Customer service and customer experience are often used interchangeably, however, not all customers who receive a service have a good experience.
Customer service is something that is provided to you, anyone and anything could deliver that. This could be when you’re on the phone with your telecom provider, chatting with an automated web chat, paying your groceries or checking in to a hotel.
While all the providers deliver customer service, you can either have a horrific or memorable experience. The customer experience is the whole journey you’re taken on by the company, from the first moment of contact- to the delivery and aftercare. It is the feeling you get while you’re interacting with all channels of the brand.
We all know examples of bad customer service, and we know how it makes us feel: not understood and often frustrated. But how can we make sure that the customer’s journey is an enjoyable ride that they want to take over and over again?
First and foremost, the ride has to be a user-friendly one, any bump can throw your customer off and right into the hands of your competitor. True user experience (UX) goes far beyond giving the customer what they say they want. There must be a seamless merging of all aspects of your product/service, which starts from the first moment your customer interacts with your product/service, until after the payment is completed.
The UX process can be applied to both digital and physical products, such as websites, mobile apps, cars, pamphlets, fitness equipment etc.
To map out the user’s journey- we need to make sure that we find out it is going to be worth it to buy the experience, by asking:
• Is the final destination desirable? (Market research)
• Is the destination findable? (SEO, marketing, social media)
• Is the road to get there accessible? (IT)
• Would it be useful to get there? (Market research)
• Would you be able to convince people to take the ride? (Sales/marketing)
All the attributes together determine if the end product is valuable, and when they are all in sync with each other, we talk about great user experience.
But user experience is only a small part of the customer experience. The user experience (UX) is the customer’s experience with a specific product or service of the overall brand, while the whole brand including all its channels and the feeling the customer gets while interacting, is the customer experience (CX).
Leading companies understand that they are in the customer experience business, and they understand that how an organisation delivers for customers is beginning to be as important as what it delivers.
McKinsey published their insights on key aspects of how to improve the customer’s experience.
The conclusion: move from touchpoints to journey.
But where does this journey start?
The answer is: right in the heart of the organisation, at the management level. The management task begins with considering the customer—not the organisation—at the centre of the exercise.
Management should consider taking the following 3 steps to improve the customer experience:
- See the world as the customer does during all touchpoints of interaction. Identify with the customer and understand their journey to the complete, end to end experience.
- Shape interactions, digitise processes and refine new approaches in the field.
McKinsey’s report describes that one tool leading customer experience players deploy is behavioural psychology, used as a layer of the design process. - Structure the organisation, align all departments and measure outcomes of what the customers are saying.
As we all know, great customer experience goes hand in hand with customer loyalty. However, it also makes employees happier, achieves revenue gains of 5 to 10 %, and reduce costs by 15 to 25% within two or three years. But it takes patience and guts to train an organisation to see the world through the customer’s eyes and to redesign functions to create value in a customer-centric way.
Luckily, all Victory Offices’ corporate receptionists and managers are highly trained in delivering
6-star customer service so you can focus on every other step of your customer’s journey.
Our 6 star front of house staff won’t only answer the phone in a professional manner on your behalf, you can also decide where we direct that phone call to ( e.g. your mobile/voicemail). However, if you don’t want the call to be redirected, we can write down the details and message of your customers, and forward that message through to your email.
But that’s not all, other secretarial services we offer to make your life easier are (not limited to):
• Mail/package handling
• Local envelope delivery
• Meeting & greeting your clients with a cappuccino, latte, T2tea or water
• Binding
• Laminating
• Printing & scanning
• Diary management
• Witness in document signage
• Minute taking in meetings
• Assisting in organising your events
• Organising your flights and accommodation
• Writing your happy birthday/Christmas/thank you cards
• Buying (Christmas) gifts for your clients
• Other admin duties as required
Would you like to find out what else we can do to help your business succeed?
We’d love to hear from you! So give us a call, send us an email, or better still- come in for a coffee, have a tour, and meet our lovely team!