Any business has one common factor that they have to keep satisfied at all times: Their customers. No matter how well your business is set up, or how unique or cheap your product is, if you can’t find a way to be kind, helpful, and patient with your customers, chances are high that your business won’t last that much longer. Ensuring customer satisfaction, however, isn’t easy to do. Even though you are kind to them, if you have promised them their product will arrive in 3 to 5 days, kindness isn’t going to help you if the product hasn’t arrived after two weeks.
To me, customer service can be defined as the assistance and support provided by a business to its customers before, during, and after a purchase or transaction. From this definition, we can conclude that ensuring customer satisfaction is more about the overall customer experience. Today I will talk a little bit more about what kind of parts of your business are all important for the overall customer experience, and how I structured my business processes to make sure our customers will be our top priority.
The importance of optimizing every touchpoint
Creating a great customer experience should always be your top priority. It’s all about making customers happy from start to finish. For that to be possible, there are various parts of a business that work together to ensure the customer has a pleasant journey. whether it’s the products that are delivered on time, providing further assistance, or making sure the products are of the best possible quality, these are all different departments that work together to make the customer’s experience outstanding. Let’s take a closer look and see which parts of your business need to be set up in a way it benefits your customer, and how I structured each of these for SensoriumArte.
Marketing and advertising
This one might be unexpected to some people, but it’s the start of the customer experience and their first touchpoint with your brand. Therefore, it needs to be a good one. A first impression can decide whether people want to go investigating further, or just scroll through to the next piece of content. For SensoriumArte, I have tried to create 3 different viewpoints for my content, each of them dedicated to a different platform. The reason for this is that I want to make sure that I will provide the right piece of content to the right audience so that they enjoy it and might want to tag along to see more.
The process leading up to the sale
This step is very important, but different for each business. For a marketing agency, getting the sale requires (perhaps multiple) sit-downs with the potential client to discuss if the service they offer can help the potential client. I’d say that this is a more process, as it takes preparation, communication skills, and giving the person a great offer.
For e-commerce brands, this part of the customer experience is a bit different. Most of the time as a business, you don’t interact with the customer here. It’s about the customer browsing on your website, looking for a product that fits their wants and needs. With SensoriumArte, I have tried to make the website as user-friendly as possible. This means that I have created an intuitive customizer, where the consumer can easily navigate through all the steps required to make their unique, one-of-a-kind soundwave art piece. I believe that the process leading up to the sale should be as smooth as possible.
Product delivery & quality assurance
Once the order has been placed, or the offer has been accepted, it’s time to deliver. For a product, it is important to always deliver the best possible product. This means that you have to do everything you can to make sure that your products are of the best quality. Do random checks once in a while to see if the quality from your supplier is still up to standard. It is important to not get complacent here. All the trust you’ve built before the sale will most likely disappear when you can’t deliver a solid product. For SensoriumArte, we have tested multiple suppliers to see which one has the best quality. We went for museum-quality prints that stay in great condition for a very long time. We also try to go a step further by using 50% recycled packaging, and the wood that’s used for the frames comes from renewable forests. As you can see, it takes some effort to set everything up, but it is to ensure that the customer is satisfied with their delivery.
For a service, this is all about delivering what you promised. Don’t overpromise and underdeliver, as that is what kills a business.
Shipping & logistics
Once the product has been packed and is ready to go, the logistics parts continue by arranging the shipping. A vital part of this shipping process is that you communicate with your customer regarding the shipping process and the estimated time of arrival. You need to make sure that this looks similar to the promises you made on your website. Providing a track & trace usually works well for the customer in providing the information they need.
With SensoriumArte, we have set the process up in a way that the company that creates the product also ships it to the customer. With different warehouses across the world, we can provide the customer with fairly quick shipping times considering we only offer unique products that need to be made separately for each order.
Post-purchase customer service
Finally, it’s time for post-purchase customer service. For me personally, the difference between a good business and a great business is how they handle this part of the customer experience. It is easy to think that the customer has made their purchase anyway, so it doesn’t matter how they feel about our brand at this point. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make, for a few reasons.
First of all, it is proven to be less expensive to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one. Secondly, customer loyalty is something that is highly underestimated. Building a relationship with your customer can be so key. Not only because you try to provide them with a good experience, but also because it will become more likely for them to talk about your company with their clients.
All in all, the post-purchase process should still be aimed toward keeping clients satisfied. To ensure I can do this on my own, mainly because I want to interact as much with my customers as possible to get to know them, I have written a very extensive SOP template as well as a document that has all the potential questions that a customer might ask in there, and the answer is written below them. Both of these will make sure that I am able to get back to every customer as quickly as possible, with no real difficulty in providing them with the correct answer. I always recommend being prepared for this sort of thing. If you get an unexpected call from a customer with some difficult questions, it won’t look good if you aren’t able to answer them.
In conclusion, ensuring customer satisfaction is a vital aspect of any business. Regardless of how unique or affordable your product or service may be, if you fail to be kind, helpful, and patient with your customers, the longevity of your business may be at risk. However, keeping customers satisfied is not easy to do. Even if you are courteous, it won't make up for a delayed delivery or a subpar product.
To me, customer service encompasses the assistance and support provided by a business throughout the entire customer journey. It goes beyond individual interactions and focuses on creating an overall positive experience. Each part of the business plays a significant role in achieving this goal. I have structured SensoriumArte in a way where the customer always comes first, and is ensured to hopefully have an experience that is as pleasant as they want it to be.
