When most people hear about Customer Delight, they think it’s the same as Customer Satisfaction; however, there is a very important difference between these two, and it comes down to exceeding versus merely meeting expectations.
In a nutshell:
Customer Satisfaction: Expectations are met
Customer Delight: Expectations are exceeded
Customer Delight is about creating an individual superior experience for every customer to enhance their relationship with your brand.
What Does Customer Delight Look Like?
Customer Delight is about going the extra mile to provide added value. But the great thing is this value doesn’t end with the customer interaction. When you delight your customers, it ends up coming full-circle back to your organization.
Delighted customer relationships last long, capture premium value and fuel growth.
Delighting customers is also about listening to customer concerns. It is about foreseeing future issues that might occur and taking the correct preventative steps now. Designing user experiences that make your clients smile because they are delighted.
There are many ways to promote customer delight as a practice in your own business. The first step is to survey and report regularly on customer happiness – and then take action on the results.
For those who think you could do better, actually do better! For those who aren’t happy, figure out why. Pick up the phone, let them know you’re listening and that you care, and ask what you can do to fix the issue. It’s sheer negligence to have unhappy customers and not take action to try and rectify the situation.
Why Should You Care?
Did you know that it costs 6-7 times more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one? And did you also know that: “Totally satisfied” customers have a repurchase rate that is 3-10 times higher than that of a “somewhat satisfied” customer? This means that if you’ve made sure to delight your current customers they’re more likely to continue working with your organization in the future and spend more money with you. It’s as simple as that.
And I’m sure you’ve heard about promoters, right? Those customers who are so pleased with your brand that they advocate for your business and actually refer new business your way, which is pretty great because referral leads convert roughly 30% better than leads generated from other marketing channels). So those current leads in your system that you aren’t getting anywhere with? Keep after them, but know that there’s a goldmine of referral leads right at your fingertips.
Ilkka Pukkila
Picture credit: Flickr Creative Commons/Anthony Easton