3 ways to stay ahead of your competition by rethinking your customer experience

Most businesses operate in a competitive environment. With review sites such as Tripadvisor and Google Reviews giving customers an opportunity to share their experiences, it has become more and more important to focus on delivering an exceptional experience.

Set some time aside to work on this and your customer experience will improve considerably! (Along with great reviews!) Here are some ideas:

1. Experience your own product, from start to finish (how easy is it to book, what is the experience like, what could be improved). For example, if you run an accommodation business, book a room online and stay in your own accommodation. And do bring a suitcase! I recommend this to clients as this will make you look at the details (for example: are there enough hangers, is there somewhere to put your toilet bag in the bathroom etc).
   Or even better: get someone to do it for you – a mystery shopper. Write a list of things you’d like their feedback on.
2. Find out from your customers what they particularly like about your business/products and what could be improved. Survey them (open questions work best for this!) and read reviews on sites like Tripadvisor. Make a list of positives and negatives.
3. Find out what your competitors are doing well and not so well. Try to come up with different ways to 'delight' your customers and have a point of difference.
   
   For example, I stayed in Hong Kong recently and the hotel had a smartphone (with extra battery charger) for their guest to use free of charge. You could use it make free calls anywhere in the world and it also had an app loaded with local information. It was great! Another nice surprise was that this hotel had a free minibar! It was stocked with beer, soft drinks and snacks.

So, have a look at how your customers experience your business, products, staff, booking or buying procedure and find ways to improve!

Till next week, Marijke