied, you need to give him as much material as possible in his hands.
What can be given besides the contract? You can provide customer testimonials, company summaries, memos, step-by-step guides, other materials, something that he can show his partner, wife, study for himself and make sure that he invested in something embodied.
After all, how are cellular services implemented? In fact, this is a service, and a tiny SIM card is sold, which is only inserted into a smartphone. And what are the parameters of the box for sim cards? There are such impressive packages that in comparison with a SIM card they are 100 times larger. This is an example of how a service that is impossible to touch can be packaged in such a box that it is of great value to the buyer.
Additional strokes
You can also send supportive letters to your clients both by e-mail and by regular mail. The first option costs nothing, but this way you reinforce the confidence of customers in the right choice. content,posted in these messages may be identical to the one you give to customers.
Also, additional calls to the buyer will greatly influence the positive attitude towards you, through which you will be reminded of what else needs to be done and how. Your secretary or assistant can call.
The final extra touch is a personal "thank you" in addition to the written one. This word is very simple to say, but it is magical.
Benefits of the approach
What does the phrase "exceed expectations" mean? Its synonyms are amazing - “plug it in the belt”, “wipe your nose”, “be different, like heaven from earth”, “take away the palm”, “be a head higher”, “get ahead” and so on. It is easy to give odds to expectations. Let it sound categorical, but we are in a world of mediocrity. Therefore, it is not so difficult to stand out. However, what prospects will open before you!
When you please and surprise your customers, you give them positive emotions. This helps to build long-term relationships, increases the possibility of repeat sales and leads to an increase in CLV (customer lifetime value). And CLV is one of the most important ratios for business.
According to RJMetrics testing from 2015, the most successful eCommerce businesses three years after the first steps of the project receive the majority of their profits from secondary purchases. Loyal customers are a strategic source for their development.
A customer who has a positive experiencecooperation with the company:
- Makes secondary purchases more often.
- Spends more (above average check).
- Recommends you to friends and acquaintances, reducing your customer acquisition costs.
Each of these indicators is valuable in itself. And even more so in a bunch.
