We all know about the exclusive products luxury businesses sell but what about their customer experience (CX)? Does it vastly differ to the service other retailers and brands provide, or is it just the products that keep it afloat? We love to talk about personalising our CX or how we can go the extra mile by adding little touches to our service, but what do brands like Gucci and Jaguar do to provide a next-level experience?
Why Should You Want to Offer a High-quality Customer Experience?
Even if your demographic isn’t expecting the very best of the best, what better way to keep them coming back than to provide this very standard?For example, FM Outsourcealways strives to show customers that they deserve to get exactly what they need – and feeling special is a form of luxury. A luxury customer experience shouldn’t just bring up visions of the fanciest hotel in Paris or the most exclusive bar in New York; it is something that all businesses can offer. It should portray trust and professionalism and help to put a customer at ease, knowing that you, as the business, are completely in control. It relies on knowing what your customer wants and being able to give that to them, and more!
Think back to any time you had an experience with a luxury brand or business. Did the staff behave differently compared to your usual shopping experiences? Most likely they did.
For most exclusive businesses, staff always seems happy to see you and 100% willing to help. They asked if you needed assistance before you even thought to ask them. Predicting a customer’s next move or thought plays a huge role in this kind of service and is something that often delights customers – which they’ll share with friends.
It’s easy enough for us to write that all businesses should be providing luxury CX. “But, how?” – I hear you cry. Well, it requires work and attention to detail.
How can you go about offering a great customer experience?
Product Knowledge
Knowing every function, feature, colour, size, and usability option is a great way to impress. If a customer feels the operator they’re speaking to isn’t fully invested and is a bit of a novice, they may feel less than confident in parting with their cold, hard cash for your product.
By helping your CX operators completely understand the product they are trying to sell, you are giving them theknowledge they can use to advise customers while they’re making a purchase.
For example, if a customer comes to you asking a question regarding a suit, you could enquire if they need any shirts or ties to go alongside the suit and then offer a range that you know will work.
Attention to Detail
Customers tend to offer businesses they buy from a wealth of information about themselves, so why shouldn’t you use this to your advantage? Finding out a customer’s birthday and then sending them a special discount on that day can certainly impress them. If you want to take it above and beyond, you could enlist staff to monitor customers’ purchases and treat your frequent buyers to something of a similar ilk to products they previously ordered.
Don’t have the time to watch your customers’ every move? Even including a little product freebie in their orders’ packaging is a great way to make them feel special, not to mention a proactive way to promote any up and coming brands!
Empathy
It can be hard to feel empathy for your customers when you’re on your 50th interaction of the day, but every customer you come across deserves a service full of respect and understanding. CEO of Crown & Caliber, a luxury watch company, said that their employees all follow their ‘Grandma Standard’ which gives all of their team the mentality of “what if this person were my grandma?” This way they can evaluate how they are responding to keep in line with the business values and not stray off the mark.
Learn From Your Customers
It might be a simple idea but at the end of the day, your customers are the ones experiencing your products or service from an outside point-of-view. They will see the problems an insider might struggle to find. After all, we all know how hard it is to criticise ourselves! Listen closely to their requests and don’t disregard anything – even if it seems minor to you. That little change could make the difference between that customer coming back or never returning. Even if you don’t use the information right away, it might come in handy one day!
Who’s Doing This Successfully?
We could name countless brands who successfully offer luxury CX but it’s important to see that brands that you wouldn’t normally put into that category can offer that level of service too.
On one end of the spectrum, you have Nordstrom, the gods of fantastic CX. When any employee joins the retailer, they are presented with a handbook full of tips like:
‘Use best judgement in all situations.’
‘Please, feel free to ask your department manager any question at any time.’
‘Set both your personal and professional goals high.’
This outlook means Nordstrom employees offer all customers an incredible service. They even personally let customers know of any sales or special events coming up and send handwritten notes to all their new customers!
Nordstrom aren’t the only company that likes to use handwritten notes to keep in touch with their customers. Brooks Brothers, a lesser known premium clothes retailer, ask all customers after they make a purchase for their address. This is so they can send a note from the salesperson they dealt with. Just think of the time it must take to do those every day! This is a true example of providing a little touch of luxury, and even if most of the customers who receive notes didn’t return to buy again, those who did are bound to remain customers for life.
Source: Shopify
You might be thinking; ‘it must be easy to offer luxury CX if you’re a clothes retailer, but how can I do that?’ Amazon is the hard proof that a ‘non-retail’ brand can deliver luxury. Through their excellent customer support, they not only respond super-fast, but also keep the focus on their brand and are proud when they fulfill deliveries faster than expected, while also offering free returns.
Raising CX to this level is achievable to all businesses, regardless of the products and services they are selling. Sometimes all it relies on is going the extra mile. By making your customers realise that you and your employees have excellent product knowledge and are willing to help in any way possible, you can greatly improve their view of you. Your customers aren’t trying to trip you up at any chance possible for no reason, so use any problems that may arise to your advantage by learning from them. After all, who doesn’t want to be the retailer with a luxury edge?
Interesting Links:
- 5* Ways to Give Your Customers the Luxury Experience
- What the Movies Teach Us About Brand Experience
- Luxury Brands’ Email Marketing Is ‘Not Luxurious Enough’
The post How to Provide a Luxury Customer Experience appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.