The “customer experience” —is it tops on your priority list?

Now more than ever, companies/organizations must place a high priority on gauging their customers’ experience with them.  And I mean the TOTAL experience —all touch points from sales, customer service, usage of product or service to post-sales and tech support.  It must begin with upper management’s commitment and it needs to be filtered throughout the organization.

How many instances can you think of where you might have had a problem with a product such as a PC and you had to deal with a tech rep to solve the problem?  Did you have a good experience or was it a nightmare? And after the incident, did you tell a bunch of your friends?  Or, did you post your experience online?

In today’s world, companies cannot afford to leave a bad taste in any customer’s mouth.  Take for instance the true story of an aggravated customer of a cable (TV service) provider…

This person was getting the runaround trying to get a tech out to his home for service.  He was so enraged with the lack of service, that he started a blog called ” (Cable Co. name) must die!”   The very next day, he received a call from the cable company (who obviously is monitoring the web for  publicity) and they immediatley sent out a repair tech.  This cable company knew damn well that they could not afford to have the power of viral marketing damage their reputation —in fact, no one can especially in these tough economic times.

The lesson to be learned is simply, to be one of the leading companies in your industry and perhaps even survive this economic crisis, you must analyze and monitor all the possible touch points your firm has with your customers.  Make sure everyone in your organization knows how crucial any communication is, and that they must do everything possible to ensure a pleasant and positive customer experience. …make your customers rave about you and your business will thrive!