Start With Core Values for a Successful Customer Experience

You're likely already familiar with the roles of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) in a business, but what about the CCO? Giving evidence to the importance of the customer experience, the CCO position barely existed 20 years ago, but, as of early 2017, 22 percent of all Fortune 100 companies employ a Chief Customer Officer. Discover how core values help your organization focus on the customer experience.

Strengthen Your Company Culture

Ensure your company's number one priority lies in creating a stellar customer experience with every interaction. When your employees recognize the organization's dedication to its customers, they adjust their attitudes and values as well, focusing on putting the client first. Communicate these values consistently so they become ingrained in the company culture. Discuss the organization's values at new employee orientations, incorporate them into company correspondence and work them into ongoing training initiatives.

Focus on Timeliness

To ensure a five-star customer experience, focus on a lightning-fast response time. Make it a company-wide rule to respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours. Utilize social media to give customers a direct connection with your customer service reps, or introduce a mobile customer service app to modernize the customer service experience and keep up with the competition.

Go Above and Beyond

Stress the importance of exceeding each customer's expectations. This creates a memorable customer experience and ensures repeat business, positive word-of-mouth referrals and a solid reputation for your organization. Speed up order processing to attain faster-than-expected delivery of customer orders, or send customer satisfaction emails to clients after a purchase to make sure they are satisfied with the ordering process, product, delivery and service.

Never Stop Improving

Take advantage of every opportunity to keep moving your organization's customer service forward. Provide adequate training for new customer service representatives, and offer regular refresher courses for more seasoned employees. Create a mentoring program to provide coaching for employees who are struggling. Encourage customer service reps to ask for guidance when they need it, and make sure they know where to go for answers.

Analyze the Feedback

Follow up each customer interaction with a brief phone call or email to garner feedback on the experience. Delight in the positive remarks, but pay particular attention to the negative feedback. Determine the underlying causes for each bad customer experience, and decide how your organization can remedy the situation. Strive for continuous improvement in your organization by implementing a corrective action plan when these problems come to your attention.

With so much competition in today's businesses, it's imperative that organizations align their core values to demonstrate the importance of the customer experience. The business's success depends on the brand recognition and loyalty that result from an exemplary customer experience.

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