Lifestyle: Business - How to Make the Customer Experience in Your Business Unforgettable

‘Unforgettable’ is such an arbitrary word. Good or bad experiences can be ‘unforgettable.’ They can be glib or profound. They can lead to recommendations (free advertising and more business), or they can be warnings that can kill your brand.

However, in the realm of customer experience, it is easier to work ‘unforgettable’ into their vocabulary, and there’s simply one word you should always remember: surprise.

Surprise cuts through the routine and brings fun to an otherwise boring day. It can make disappointment forgettable. It allows you to create, strengthen, and reward loyalty. Best of all, it gets you talked about.

Therefore, don’t forget to connect your unforgettable customer experience back to your brand. The last thing you want to hear is “Unforgettable! Except I can’t remember which company it was…”

Use the experience wisely; communicate your brand’s values; appreciate their patronage; introduce new product or service or endorser; raise interest in an old one.

Question: when is it best to create an unforgettable customer experience?

- When you first open your store?
- When they first walk in the door?
- After they’ve made their first purchase?
- When they’ve entered your contest for the first time?
- On their 10th visit? Third purchase? Second contest?
- When they subscribe to your email list or loyalty program?
- When they blog/tweet about you or like your page on Facebook?

The fact is, you can make any moment unforgettable, at any time, in any stage of your customer loyalty ladder, even online. Depending on whether you want to bump up a ‘prospect’ (not yet bought) to customer (bought once), or from ‘supporter’ to ‘advocate,’ you can recruit, reward, incentivize, or simply reach out to a great, surprising effect.

How easy or hard is it to make an experience unforgettable? Well, let me answer that with another question: how well do you know your customer? We answer this question in another blog post, to help you with writing your customer satisfaction survey.

As always, I would still recommend a full Customer Experience Management consultation. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or inquiries! MP :)