Relationship Management

How to delight your customers - part two

Need more ideas to dazzle your clientele? Our first article on how to delight your customers offered some practical ideas to improve your customer service skills. In this sequel we give you eight battlefield-tested tips to deliver five star customer satisfaction.

Smell control

The limbic system in the brain is often referred to as the "reptilian brain". It really is that ancient. The limbic system processes smells, bypassing the more civilised centres such as the pre-frontal cortex, which explains why smells are so evocative.

For businesses smells can be an underhand way to manipulate consumers. Waft a delicious perfume over the threshold of your retail establishment and customers will - irrationally - start to adore you.

Harrods store uses smell consultants to ensure all its retail spaces have the perfect pong. Lime and basil line the entrances. The shoe hall smells of vanilla. In the DIY section there is an odour of cut freshly-cut grass.

The perfumes are supplied by The Aroma Company. The firm claims to be able to supply a suitable smell for almost any firm. Banks, which want to project a sense of trust and reliability, use oak notes. Peppermint conveys intelligence.

NB: The chaps at The Aroma Company say the trick is not to overdo it. If the customer notices the smell you have probably overdone it. Just a subtle, almost sub-conscious, concentration is what is required.

Lifetime guarantees

Corporate promises are usually vapid rubbish. That's why Tilley Hat's no-quibble lifetime guarantee is so significant. It's hard to think of a more comprehensive and convincing pitch. The Tilley Guarantee says: "If your new purchase doesn't fit, send it back. If the colour doesn't suit you, send it back. If a new item has not been worn, washed or altered we'll cheerfully exchange it for one of the right size or colour. If the new item isn't quite what you expected, we'll refund the purchase price. Unbleached Tilley Hats will be replaced free if they ever wear out, mildew, or shrink."

Just to recap: you can wear your hat for thirty years non-stop and then, just when it's at its mouldy worst, ask for a refund. And get one. Impressive.

Promote your customers

Business intelligence software provider Pentaho does all it can to publicise its clients. It enters them for industry awards, puts them forward for speaking opportunities at events and in the press, runs events where they can meet each other to network, recommends them to journalists and helps them make video materials for marketing. In return the clients are more likely to sit on Pentaho's advisory panels and take part in roadmap sessions to thrash out the future direction of Pentaho.

Rebecca Shomair of Pentaho says of the policy: “Not only do both parties benefit, but we learn incredibly valuable information about what our customers value about us and also where they would like us to improve."

Speak English!

Your staff is probably more than able to create a spark with customers if you'd just let them be themselves.

Nick Parker, creative director at corporate copyrighter The Writer. He's rewritten scripts for BT and other large companies, often helping them re-discover their own natural voice. He says: "There’s a really simple way to make an emotional connection with your customers: sort your writing out. Even savvy brands who manage every other aspect of their image ruthlessly often have a blind spot when it comes to their customer service writing. You wouldn't stand for an advisor who droned on in a bored monotone. Or had a patronising sneer. Or did an impression of a snooty 1950s BBC newsreader. Yet too much customer service writing is still stilted, formal and robotic. These days, what with emails and instant messages, texts and tweets, most brands are touching their customers with their writing more than in any other way - and often without the usual brand support of typeface, logo, colours and photos. The language we use is saying more about our brands than ever before."

He says that if you get this right you can really develop a strong rapport with customers: "Innocent drinks famously make sure that even the ingredients on their bottles are interesting (‘two squashed bananas, a dash of lemon juice, and absolutely no trumpets’.) Just think how a nice error message on your computer (‘oops, something’s gone wrong’, Twitter said to me this morning) can help alleviate those day-to-day moments of digital frustration. At The Writer, we’ve even won work because a client liked a funny out of office that one of our writers had. It’s not just about the big things. Even these nooks and crannies are opportunities to do something unexpectedly delightful."

Clean toilets

You can always judge a restaurant by the state of its loos. Which is why pub chain JD Wetherspoon is obsessed with cleaning its restrooms. Over half of its 790 pubs get a five-star rating, and it won the 2010 Loo of the Year Award, for which firm across all sectors are eligible, beating 1,400 other entrants.

A bit of flamboyant design doesn't harm either. Just check out sci-fi style facilities at London restaurant Sketch.

Use Twitter and Facebook

Social networks are for more than just pinging out occasional updates. Twitter can be used as a primary platform for handling enquiries and complaints. Online printer ink retailer Stinkyink uses Twitter to handle all sorts of enquiries. MD John Sollars says Twitter is simply more convenient for many customers: "With email you always have the disadvantage of 'when will they reply?' and constantly checking your mail, and blogs are just a pain to subscribe to and monitor frequently. Those who are using Twitter typically have an app like Tweetdeck, or push notifications set up, that mean they are immediately alerted once a response is received."

Facebook is another must.

The real key on Facebook is to keep talking to consumers. It can't be a one way selling channel. Get some good banter going and customers will love engaging. John Greed Jewellery has managed to sign up 23,700 Facebook followers. How? The head of marketing tells Hotfrog: "We keep our followers up to date with the latest trends and new pieces, we run regular competitions and often just engage in friendly chat about topical subject. We respond to customer enquiries almost instantly through Facebook. Social networking is the modern way of interacting and in order to become more than just another faceless company you need to make sure that your customers are also your friends!"

Fabulous phone etiquette

Calling technical support can be a nightmare. You just don't know how long you are going to be left listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Computer maker PC Specialist gets round this by publishing live wait times online. The data includes an Average Wait Time and Longest Wait Time.

SilverDoor is Europe’s largest independent international serviced apartments company, last year it saw over 25 percent growth in turnover year on year, and is on track to beat it this year. The company puts this success down to excellent customer service. For example, the company commits to answer the phone within three rings, working out to be an average of eight seconds, so that it can offer clients a quick, efficient and friendly service. It also offers an online live chat facility, and an email triggered call-back service. Staff speak a wide range of languages including French, Italian, Portuguese, Farsi, Lithuanian, Albanian, Greek, Dutch, Polish and Hindi to name just a few. When customers realise they can converse in their native language, instead of stumbling through using shaky English, they are hugely grateful.

Deal with complaints amazingly

This classic tale gets told at pretty much every MBA course. Some lecturers take their students on a quick lunch break to see the policy in action.

At McDonald's the servers are told to comply with pretty much every complaint. Almost nothing is worth quibbling over. To test this: order a Big Mac and Coke. Eat half the Big Mac and drink half the Coke. Then, in full view of the staff, drop the burger into the drink. Say "There's something in my drink." The result? A fresh Big Mac and new Coke are immediately supplied. This resolves the problem in seconds, delights the customer and prevents any inconvenience to other patrons.