People will flock to your brand when it’s exquisite. When it’s subpar, search engines and your audience will steer clear. Business success today is defined by customer experience. This is true regardless of your industry and with which channels you choose to communicate. There are specific factors in your customer experience (CX) strategy that will make or break your entire output.

Most companies focus on the typical set of tactics that directly influence CX. It’s also important to be mindful of the less prominent, but equally potent, factors that can help enhance the experience you design for each customer.

Here’s a list of little-known aspects typical outside of the CX universe. You may know them but can now view them in a new light. These tips will help you refine the customer experience of your brand.

Your brand values are part of CX

Do you send some of your profits to a local charity? Do your hotel rooms include fair-trade fabrics and materials? Does your facility recycle plastic? What about sustainability, inhouse policies to battle pollution, and eliminating animal cruelty and unfair labor from your entire supply chain? Even with the finest offer on the market, if your brand is built on inequality and unsustainable practices, you risk alienating a huge portion of the population.

No amount of fancy packaging or wording can compensate for a lack of substance and values. When you sell your products services, you sell just that – values. Ensure your messaging and storytelling aligns with your corporate policies and actions. You’ll improve the experience you provide for your customers.

Employee engagement

Who is in charge of delivering a superior customer experience? Your employees. No matter how skilled and educated they are, if you, as their leader, fail to provide a wonderful work environment where they thrive, their performance will suffer. The end result? The customer experience will suffer, too. While most companies treat employee satisfaction and engagement as separate from customer-centric matters, they are in fact, inextricably linked.

Work to improve employee engagement with the help of the right strategies and software tools. This allows you to create an engaging environment built on transparency. Start with time tracking and project management tools. Ensure your people always know who they can ask for help, where they can arrange meetings, and what tasks they oversee. With elevated transparency and engagement, customer experience will blossom.

Customer service to shape experience

For many brands, customer service is an entirely independent segment of their operations. Often, it provides one portion of the overall customer experience. Merge these elements to boost customer loyalty. What’s more, the kind of experience you provide through your service team greatly contributes to your brand’s image. It also helps build the consistency of your brand voice.

If your customer service agents properly convey the core brand messages, use brand-consistent language, and even rely on chatbot assistance to take over menial queries, they can elevate the entire customer journey to a new level. Chatbots alone can be customized to use the same tone of voice and maintain the right image of your brand. They also help without delay, which creates a better overall customer experience.

So, instead of using your service department strictly for responding to customer questions and concerns, use it as another channel to connect, up-sell, cross-sell, and build a rapport with people who love your business.

Your take on reviews

Know how to manage negative comments and reviews online, especially in the realm of hospitality. With enough care and diligence, you can transform negative comments into positive experiences by ensuring optimal customer engagement.

In addition to actively asking for reviews and encouraging people to leave comments on social media and dedicated platforms, never disregard negative comments. Own up to your errors. Find a way to compensate the disgruntled guest and inspire them to trust your business once again. This shows integrity and commitment. New people who discover your business will judge you based on these actions as much as they will pursue positive testimonials, too.

Employee education means better CX

Finally, when you have well-trained staff on your hands to interact with your clientele, they will portray your business in the best possible light. Also, provide them with the latest industry-relevant skills and knowledge.

This kind of training and education allows your business to stand out. Support your employees’ professional growth to ensure they can provide the finest service to your customers.

Wrapping up

There are many other, well-known ideas that may shape your efforts to provide better CX. All have a direct and indirect impact on how your customers perceive your business. The more effort you invest in discovering such factors, the easier it will be for your teams to produce stellar experiences every step of the way.

Make sure every customer touchpoint is a learning opportunity in the eyes of your team. Help your teams make the most of their individual and collective knowledge to impress your customer.