When it comes to customer service, we often read about the necessity of going above and beyond and doing our best to satisfy customers’ needs and exceed expectations. There are plenty of reasons why any business in the UAE or globally should strive to meet this goal. What do your customers really want and need, what are they looking for, and are you delivering it or not? The only secure way to make sure that customer expectations are being met is to look at things from the customer's perspective.
What is a good customer experience?
The customer experience includes all aspects of the interaction between the end user and a company. It actually is the sum of all the experiences consumers have when getting in touch with your business. To know all the expects and elements of customer experience please see the info we offer on our Excellence in Customer Experience (CX) course.
The first step on the way to meeting customers’ expectations is defining what they truly want. However, defining those expectations is not the end of the game – it is also necessary to understand them and apply the necessary steps to fulfill such expectations.
Customers’ expectations are usually simple and straightforward. In fact, you can easily learn what your clients are counting on by asking them and offering your help. Their requirements can differ greatly depending on the situation. Try to understand the motives behind their wishes. Why do they want a particular thing? It might be a little complex. Customers’ needs influence their behavior. These needs are the reasons they have certain expectations. It is up to us to offer them a wide range of options so that they can make their choice. Expectations are a reflection of what the consumer hopes to get in the long run.
When communicating with a customer, you have to remain calm and keep yourself under control, even if a client is annoying or aggressive. They probably just didn't get what they hoped for, and you’re not managing to meet their expectations. Or alternatively, they have already dealt with your company and have received bad customer service in the past. This must be attended to – it is time to fix the problem. It’s a critical component of good customer management whether you’re located in Dubai, any other part of the GCC region, or anywhere in the world.
Customer Satisfaction: Definition
Customer Satisfaction is the general assessment of the customers' experience during the acquisition and use of products and services. In other words, it is the customer deciding how good or bad a certain experience was. Identifying customer needs and managing expectations ensures satisfaction, retention, and loyalty. If you fail to understand your customers, you are at great risk. If this happens, customers may simply go to your competitor. Every person who comes to you is unique and has unique requirements. Do your best to fulfill your customers’ needs.
5 Ways to Learn More about Customer Needs
Knowing your customers’ needs is really about understanding them much better than they understand themselves. You have to go the extra mile and dig deeper to exceed expectations. Here are five tools that will help you achieve this goal.
#1 identify Customer Needs
Your company should react to customer needs as soon as possible. We recommend you have a chat system or other channels by which your employees are able to answer all of the clients’ questions and address their concerns. This gives you a deeper understanding of their expectations.
#2 Be like Sherlock Holmes
This is an essential part of managing expectations. Understanding your customers’ motives requires that you ask the right and most appropriate questions. These questions depend entirely on what your company produces or what kind of services it offers. Anyway, it all comes down to solving problems. What expectations do they have of your company? Knowing this enables you to act on the problem and to do so as fast as possible.
First, try to find out what problem this particular issue is causing. As soon as you do, ask your customers what they want the product to do for them. Perhaps there’s been a misunderstanding. Asking will help you to realize which benefits consumers see in your product and whether it is capable of solving their problems and fulfilling their expectations. You’ll be able to bank on those advantages later.
Finally, you need to understand how much money your customer is ready to spend. Money is an issue for every customer, whatever they might say. It might be a good idea to explain that comparing prices cannot be the only criteria a customer uses to make his or her choice. Just focus on providing value and bringing enjoyment, and your goal will be reached.
#3 Be Attentive and Considerate
It is sometimes tempting to give automatic responses to customers. However, these influence your interactions with the customer in a bad way. If you truly want to exceed expectations, you should actually write a personalized message and look into the core of the problem. Read everything your customer has to say. They don't want to feel neglected or ignored.
#4 Encourage Feedback
This is a crucial part of managing expectations. Do you really want to know what has gone wrong? Then simply ask. It will have a very beneficial effect on your efficiency.
#5 Use Up-selling Strategies
Up-selling is actually one of the aspects of really listening to your clients. This way you can evaluate customer needs, and then try to meet and exceed those needs. Just be careful with this last one - avoid being pushy. After all, it’s all about building rapport and winning loyalty, not just selling at any price and then never seeing that customer again.