In today’s economy, customers are in the driver’s seat. And they have demands like never before. What they want from businesses they choose to buy from is a grand experience – one that tells them they’re important as individuals, not just an anonymous part of a customer base. They want companies who educate, entertain, and inspire them in engaging ways, and, at the same time, offer quick resolution to their issues.

In short, they want to feel “connected,” and this is a strong emotional need. In fact, according to a Harvard Business Review study when customers feel an emotional connection to a business, they are:

  • 3X more likely to recommend that business to their communities
  • 3X more likely to become re-purchasers
  • Less likely to shop among competitors (44% actually stated they rarely shop around once they find a company and products they like)
  • Not as likely to bolt because of a competitor’s lower price. (33% said that a discount would have to exceed 20% to entice them to defect)

This study was later reinforced by other research conducted by the Journal of Consumer Research indicating that more than 50% of a customer experience is based on emotions. And the Gallup research found that when a business focuses on an emotional connection with their customers, it will outperform competitors’ growth by 85%.

What Does Great Customer Service Entail?

Recently a young woman was attending a conference and registered for her hotel room at Embassy Suites online. On the registration form was a question: “Are there any special needs you may have that we can accommodate?” Being bit of a prankster, she joked, “Yes, I’d like a top hat and a dinosaur.” When she arrived and went to her room, a top hat and small plastic dinosaur was on her bed. Do you think she will use this hotel chain and recommend it to others whenever possible? The answer should be obvious.

You may never have the opportunity to provide this type of customer experience, but there are several key things you can do to enhance customer experiences and achieve far greater loyalty. And you can do them without breaking the bank.

Automate What You Can

This almost sounds counterintuitive to establishing emotional connections with your customers, but hear this out.

  • When you automate the mundane tasks, your customer service team is freed up to spend more time with customers who have more complex problems and issues. And you need fewer live agents in the long run – which can offer savings too.
  • Automation can enhance personalized experiences through new technology. Chatbots can be programmed to entertain while they handle customer requests, questions, and such. Look no further than Poncho the weather bot for a great example. Tacobot is another great example, allowing customers to place orders remotely, while the bot makes suggestions and recommendations on menu items.
  • Obtain customer feedback in real-time. Use a quick survey, through an automated tool and thank that customer for their feedback. And if the experience was not wonderful, then you can contact that individual personally for further discussion and quickly resolve the issue. If the experience was truly negative, solve the issue and provide something additional for their trouble.

Develop a Community of Self-Help Around Your Customers

Many of us have had this experience – we purchased something on Amazon, and then we get an email stating that another customer considering the same purchase has a question. Would we be willing to answer it? Most of us want to be helpful and so we do.

Your company doesn’t have to be as big as Amazon to do this. It’s a relatively inexpensive process. Giffgaff, a mobile telephone network in the UK, set up a discussion board made up of its customers. It began by “seeding” questions for customer responses. What has grown is a community of users helping one another. Does it work? 98% of GiffGaff customers say they’re satisfied with the service and experience, they were also one of two UK mobile networks to be most likely to be recommended to others.

To get that community started, contact a few solid customers and ask them if they would be willing to participate – for an incentive of course. A pretty low-budget idea.

Use Analytics to Predict Customers Needs and Be Proactive

With all the data out there that is readily available with free or cheap tools, you need to get a handle on your customers’ behaviors. Once you analyze these, you are in a position to predict their current and future needs and can contact them personally with offers of help, advice, products, and/or additional service. Again, much of this can be automated with the right tools.

Even contacting a customer to ask how a product or service is doing for them and offering a phone conference to answer questions, etc. tells that customer you care, and most will not take you up on it anyway.

Personalize Your Packaging

If you’re in the business of shipping and delivering, your packaging can tell a customer that they are highly valued. Include a personal note, either in/on the package or the receipt. One pizza shop, Toppers, asks customers if they want a special drawing on their box. If so, they just do it. It’s a quick delight for the shopper, plus it encourages customers to share the drawings on social media, creating a positive WOM around the brand.

Automate Customers’ History for Them

Here’s another lesson from Amazon. Every time you access the site, your entire purchasing history is available. This is convenient and is another way of personalizing the customer experience on your site. Again, this is all automated with the right tools and not a huge expense.

Highlight Your Loyal Customers

Everyone likes a little publicity. Solicit photos and videos from your customers and highlight them on your site and your social media platforms. Not only do they love being recognized, they will share that with their friends – more brand spread for you.

Customer experience is about humans interacting with other humans – interaction that creates an emotional bond between a customer and the businesses they choose to shop with. If you intend to gain loyalty, then you will want to use as many strategies as possible to form those human connections that consumers demand today. Certainly, the tools are out there to do this. All it takes from you is a core value of meeting customer needs in as personalized a way as possible.