How often do “amazing” and “service” go together for you when you are the customer? Sadly, not enough for most of us. But this past week it happened to me. And when you have an amazing customer experience, you have to share it. And you guessed it, there are some best practices every organization can learn.
I am a relatively new Apple user and mistakenly bought an app that I thought would fix a limitation of one of the apps. Well, you guessed it, the app didn’t work but I was stuck with the purchase..or at least I thought.
I asked an Apple tech what I could do and the “amazing” began..
1. He gave me alternatives.
After asking a few questions, he began offering suggestions on possible solutions; one of which, was an online custom service forum where I could submit special requests (note: I would not have known about this option without this guy). And by the way, his alternative worked. Another part of Apple’s customer service chain delivered what was promised by my contact. In your world, does your team really listen to your customers so they can offer potential solutions?
2. I got a quick response.
I submitted my question online stating my case and received a response within 30 minutes. The short answer: they refunded my purchase. But it is how they did it that created the amazing customer experience. Here is an excerpt from his response: “I realize you don’t want to be charged for content that was not purchased intentionally. I’ll be happy to make this right for you.” Within 30 minutes, my request had been taken care of. In your world, how long does it take your team to address (or fix) customer irritants? You can bet they are watching the clock tick.
3. Service was taken one step further.
My problem was fixed but I had one last question. I submitted it and received an immediate response that included this text, “You’re very welcome. Nothing makes Apple happier than to hear that we have pleased our customers.” Now, anyone can script those words, but my previous interactions proved that sentiment was authentic. I was already pleased but now I was “wowed”. How about your team? Do they take care of your customers or are they wowing them? There is a difference.
So why is this important? Businesses make service promises every day. But how often are those promises really fulfilled. An amazing customer experience includes an intentional strategy to be attentive, thorough and goes beyond what customers expect. And the payoff? Those customers feel compelled to tell others. And amazing creates profit every time.
Not sure where to begin? See how well you stack up against our service checklist? Every step gets you one step closer to your “AMAZING”.