5 Ways to Create a Positive Customer Experience

When you think of your marketing, do not stop at your outside advertising and promotions. Although these things are very important, in your marketing efforts remember to also take into account some other simple things that can yield great results.

Here are 5 ways your business can begin creating a more positive and memorable customer experience. The bonus:  these things are relatively free to execute!

1. Fragrance: The sense of smell is a huge memory trigger. If your store has a signature fragrance, it will remain in their minds. This can be as simple as lighting a candle or burning fragrance oil. Vary the scent toward the mood you want to create. (i.e. sultry, clean, lively, or understated)
2. Music: Music can change a mood faster than anything! Make sure the music you are playing is reflecting the type of emotions you want your customers to feel while in your store and remain true to your brand image.
3. Samples: Sampling will allow your customer to imagine what it would be like to own your product. Encourage your customers to try on clothes or jewelry, sample the perfume, or have a taste of a new dessert.
4. Greet your customers: No one wants to be bombarded by a sales person when they walk through the door, but being met with a warm, cheerful smile and greeting can do wonders to set the tone! I have walked into stores countless times and have been met with a disgruntled employee. Despite the merchandise, the mood has already been set.
5. Gain a piece of information about your customers: Ask your customers what their names are and learn them! Ask any number of questions (without being over-bearing and annoying, of course)…Are they local? Have they been in the store before? Are they shopping for something special? Make mental notes of each piece of information you gather to remember next time they come in. It will make your customers feel so special when you remember them next time.

Feel free to add your tips and suggestions of other ways businesses can create a positive customer experience.

What is Your Customer REALLY Buying?

Steak, a new sweater, perfume, sunglasses, a bottle of wine, a new computer…. Retail and restaurant industry professionals could create a list that would never end of “things” their customers buy. However, I would argue there is one thing that ties each of these purchases together and that is the customer experience. Successful business professionals know that their customer wants far more than the immediate product you are offering. They want to feel good and take in the entire experience. Can mostly everyone buy a steak from the grocery store and cook it themselves at home? Of course. At the same time, do people go out and buy a filet for $35 and up? Most definitely. The defining factor in that seemingly “counter-intuitive” purchase is the experience.

I don’t even know how many times I have purchased something, brought it home, and wondered why I bought it. For some reason, it just didn’t have the same appeal as it did while I was in the store. I was buying into the experience.

A great example of a store that knows how to create a customer experience is Bath and Body Works. From the smells, to the decorations and displays, they really know how to get customers caught up in the experience, ambiance, and design of their stores. For this reason (as well as phenomenal branding) Bath and Body Works can demand premium prices for their body care. If Bath and Body Works products suddenly became available at Wal-Mart all the appeal would be lost. People would no longer be willing to pay $10 and up for their favorite shower gel. The price of the product is justified because of the experience the customer receives when shopping at their stores.

How to begin optimizing your customer’s experience:

1) Find out what your specific customers are really buying. Ask yourself what your customer is experiencing when they walk in your door.

2) Talk to your customers. Get feedback from them. Ask them how they feel. More than likely, they will be pleased to help out since you are taking a sincere interest in their opinions.

3) Do not suffer from “tunnel vision.” Gain a clear picture of what is really going on and how it can be improved. Heed the feedback you receive with an open mind.

4) Get your employees on board. Every employee is marketing your business and playing a key role in your customer’s experience.

Your Business Positioning Statement and Why It’s Important

A positioning statement is vital to any retail store, restaurant, and entertainment-based business since it defines who you are and what makes you different from your competition. Basically, this statement feeds your marketing messages and becomes a vital part of how you promote yourself. Businesses that are selling in a highly competitive field or offering similar products and services will deteriorate without one. This can be attributed to the following reasons:

-    If you do not position yourself and communicate that position, your customer WILL do it for you. Like it or not, you already have a position. This may or may not be the opinions you would like them to have, but the formation of  those opinions is inevitable
-    The companies that try to be “everything to everyone” become “nothing to no one.”
-    Your positioning statement gives your company focus and without a solid focus, chaos exists.
-    Your company is already being perceived. Companies that win know how to influence that perception and turn it into positive differentiations.

Creating the statement is done through thoughtfully answering the following questions:
(1)    Who are we?
(2)    What do we do?
(3)    Who is our customer?
(4)    What needs do those customers have?
(5)    Who are we competing against?
(6)    What’s different about us?  -or- What is our key benefit?
(7)    Why is that benefit important to your customer?

Once you have a grasp on the answers to those questions ask yourself, “Is this positioning statement matching the position that already exists in the minds of my customers? If not, make that your goal to alter your communication and take small steps to bridging that gap. If so, congratulations! You are on the right track.