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How to Consistently Match Customer Expectations

Contributed article by Jenny Han

You may have noticed, but the expectations of your customers rarely stay the same. Be it cost, the quality of the product or service you offer, a combination of cost and quality, or the precise functions that your product or service offers, the desires of your customers are continually evolving.   

As a company, you simply cannot afford to stand still.

What is it that customers are looking for? 

This a vital question. And the answer may be somewhat of a surprise. Of course, value and quality are still important considerations, but the majority of customers state that they would take their custom elsewhere if another company offered a better user experience.

As a company, how do you continuously provide a better user experience?

Quality user experience is not the same today as it was yesterday. And it won’t be the same tomorrow. The point is, it is evolving at breakneck speed, so the easy answer it to continuously monitor your customers’ expectations. But in order to do this, you need a dedicated team for this very activity, and you need to software and metrics systems which can adequately measure the data that you need.

And how do you keep up in these fast-changing times? 

This is no easy conundrum to solve, because there is no simple, single solution. Instead, you must factor in a combination of approaches, starting with…

Perform adequate research

Who is your audience? What does your audience want? What is your audience’s expectations? If you do not know the answer to any of these three questions, then something is wrong. These are perhaps the three most important questions any business can ask itself, and as customer expectations are constantly evolving, so you must continue to ask yourself this question, never being truly satisfied with the answer you provide.

Personalize your delivery

Is your delivery the same for every customer? Do you send out the same marketing emails, do you contact them the same way, do you send everyone the same offers, no matter what their previous purchasing history? If the answer to any or all of these questions is ‘yes’, then you are once again stumbling in one of the most important aspects of meeting, or even exceeding, customer expectations.

Employ personalized loyalty schemes, tailor your offers based on history, personalize communication. Make every customer feel special. It’s not what you should do, it’s what you have to do.

Successfully turn your customers into something more 

One look at social media tells you all you need to know: businesses that exceed customer expectations are no longer just businesses to those customers, but at object of affection. They are something that people talk about, share, promote. Be something more to your customers.

Put customer service at the heart of your business

This is a serious question to ask yourself. Is user experience really central to everything that you do as a business? Really? If you are not sure, then the chances are it probably isn’t. So once you have performed the aforementioned research to find out who your customer base really is and what it really wants, start to deliver on those desires.

If you don’t yet offer a self-service option, with individual customers accounts, then consider doing that, because that shows true commitment to deliver what is good for the customer. If you are still there every time as the middleman, then that is about you not ceding control, and you are not putting the customer first.

And look at your communication processes. Do you deliver instant chat? If not, then once again you are failing to step up with the most sought-after form of communication. Email and phone numbers are required too, as that is what some other customers (less, but still important) require.

And finally, are your workflow activities truly enhanced to deliver outstanding customer experience? All transitions between steps should be as smooth as silk, and you should be consistently testing your process to see where improvements can be made. Improvements can always be made, and in that way customer expectations never need rise beyond what you are delivering. The expectation will become whatever you set the bar to be.

Jenny Han is an up-and-coming marketing strategist at Best Essay Services and Research Paper Help Services, where she has already assisted on several high-profile marketing campaigns, helping to build well-regarded brands. Jenny is also a tutor at Top Essay Writing Services.