Inventrak Blog

You hear the term "Customer Experience" more and more frequently these days. Writers, businesspeople and bloggers like myself have been telling you repeatedly to enhance your customer experiences if you want to thrive in the face of this economic crisis. But do you have a full understanding of what the customer experience really means, and just how to "enhance" it?

Customer Experience? Well that's easy, you say. It's the full experience a customer has with a company, through every channel and each encounter (or something like that). So the question that follows is, how do I improve on that? To enhance the customer experience, keep one mantra in mind:

Take it personally.

The key to delivering the greatest and most valuable customer experience is to make it as personalized to each customer as physically possible. Where feasible, every aspect of their encounters with you should be tailored fit to them. But before you can do this, you need one vital thing: Information!

Detailed information is essential for understanding your customers, and I don't just mean contact info. With reports on your customers' purchases, you can understand

A) Whom your most lucrative customers are and

B) What your customers like to buy.

With this information on hand, imagine the possibilities: Customer-specific discounts, VIP promotions, personalized advertising, email notifications. The list goes on.

But personal information on your customers can prove beneficial too. With a CRM module that registers information such as birthdays, anniversaries and linked customer profiles (spouses, parent and child) you are able to offer personalized promotions, birthday emails, etc.

Remember that a true customer experience doesn't end at the exit sign. I always think of customer relations in terms of romantic relationships: There is the initial courtship, but just because they bought from you before doesn't mean you that you shouldn't remind them that they are appreciated or neglect to make them feel special.

So take the customer experience personally. Your customers will thank you!