Do you hear it? The soft sleigh bells ringing off in the distance? The holiday season is here, and with it, my annual reminder to level up your organization’s customer experience. Your mission? To delight and wow customers at every touchpoint.
Give customers a great experience, and they’ll buy more, be more loyal, and share their experience with friends. Yet, practically everyone has had a bad customer experience at some point. Maybe a sales representative was less than “merry” over the phone, or perhaps getting answers to a common question was harder than expected. When these things happen, they leave a lasting impression of how you feel about the brand and make you reluctant to do business with it again.
Call it an experience disconnect: companies tout the latest technology, innovative product, or snappy design, but haven’t focused on the most meaningful aspects of customer experience.
What makes for a good experience? Speed. Convenience. Consistency. Transparency. Competency. Friendliness. Authenticity. Kindness. Personalization.
When guests experience these things, they begin to trust you to deliver good service repeatedly. Once you’ve earned this trust, you must do everything in your power to keep it.
This holiday season, I urge you to prioritize consistency and convenience in customer service by providing reliable, predictable, and high-quality service at every interaction. This, in turn, will create trust — a network of loyal customers who return to you because they feel appreciated and cared for.
People-first interactions build real relationships.
In my experience, the No. 1 thing that gets customers to come back is the people. Helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly employees are your biggest drivers of experience. Sadly, I think many of us have lost touch with the human element of customer experience.
While other brands offer up purely transactional exchanges this season, what if you invested in meaningful person-to-person relationships to build trust? In today’s tech-forward world, human interaction matters even more. Organizations should find ways to spread holiday cheer with a human touch — that is, creating real connections by giving employees what they need to create better customer experiences.
Here are a few ways you can empower your team to create lasting customer loyalty this season:
- Put your people first. Remember, happy employees create happy customers. When staff members feel valued and supported, they naturally provide better service.
- Surprise and delight: Small gestures make the biggest impact. Stand out by surprising customers with extra service they don’t expect: offering a warm hello, remembering a guest’s name or order preference, holding the door for a customer, etc.
- Spread joy: Lean into the magic of the season and let your teams unleash their inner elf. Gift children a candy cane, let your people wear Santa hats or Christmas bells (if they want), or empower them to name a random customer the winner of something special.
- Fine-tune your processes: Repetition builds familiarity, and familiarity builds trust. Review your customer-facing processes and streamline any hiccups that could prevent your employees from delivering inspired service consistently this season (scripting can help here, especially if you tailor it to the holiday).
- Eliminate the hassle: Convenience is a competitive differentiator. When the experience is convenient — hassle-free and with low friction — the customer’s reception of “service” is better.
Good customer experience leaves people feeling heard and appreciated. It minimizes friction, maximizes efficiency, and is unequivocally human. The holiday season represents a unique chance for your team to stand out long after the decorations come down.
By building trust, maintaining consistency, and refining processes for convenience, you create relationships your customers can count on.
Want to be more EFFECTIVE? Follow us on the journey:
- Follow us on TWITTER: @DonnellyEffect
- Follow us on LINKEDIN: Donnelly Effect & Mike Donnelly
- SPARKS! Blog: Subscribe on the upper right hand side of this page =)
Mike Donnelly is a recognized expert, keynote speaker, facilitator and consultant in customer service and leadership development. Leveraging 20+ years of experience from The Walt Disney Company, he and his team help destination location clients and clients in various customer-facing industries create customer loyalty to achieve positive business results. Learn more at www.DonnellyEffect.com.
