What is customer experience, and why is it important?
The internet is magical – but for every funny video of homemade face masks, there's an obnoxious, disgruntled customer who shares their displeasure with your product or service with the world.
We can't control feedback, but we can control the experience that leads to it. We need to make our customers' experience unforgettable.
Just not unforgettably bad.
The flow of an experience should look a little bit like this – a person discovers you, interacts, makes a purchase, leaves a positive review and comes back after telling six friends. Sounds simple?
Understanding what customers want to experience
First, we need to know what problem the customer has – you should know this, but if you don't, I'd suggest reading about building your brand's foundations.
First, we need to understand what a customer experience should look like so you can surprise and delight your customers.
Do things they are not expecting. That's how you create something memorable. When you can, personalise the experience. Who doesn't like something personalised? Like when you've sent buy something, and it gets gift-wrapped, or there's a handwritten note. That stuff takes a little effort, but it's worth its weight in gold.
Maybe because I'm in branding, I notice these things, but I keep these ideas as inspiration for projects. And show customers the impact they can have.
For example, I love the experience of buying coffee. And it starts with my first interaction on the website: you can suck me into a purchase with some witty copy, a clear description and a simple process.
About 3 years ago, I ordered beans from Market Lane Coffee, South Yarra, Vic. It came in a brown box with a generic Parcel Post sticker on the front, but they sealed it with custom-printed tape.
Inside were the beans and two pieces of card - one told me all about the coffee, tasting notes and the region it came from.
The other was a thick, brown (recycled) paper postcard printed in black and white with a photo of two coffee farmers. On the reverse were contact details and their logo squeezed into a corner. Leaving ample space for the following message.
"Hello Martin, Hope you enjoy the delicious Hadheso Espresso. Happy Brewing, Love Market Lane Coffee / x."
Now, I understand that they write a similar note with every order. But Market Lane went further to show they were grateful for my purchase.
How can customer experience make a difference for a brand?
A memorable customer experience has the potential to significantly enhance a brand's reputation, making it a key factor in today's competitive market. A memorable customer experience needs to do the following:
- Surprise and delight consumers (mentioned above).
- Be personalised (above again).
- Add value at each touchpoint - even if it's free, you should always add value.
- Be memorable by being authentic as well.
- Anchor it in consistency. From your online experience (website/social media) to your packaging, your face-to-face interactions with people and how you reply to telephone calls/emails.
- Avoid failing expectations. People expect a certain level of service, and when you don't deliver, people get narked.
- Never assume allegiance – you might have used their product for 10 years. They won't expect the quality of the product/service to worsen. They only expect better results.
- Practice gratitude – one of my clients sends out birthday cards, Christmas cards, thank you notes, and the odd freebie when you recommend their service. These are cost-effective ways to add value to their service and show people they care.
- Finally, remember that you need to consistently improve the service. The needs and preferences of your customers are constantly evolving, and so should your customer service.You'll always be continuously doing it, working on feedback and ensuring everything works together to build this fantastic experience.
It's those little details that Market Lane Coffee got right. They surprised me, personalised it, added extra value, made it consistent, avoided failing my expectations, and showed gratitude.
And I can happily say I'd go back again, and I've told all my friends about the experience (that's you, hi!).
It's not the big gestures. The little details make the difference that binds the big things together. I cannot stress that enough.
Instead of meaningless, forgettable, expected experiences, we need to work out journeys that elevate experiences to meaningful, unforgettable, unique and unexpected.
This creates loyal customers who spread the good word. They'll be your ultimate fans. Saving you marketing dollars.
Before you cheer and crack out the Dom Perignon. This task is a continually evolving process to create more brand awareness. There will always be steps to improve, delete and add. This evolving process allows you to see the gaps where the journey is confusing, broken, or missing.
Technique one: Butchers Paper X Sharpie
This technique is comprehensive, but it's the simplest. I use it in branding workshops as it allows you to easily see gaps. Grab a giant sheet of paper. I use a butcher's block, Sharpies, and coloured pens.
On the left, write "customer meet (insert your brand name)". On the right, "customer leaves review".
Now, write out all the steps in between. You might have lots of different ways they meet your brand.
- Phone call
- Opt-in
- Face-to-face meeting
- Website
- Advertisement
- Social Media
- Search engine
It's important not to skip any.
Once you've written down all the first touchpoints. You must think about progressing people from cold to sweaty, hot interactions. You will start seeing actionable touchpoints you need to create, evolve or delete.
When you've worked out what those touchpoints are, you need to analyse them to see if they align with the early work you've put in. Are they communicating the right feelings? Have you used your values to communicate with them?
If it's a phone call, how did it get answered? Is there a set structure? If it were an email, did the touchpoint elicit an emotive response? Is the copy written in your brand's language? What is the tone of voice?
Custom unexpected brand touchpoints
If you want a brownie point, customise obscure steps. Things like quotes, invoices, and 404 pages.
A great example is when the Australian shoe brand Rollies fulfils an online order; the invoice slip they add to the packaging has lines, a cool pattern and instructions so you can fold it into a paper aeroplane.
That is cool. I know it's a bit silly, but how fun is that?
While you hope people don't land on your 404 page regularly, injecting something unexpected is always great. I recommend going to Lego, Star Wars (Star Wars are blocking me from linking to them), or Dribbble and adding shipoopi to their URLS' end. Very fun!
A 404 page isn't just functional to tell people that you are effectively stuffed up. You can use it to redirect people, serve them in new ways, and entertain them.
Another thing you could do is customised packaging outside of the packaging. Don't just put it in a brown box. Put more effort in. If you're environmentally conscious, ask yourself, do I need extra packaging? Is it biodegradable and printed with algae ink?
Are the contents well protected? Is there something else you could do? Could you slip in a thank you card? Have you added stickers?
If you are planning an event, is it on-brand visually? Does the tone of voice match? Is it looking like part of your experience? Ask yourself, are you going far enough? Could you double down and make it even better so that people are like, "This is incredible."
In personal meetings, what's your rhythm? How do people meet you? Do you leave them a package?
How can you make the most mundane process an exciting exchange? That's what we need to work out.
Eventually, you'll come away with a huge to-do list to chip away at and see what happens. I got told recently that the best way to conquer your to-do list is to not have one and enter it straight into your calendar.
Technique two: Cardboard Brand Experience Creator
This is excellent if you're overwhelmed and 'time-poor'. A client of mine told me all about this one – chop up some old bits of cardboard packaging. And using a customer flow of person meets BRAND – a person leaves a review.
On one side, write down the name of the step (email, phone call, etc.) On the other side, write down the message and the tone of voice.
This gives you a satisfying stack of small actionable touchpoints you can chuck in the bin when they are completed. It's a really cathartic exercise with excellent end results. It's way less daunting than having a huge sheet of paper with all these to-dos on it.
Gradually, you'll turn a pile of 10 or 12 different things into zero. Keep chipping away at them and see what happens.
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I love talking through customer experiences and seeing how you can improve them and make them better through little adjustments.
There's always something you can be more on brand with, more engaged with, and really start working your brand into every little orifice of your world.
