Use Service To Stand Out From Your Competitors
Sunday, August 7th, 2011Do customers think of you as the provider of a commodity? Focus first on your customer’s experience if you want to separate yourself from your competition. Put the “Wow” customer experience. Deliver superior service by focusing on the customer experience. This means solving your customer’s need, this is where your focus should be.
A great example of this is Zappos that grew their merchandising sales from being a startup in 1999 to over $1 Billion in 2008. Zappos is known to be “Powered by Service.” Their goal is to provide the best online shopping experience possible. Go to the Zappos website and you will immediately see:
- Free shipping
- Free returns
- One full year return policy
- Free return shipping
- 24/7 customer service
5 elements of a great shopping experience (from the retail council)
- Engagement: genuinely caring, being interested, helping and listening.
- Executional excellence: Patiently explaining, advising, deep product knowledge, providing unexpected quality.
- Brand experience: Exciting store design and atmosphere, consistently exceptional product quality and making the customer feel special.
- Expediting: Provide a fast and easy shopping process, and a speedy checkout process.
- Problem recovery: Quickly resolving and compensating for any problems, upgrading quality or delivery with a focus on complete satisfaction.
Businesses are realizing that the better the shopping experience, the greater the customer loyalty. By being creative and by listening to customers, you can create your own following of loyal and happy customers.