By Peter Minkoff, UK Correspondent
During the last few months, the way we live and do business has dramatically changed. Everyone you know, including your customers, are focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, trying to keep themselves and their closest ones safe from the disease, while at the same time worrying about the economic impact such a massive crisis will have on their future.
With your customers locked in their houses most of the time, their buyers’ journeys have changed too, while the expectations they have from the brands are only growing higher.
The only way you can stand out from the crowd and keep your business afloat is by providing a stellar customer experience.
Read on for five quick ways how to meet your customers’ expectations during Covid-19.
1. Improve brand experience
To be able to deliver stellar customer experience, you need to provide a recognizable and unique overall brand experience. Your customers need to feel that your brand is part of their lives and that they can connect to it on a deeper, more meaningful level. If the experience they have with your brand is subpar, the customer experience tools you use, won’t be able to give results.
The first step you need to take to improve your CX is to optimize your brand experience by:
- Reassessing the target demographics, values, needs, and goals.
- Show your customers that you share the same set of values.
- Have a unique tone of voice and visual identity that resonates with your target audience and use it consistently across all channels.
- Have a unique and consistent brand etiquette that your employees will use to communicate with your customers effectively.
2. Be available 24/7
Round the clock availability was becoming the norm even before the Coronavirus outbreak, as people want information and solutions to their problems as soon as possible. Companies that are not meeting these expectations will lose their customers, as they will leave them for their competitors, who are always there.
If you still haven’t provided 24/7 availability for your customers, now it’s a perfect moment to implement some of the cost-effective solutions, that won’t put a hole in your budget but will bring your CX to a whole new level.
Instead of a costly traditional phone system, you can opt for VoIP and run an efficient customer support centre on the cloud. A reliable VoIP provider Nextiva offers great tailor-made plans for SMBs and enterprises at affordable prices so that you can provide your customers with information and services at the moment they need it.
And if you can’t staff full-time availability of your customer support team, you can use conversational chatbots that can help your customers find relevant information or solve some of their most common issues themselves.
3. Offer personalized solutions
To boost the satisfaction of your customers during pandemics, but after the crisis too, try to offer personalized solutions to their challenges.
A general message of support won’t matter a lot as it doesn’t recognize the specific customer and their particular problems. If your communications to your customers are tailored and personalized to fit the needs and wants of each one of your customers, your company will stand out from all the others, and your customers will highly appreciate it.
Fortunately, many AI-powered solutions can help you personalized your offers and communications, or provide you with relevant data on your customers, exactly when you need it.
4. Polish your digital presence
For better customer experience, make sure each one of your touchpoints with your customers functions seamlessly and smoothly.
When your customers browse your website, they need to be able to intuitively find the information they need, on any device they use, at maximum speed. Publish some high-quality educational, informative, or entertaining pieces of content on your website, so that a visit to your website adds some value to your customers’ life.
Also, if your business isn’t able to run as usual, by having a strong social media presence, you can boost the engagement of your customers and keep your brand on your customers’ minds.
5. Be helpful
Consider the ways your business can help during these rough times, depending on the industry you’re in. Proving that your business can contribute to society in times of crisis is not only an investment in your brand image but also the right thing to do.
Many companies, such as Kindle, Scribd, Headspace, offered some of their services or educational programs free of charge during the lockdowns, reaching out and showing real support to their existing customers, and attracting new ones who can now try out what these companies offer.
Maybe you can reroute your production to fabricate face masks or devote special hours to keep your elderly costumers safe when shopping or better yet have their products delivered to their doorstep.
These five quick ways will show your customers that you genuinely care for their wellbeing and needs, at improving their customer experience, and their loyalty to your business.
