Guest article by Brooke Cade

Today, social media and other digital platforms are allowing brands a unique opportunity to connect and communicate with their customers in a way to get their voices heard. Instead of simply talking at clients, businesses can now talk with them—which, as more millennials are becoming consumers, is the best way to connect and build authentic relationships with them. Because authentic relationships are becoming more important when interacting with your customers, social media helps to open the conversation and allows companies to actively engage and strengthen those professional relationships. This is why it is important to collect as much customer data as you can through cdp (customer data platforms) to that you can strengthen your professional relationship more with your customers.

To help you provide customers with a positive experience, here are five simple steps to implement:

1) Be Proactive

The more you can anticipate the wants and needs of your customers, the better service you can provide according to those needs and desires. To better anticipate their needs, listen to your customers and reflect on their personal experiences, evaluate which tactics you could implement today to provide better service and review which marketing plans are most effective in order to help customers understand your brand’s objective.

As you are more proactive in making positive changes to further serve your customers, I guarantee you’ll see a greater ROI from your efforts not only in revenue but in customer loyalty. You could also consider learning about the customer journey and how you can attract more customers. There are many sites that will give you help and advice on a customers journey.

2) Be Empathetic

Relate to your clients through empathy. This is one of the best I have found to give your customers better support and service. Enhance the customer experience on your website by creating a user-friendly site which allows customers to move through the checkout (or download) process with ease.

Make your site more visually appealing and helpful to not only lower the bounce rate on your site but to optimize your site to improve customer engagement and interaction. While you take time to provide customers with the best service or quality products, be sure to ask them to participate in surveys and online reviews. Not only will this help you to improve your customer experience tactics, but will also help to increase your clients’ trust and loyalty in your brand.

As you understand your customer more, along with their individual wants and desires, you can design and share specific sales, promotions, and even product recommendations just for them. This is important because specialized promotions and personalized engagement can make your customer’s feel like you care about them and what they have to say.

3) Empower Your Employees

Your employees are the face of your company and the ones your customers are interacting with daily. Equip your employees with the training, tools, and resources to not only provide your customers with superior service and efficiency but to help them to go above and beyond the customer’s expectations.

Encourage your employees to provide feedback to managers and executives to find ways to continuously improve the customer experience. I would also recommend encouraging your employees to share approved company content (such as from the company blog) on their social media platforms to further promote your brand and boost engagement. This is also a good time to train employees how to respond to negative reviews or comments from irate customers in a positive, professional manner. Not only will this empower your employees, but it will also serve as a sign to clients that your staff is passionate about your product or service.

4) Collect and Consider Customer Feedback

Here are a couple of questions to consider: how do your customers feel about your products or services? Are they continuously satisfied with their experience? Do they talk with their friends and family about your company in a positive manner?

You can’t simply assume how your customers are feeling or what they need from your company; you have to take the time to ask them. If you never gather feedback, you’ll never know what adjustments need to be made or how to improve the experience your customers receive.

5) Go Above and Beyond

You want your company to stand out from your competition and one way to do that is by always looking for new ways to improve and provide your customers with a great experience. As you continue to improve the customer experience and the way you serve your customers, the stronger your company will stick in their minds as a brand that goes above and beyond to meet their needs and one they’ll keep coming back to again and again.

Remember that you’re not simply attempting to outshine your competitors. I have found these five customer experience tips to be helpful in improving every aspect of your business and marketing plan to further grow your business and continue to exceed customer expectations.

About the Author: Brooke Cade is a freelance writer who’s committed to helping businesses and sales professionals build stronger connections with their customers. In her spare time, she enjoys learning more about InMoment.com—her CX platform of choice—reading books/articles on industry news, engaging on twitter, and exploring her local neighborhood coffee shop.