2009: The Year of Customer Service

In late 2007 I wrote my first blog post about what I called the user experience economy.  That post described the necessity of providing exceptional customer service and noted the growth of the UX Fund which, over one year’s time, saw an increase of 39.37%—outperforming all of the major stock indexes.

In 2009, businesses will live and die by the level of customer service—designing memorable and positive user experiences—that they are able to provide.  The competition for customers’ attention and loyalty will be fierce, and simply cutting prices and expenses is not going to be enough to thrive or even survive during a global economic crisis.

Here are five tactics to help guarantee that you and your business are providing the best possible customer experience (online or off) in the coming year:

Make it Easy

Ask yourself, what can I do to make my customers’ interactions with me easier?  Can you do a little extra so your customers are able to do a little less?  Can a step be simplified or, better yet, eliminated?  Can I save my customers’ valuable time by making it easier for them to interact and collaborate with me?

Take the time to understand your customers’ needs; optimize your interactions and destroy any unnecessary roadblocks that could prevent your customers from working with you.

Respond Quickly

Face it, we’re an impatient society.  People do not like to wait.  The faster you can respond to your customers’ needs, the better.  Google understands that every millisecond counts, and you should too.  Respond quickly to email and voicemail; even if your response is nothing more than an acknowledgment of the message.  Remind your customers that their satisfaction is your highest priority through your responsiveness.

Responding quickly is also beneficial if you need to head off potential problems.  Don’t put off the hard conversations; get them over with.  Develop a solution and move forward together.  Waiting will only make a potentially difficult conversation even harder.

Selfishness is a Short Sighted Solution

I know that this tip could be tough given the economic climate, but do your best to keep this in mind: Greed is bad.  That’s why it made it into that movie with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.

Sure, you may make a little more money today by nickel and diming your customers, but in the long run it will be more profitable to build a following of loyal customers who sing your praises.

Be Memorable

Think of a time when you received outstanding customer service; what makes that experience memorable?  Did someone go out of their way to make sure that you were satisfied?  Did someone do something so unexpected, so above and beyond the call of duty that you couldn’t help but tell everyone you know about how you were treated?

Look for opportunities to do the same for your customers.  Remember their birthday— their kids’ birthdays—and send a gift.  Pick them up personally from the train station (clean your car first).  Do more than you were supposed to do, and do everything within your power to personalize your customer interactions.  Positive and memorable interactions will build your customer relationships and turn customers into fans—fans who sing your praises and build your business.

Be Proactive

The best of the best can actually anticipate their customers’ needs before their customers.  Experience helps, as does empathy and a deep understanding of what your customers need and value.  To be able to predict your customers’ needs, listen intently to them, and put yourself in their shoes to consider what they would want next.  Your customers will be pleasantly surprised when they don’t have to ask because you’ve already anticipated what’s important to them.

Each tactic described above really boils down to fostering positive communication between you and your customers (colleagues, users, clients, etc.) in order to build relationships and loyalty.  Loyal customers become fans who help spread the word about how wonderful you are to do business with.  In these economic times, positive word of mouth is the most effective advertising money can buy.

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