How to Improve Customer Experience for Your SMB

To run a successful SMB, your customer’s experience is everything. Ensuring a smooth customer journey helps you to build trust, develop customer loyalty, win endorsements, and maintain a happy team.

According to digital marketing expert Neil Patel, 71 per cent of consumers have ended their relationship with a company due to poor customer service. Have you ever wondered about how to use data to improve customer service? We’ve gathered a few key tactics you should be using to measure, and improve, customer experience for your SMB.

1. Study your customer reviews

Customer reviews provide a wealth of information that’s often overlooked. It’s worthwhile to collect, summarize and act on this information. Reviews may reveal defects with a product, shortcomings with a service provider, or legitimate suggestions about your customer journey. This is an opportunity to optimize the customer’s experience and show them you’re listening.

There are many online tools that will track star or number ratings, but a qualitative analysis of feedback will be a much better measure of your success. Try creating a simple spreadsheet categorized by product or service. This allows you to easily search recurring phrases and identify persistent issues. Struggling to get customer feedback?

Here are some tips on asking for reviews.

2. Survey your team

Your people are your most important asset. If your team believes in what you’re doing, chances are good that customers will too. It’s important to invest in your staff to make sure they have strong product knowledge, but also to get community feedback. One way to do this is by using one of many popular survey tools to collect responses. You can ask about desired training, feedback on products, or even work culture. Chances are that your team knows how to improve customer experience. Staff will also appreciate feeling heard. As they say, treat employees as you want them to treat customers.

3. Launch a customer loyalty program

A loyalty program is another helpful way to improve customer experience. It makes them feel appreciated and ensures retention — this is crucial because it’s about seven times more expensive to acquire new customers than to retain existing ones. A loyalty program allows you to gather data and increase revenue by promoting and rewarding purchases. Most often, SMBs provide points or perks for dollars spent. Another option is to offer to donate to a local charity of your customer’s choosing when they reach a certain amount of spend. Helping the community makes them feel good about shopping with you.

4. User experience tests

When looking at how to improve customer experience, user experience or UX tests are key. This is a simple and inexpensive way to gather data about your customer journey. Think of a UX tester sort of like a secret shopper — only digital. First, assign a group of testers. They can be staff or volunteers. Ask them to complete a purchase on your website and take notes about the process. Often, the small bugs that discourage the average customer are overlooked by those working for the business every day. Can the customer find their store location? Was the product out of stock? Was it clear when they could pick up their purchase? These are the specifics that make a customer experience smooth. Collect the feedback and give it to your website designer or customer support team for enhancements.

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