People call them “satisfied,” “loyal,” or “happy campers,” we call them “Fully Engaged.” All of us are referring to a customer who loves doing business with you. And whatever you choose to call them, the point remains - positive experiences create happy customers, and dissapointing experiences create a substantial lost opportunity.
Archive for the ‘Customer Service’ Category
Beginner’s Guide to the Value of Great Customer Experiences
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011Customer Engagement in Retail: 3 Phases of a Customer’s Life-Cycle
Monday, October 17th, 2011
There are certain moments of truth in any retail purchasing experience that heavily influence customer engagement. Strategy gurus recommend mapping out every touch point where customers interact with a company in order to understand the customer experience throughout the purchase cycle. A Voice of the Customer program can help you understand how engagement ebbs and flows during the three phases of a customer’s life-cycle described below.
Average vs. Great: Why the Quality of Customer Service Matters
Monday, May 16th, 2011
Lately, we’ve been focusing on the secret weapons at every company’s disposal: Brand Ambassadors (Extraordinary employees who provide stellar service) and Passionate Promoters (Customers who enthusiastically recommend your service to others). Our Customer Engagement solution helps companies identify the extraordinary talent within their ranks, so as to encourage that kind of performance among all employees and earn more customer recommendations. Yet, from both an employee’s and a manager’s perspective, it can be difficult not to see customer service as little more than a job that just has to get done. Why should it matter when your employees stretch to above-average heights of service? As long as the customer gets what he or she expects, isn’t that enough?
How Disengaged Employees Create Disengaged Customers
Thursday, May 5th, 2011Engaged Employees create Engaged Customers—it’s one of our mottoes. As we’ve written before, our research shows that engagement among employees is contagious—it quickly spreads to customers. Highly engaged employees foster more loyal, enthusiastic customers who are more willing to give referrals, go out of their way to do business with you, and increase spending. However, the flip side of this foundational equation is also true. Disengaged employees create disengaged customers. In this post we’ll focus on the negative impacts disengaged employees can have on your workforce and customer base.
The Driving Factor of Engagement among Restaurant Clientele
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
Restaurants have a few advantages when it comes to customer service. Unlike in many industries, restaurant employees have the chance to interact personally with customers. This means restaurants have more opportunities to deliver a positive emotional experience to each guest. On the other hand, because it’s such a guest-focused industry, the bar for outstanding customer service is set a little higher in the restaurant arena. Therefore, restaurant managers and owners have more motivation to identify and replicate employee effort that engages and delights customers. In this article, we’ll examine the general customer service landscape in the restaurant sector. Next, we’ll take a look at the characteristics all businesses must exhibit in order to win high Customer Engagement, as our 2010 Most Engaged Customers (MEC) report revealed. Finally, we’ll zoom in on the “hot button” issues for customer engagement in the restaurant space.