4 Keys to an Unforgettable Customer Experience Exceptional service goes beyond superficial platitudes and basic hospitality.
By Andrea Olson Edited by Micah Zimmerman
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Despite massive investments of management time and money, customer satisfaction remains a frustrating pursuit in many organizations. Customer experience initiatives frequently fail, and successful teams have a hard time sustaining their performance.
Why is it so hard to build and maintain the capacity to deliver an unforgettable experience? The reasons go much deeper than the commonly cited cause: a failure to execute. The problem with customer experience improvement efforts is rooted in the lack of an understanding of the core elements that are common across all unforgettable experiences.
We conducted a study with 250 customers across major industries about their "most unforgettable service experience," and while they had some amazing stories, they all had the same things in common. No matter what the industry, company or situation, every answer reflected four things:
Related: Don't Talk to Another Customer Until You Learn This Simple Customer Service Secret
1. Genuine
Customers were very discerning about what customer service actions were deemed credible based on the genuineness of the delivery and the relevance to their circumstances. Genuine wasn't simply judged on the sincerity of the service personnel but on their level of empathy, depth of understanding of the situation, and relatability through tone, vocabulary and speaking style.
This means while we want to guide and script customer service or front-facing employee interactions with customers, the ability to understand people, read their tone of voice and body language, identify the broader impact of the issue on their life and effectively connect on an individual level creates a stand-out experience.
2. Meaningful
Even though many company policies focus on providing a refund, replacing a product, or providing a future discount on a purchase, these actions didn't stand out in customers' eyes as much as more meaningful actions. Meaningful actions centered on things that were significant in a way that went beyond the expected standard, such as a refund.
Actions tied to the individual customer's circumstances, whether a time crunch, an emotional life event or a project's success, were considered more meaningful, relevant and memorable. Service representatives who addressed the customer's bigger picture challenge or need in often creative ways consistently created unforgettable experiences.
3. Unexpected
Every respondent's story had a notable element of 'surprise' – both positive and negative. Customers' experiences became memorable stories when they started with a challenge or need but included an unanticipated twist or experience delivered by the customer service agent. This ranged from small things, such as an extra perk, to a downstream follow-up, whether a personal note or another interaction weeks or months later.
Unexpected actions stood out in their minds and were uniquely different from previous experiences they had with other companies, whether in or out of the industry. While these unexpected actions did not need to be large to be significant, they did need to be remarkable compared to perceived expectations.
Related: 10 Reasons Why Good Customer Service Is Your Most Important Metric
4. Proactive
Customer service representatives who acted astutely, identified potential downstream problems and acted to prevent future issues were consistently part of our study respondent's stories. Proactive actions ranged from simple things, like setting up status alerts to follow-up calls or emails to pre-orders and reservations.
Customers who remarked on the proactive actions also noted the knowledge and insight of the service representative on the product they were purchasing and the application they were using it for. Aggressive actions in these cases included sending an extra O-ring because the one that comes with the original product often fails or noting that the customer will need a slip for a dress because it is more see-through than anticipated.
What's an example?
A customer who called Chewy customer service was looking to return a bag of dog food after their beloved pet had passed away, and they forgot to stop the subscription service. The customer explained the situation and even struggled to articulate the circumstances over the phone, as they were still incredibly upset about the loss. While the customer service person could have simply shared their empathy and processed the return, they utilized a genuine, meaningful, unexpected and proactive approach.
The service person told the customer to keep the dog food and donate it to a local shelter and that the customer would receive a full refund. They shared their own story about their pet passing years back, took some time to discuss how they worked through the grieving process and asked the customer to share a photo of her dog. Within two days following the call, the customer received a hand-made painted portrait of her dog and a handwritten note from the service person she had spoken with, sharing her empathy and love. This wasn't just a compelling and heartwarming story but an experience that trended on Twitter for over two weeks.
These core elements — genuine, meaningful, unexpected, and proactive — rarely occur when organizations discuss "customer experience." We discuss and study "best practices". We talk about segmentation, automation, and personalization. We look at our competitors and try to match or one-up them. Instead of the traditional playbook, we should examine how to use these elements to create unforgettable customer experiences to catapult our brand differentiation and ability to compete more effectively.
