How to destroy your customer experience: 4 examples of brand-sabotaging service
Customer experience is something that is easily neglected, in favour of shiny new things. Or even just the day-to-day running of our business. Even for well-instated brands with a national reputation, a neglected customer experience can lose you money.
This is the terrible customer experience that was a deciding factor as to whether I’d be dropping pretty hefty *she says in a high-pitched, wincing tone* £8k on a wedding vendor or not.
Stay to the end and I’ll show you four big lessons we can learn from this and some ideas as to how you can upgrade your own customer experience (to stop losing customers).
A very memorable customer experience
(for all the wrong reasons)
When I was planning my wedding, we wanted a low key affair. We chose the village hall next to my Grannie’s house to keep it comfortable and familiar. Arrival drinks would be in her garden, then we’d move to the hall for food and music in the afternoon.
There was one wedding vendor I had my eye on. They had a pretty shwanky Instagram page full of totally gorgeous, Instagrammable photographs. They also had a pretty epic reputation, with their fingers in many pies across their industry. So, to me, that said (1) they’re successful and (2) they’re flippin good at what they do.
But they didn’t have any prices on their website.
Usually I wouldn't bother trying to engage with someone who is hiding their prices, but the company had, in fact, reached out to me 12 months prior, enquiring about working together. So I wouldn’t have given them a second thought if I didn’t feel a little invested in their company, as they seemed keen to improve their online presence, therefore showing they understood the impact of a good website. *humour me, why don’t you*
You know me. I’m a stickler for transparency and ease of use when it comes to websites. That’s my job. And I could smell a fish. Usually when someone is embarrassed about how much they charge, they’d hide their prices. Equally, if someone wants to suss you out before deciding on a price, they’d hide their prices. Or if you’re a big ignorant of what a good customer experience is, you hide your prices.
In 99.9% of cases, I’d not even consider a company if they didn’t show prices. It’s infuriating and can be a waste of time, pinging and ponging emails back and forth, to and fro — I want to know straight away, if this is feasible, if it’s within my budget, or if it’s a pipe dream.
But that didn’t stop me reaching out.
Against my better judgement, I emailed them anyway.
The reputation and their feigned desire to improve their website had me go against my digital morals. *ahem — pride, Alice?*
This is what happened.
I fill out a form on their website and get an amicable response about 10 days later saying they have the dates available but no other info provided or questions asked.
I responded to ask about details, timings, payment schedules. No response.
I send another email 12 days later, ‘just checking in’ to see they haven't forgotten about me.
Get a quick response asking to book in a chat later that week.
The only time she can do is when we were supposed to be going out for dinner with a friend, so we delay dinner-with-friend by one hour and confirm the call.
On said evening of call, we get called 45 minutes late, meaning we’re late for dinner. They say they’ll respond with a summary of the call, timings and confirmation of our exact specification for them and requirements for the day.
10 days after call, no summary or response. I email to chase up.
4 days later, we get an email asking if we’ve paid a deposit yet (which we hadn’t).
We get asked to pay a deposit before our specification and requirements are confirmed.
Next day I chase up confirmation of specification and requirements. We get asked to fill out the initial enquiry form again, with all the information we communicated in the phone call.
We receive quote back with the specification info incorrect. I respond with questions to correct quote.
We are informed we need to pay the deposit before the trial day. And if we decide to not go ahead, it’s still going to cost us £200.
Honestly, I know in hindsight I’m a wally, but even when we were at point 11, I was still considering paying £8k to book these guys.
(Needless to say, we didn’t end up working together and we did not book them for our wedding, either.)
Want my big takeaways?
There are a few striking themes throughout this. Take heed.
Here’s my analysis the ugly side of customer experience and how we can flip the story to learn ways you can apply good customer experience tactics to your own business:
Lesson 1: Customers like to know they’re being listened to, that the company is attentive and has their best interests at heart.
In this scenario, it was not the case.
What can this look like for you?
When I have discovery calls with prospective clients, I make notes of their big goals, the things they’re feeling in their business, the barriers that they’re facing at the moment.
I make sure to repeat those things back to them in their project proposal (that follows the discovery call). It can be scary outsourcing your business-baby to someone who isn’t in the business day-in day-out.
There’s a fear that someone external ‘just won’t get them’, so writing out things they’ve said to me in their proposal shows I am invested in them and their business and that their feelings/barriers/goals will be addressed throughout our time together.
This helps future customers have confidence in me, before they’ve even signed the contract.
Lesson 2: Customers like to try before they buy, so asking for a non-refundable deposit before they can experience/witness the thing that you do, they’re going to be resistant.
This gives the message that you believe there may be a reason for them to want their money back but you're trying to squeeze just a little something out of them, even if they cancel.
What can this look like for you?
As you can see (if you’re reading this) I love writing blogs.
All these articles, along with my email list *which you can sign up to here if you so wish* are free opportunities for prospective customers to try before they buy. It’s a space for me to show off my expertise.
It’s an opportunity for me to show that I can help you break down seemingly difficult parts of your business, get rid of the jargon and turn them into more manageable elements of your marketing.
It’s also space for me to educate you lot on the importance of good communication with your audience (because I sell copywriting packages) and the power of a well-structured website (because I design websites too).
On the flip side, if I were to try and sell my services without any proof that I knew what I was talking about, you’d probably be a bit sceptical and go looking elsewhere.
Lesson 3: Customers like to be supported and guided through the booking process.
An easy booking process reflects upon the experience itself. In this case, an easy booking process would have made me feel like my wedding day would go without a hitch, their company would have everything taken care of, so I could enjoy all the people around me, instead of having to chase them up. This was not the case.
What can this look like for you?
On my website, you’ll see a breakdown of the booking process: (1) you fill in a form, (2) you pick a time that’s convenient for you to chat with me on Zoom, (3) you get a proposal sent to you with my assessment of how my services will benefit your unique business, (4) you get 7 days to say ‘yes please’ or ‘no thanks’ to working with me.
And in my proposals, I break down each stage of the copywriting or web design process.
This helps you plan ahead, imagine how this will affect you, and feel more optimistic *hmmm I think I’d prefer to use the word ‘excited’* for the improvements that you’ll experience for your biz.
Leaving a blank space around the delivery of your products or services leaves too much to the imagination.
No context to how your products or services work means question marks arise. And question marks equals hesitancy.
And when someone is standing there with wallet in hand, hesitancy is not going to make you a sale.
Lesson 4: Customers are ready to pay more than industry standard for a product or service if (1) your reputation precedes you, and/or (2) if the customer service is tip-top.
Attentive communication, making customers feel valued and special will add to the perceived value of your products and services.
However, communication that looks something like the above will do the opposite and people will not feel like your product or service is worth what you’re asking for.
What can this look like for you?
First of all, let’s talk reputation.
Throughout my marketing I sprinkle portfolio pieces and testimonials from clients. This is where reputation can grow. And the more successful you can show your past projects were, the more your reputation grows — it’s not just you saying how great you are, other people can vouch for you too.
Now when it comes to customer service, my brand tone of voice is something I’d worked on a lot.
I like to have a bit more punch in my writing, make it conversational. Hopefully you’re getting (as you’re reading this) the feeling that I’m approachable and laid back.
I don’t want to sound like a robot, because personality is so important to me, (1) because I want us to feel like we get on, in order to have open and frank communication throughout our time together and for you to feel like you trust me. And (2) personality is what I want to bring across in your website words and design.
That’s what is going to help you stand out in your busy industry and build trust and open communication with your own clientele.
Whether you’re product-based, service-based, you organise events or run a charity, whether your business is in-person or online, try thinking about the little tweaks you could make to your business to elevate the customer experiences, get more return customers and more recommendations.
Want to elevate your customer experience throughout your website?
That’s why I created The Website Builder’s Blueprint.
If you want your customers to feel listened to,
If you want your customers to have the opportunity to try before they buy,
If you want to make the booking process easy and contextual for your future clients, and
If you want ideas to raise your reputation . . .
(ya know, those 4 key things we learnt not to do from this sorry tale?!)
