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20 WAYS TO SURPRISE YOUR CUSTOMERS

2 Source: Bain & Company

THE ROAD TO GREAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

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WHY SURPRISE YOUR CUSTOMERS IS SO IMPORTANT.

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We spend most of our time and money on acquiring customers and building products.

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Customers feel left out.

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of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels he/she

is being treated

70% Source: Hubspot

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of customers, who are having a poor service, talk to other people

about them.

56% Source: ECHO customer service survey 2012

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Your business is always at

stake.

ATTENTION!!!

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The customers perception of your

company…

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…is formed by every small interaction with you

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… because they are part of the larger experience.

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of customer loyalty is created in post-sales activities but…

80%

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delight and surprise customers is not just a post-sale activity.

Delight and surprise your customers has to be in your DNA because…

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…customers will never love your company until your employees love it first.

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Delight your employees and they will delight your customers. Happy employees create happy customers and allow for sustained customer delight.

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HOW TO SURPRISE YOUR CUSTOMERS.

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#1 THE UNEXPECTED SURPRISE From time to time, you can surprise a customer who has a birthday within days from a contact and you send him e.g. a t-shirt as a gift.

Ship small gifts like candy in every package as an extra thanks to our customer.

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#2 DON’T MANAGE BY CALL LENGHT It may at first sight seem counterproductive, but many companies have found that the more time you spent advising a customer, the better return on investment.

Invest in your customers and they’ll invest in you.

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#3 ALWAYS HANG UP LAST Train your employees to always hang up last.

This allows a customer to always add something at the end of a call and prevent them from ever feeling cut off.

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#4 LITTLE THINGS COUNTS It’s essential to call customers back if they get cut off or if you forgot to tell them something.

Send a customer a message asking if their phone is working as expected.

Offer them a (complimentary) cold bottle of water on a hot day.

These little things go a long way towards building loyalty with our customers

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AHHHHH! YOU FOUND ME! Unfortunately you have found an elusive 404 error page, which means the page you were looking for is not here.

#5 Surprise when least expected Once in a while your customers will experience an error or that your website is being updated.

Make that experience a fun experience and you will experience that customers is more likely to forgive you.

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#6 NO MORE BAD UPSELL Always try to fulfill the customers needs, but there is no reason to pressure them with bad upsell when you are solving their problems.

In other words, don’t sell them a new product they don’t need.

#7 UNDER PROMISE AND OVER DELIVER Always over deliver and provide more value than our customers expect.

This way they are always pleasantly surprised with your work.

There are many ways of over delivering, like shipping packages earlier than promised.

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#8 TAKE OWNERSHIP OF PROBLEMS Don’t leave a customer in doubt of what is going to happen next. Do what you say you are going to do: “I’ll get back to you with an update by the end of the day”

Even if you don’t have much to report, get back to the customer! Never let a customer call us more than one time with the same problem

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#9 EMPATHY IS IMPORTANT Put yourself in the customer’s shoes.

See things through their eyes. Think about how you want to be treated when things go south with a product or a service that you purchased.

Are you satisfied when you are brushed off? Do you like the way you feel when you are not taken seriously? Of course not!

Act like it’s you on the other side of the phone and you can’t go wrong.

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#10 ENCOURAGE EMPLOYEES TO CARE Perform at least one act of kindness a day, such as opening the door for a customer, or carrying heavy parcels to cars.

Being prepared to 'walk the extra mile’.

For example, asking an employee who lives close to a customer to make an urgent delivery on the way home, or to check that an installation has gone smoothly, can generate very positive word of mouth.

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#11 BE ACCESSIBLE Managers should be accessible and easy to get in contact with.

Customers should be encouraged to contact the management.

Remember that customers keep business in business.

If you don’t take care of your customers, someone else will.

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#12 BUILD A CUSTOMER FOR LIFE Always approach your customers with a personalized warm welcome.

Always listen politely to understand the customers needs.

Always communicate and connect with customers.

Always help our customer to get started

Always end with a fond farewell and invitation to return.

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#13 UNLOCK CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS One of the main delights for customers is getting support tickets and complaints answered by the top management.

Customers get delighted when they see the managers at the top take time out for this.

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THANK YOU

#14 DESIGN THE EXPERIENCE IN ALL TOUCH POINTS When shipping a package, show your gratitude and thank your customers with a sticker or note that reads, “Thanks for being a customer since…” with the year the customer first ordered from us. New customers reads, “…we will try our best to give you the best service you ever experienced.”

Taking that extra step to make a purchase feel more like a gift can pay off in big ways..

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#15 MAKE IT EXCLUSIVE AND SPECIAL Organize once a month an executive breakfast for the 10 best (not necessarily largest) business clients. As a top decision maker, do not send a substitute.

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#16 CREATE TOGETHER WITH CUSTOMERS Be co-creative and involve employees and customers to develop new and relevant delights and surprises.

#17 MAKE IT SIMPLE AND INTUITIVE Carefully craft the experience to be as straightforward as possible. Leverage feedback to constantly improve and update the experience at least once a year.

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#18 SHOW THAT WE LISTEN Show the customers that you listen and fix issues that matters for the customers. The goal has to be to improve the experience, so customers chooses to stay with you.

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#19 BE A CUSTOMER Every employee is encouraged to try to be a customer.

That’s why employees every month shouid be giving the time and resources to try to be a customer.

Ask them to share their experience and proposal for improvement with the rest of the organization.

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#20 SERVING THE CUSTOMERS Everyone that's hired, it doesn't matter what position, goes through the exact same training as your call center or retail agents.

They're actually on the phone for two weeks taking calls from customers or serving your customers at a shop.

Because serving the customers should be the heart of your business, so when the queue in Customer Service is too long, everybody can take a call.

Thank you Contact information: thorleif@hallund.com

Zappos, Apple, Telenor, HubSpot, Headset.com, Nordstrøm Virgin Media, Bain and many more

Thanks to the following great companies for providing statistics and inspiration

Thanks to these fantastic people for being an inspiration My wife and children, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Wallace Green, Marek Slacik, Jesper Hansen, Eivind Karlsen and Mattias Ringqvist