There are many reasons why a customer may elect to do business with your company. Perhaps you are the most affordable option or the most convenient. Maybe it’s because of your brand’s prestige. No matter what brings them to your business the first time, what will keep them coming back is the experience that they had when interacting with your brand.
But what exactly does the Customer Experience (CX) entail? According a decade’s worth of research, multinational firm KPMG, has identified Six Pillars of Experience Excellence, personalization, integrity, expectations, resolution, time & effort, and empathy.
KPMG does a great job explaining what each pillar means, but it always helps to apply knowledge in practical and relatable ways and I’ve been daydreaming about dinner so let’s look at some restaurants that truly stand out with their CX performance.
Personalization Standout: MOOYAH
I’m somewhat of a picky eater and I actually tense up at the thought of going to a restaurant where I can’t make any adjustments. I trust chefs to be good at what they do, but how can they know my specific tastes? It’s for that reason that I think places that encourage you to build your own [fill in the blank]. Mooyah excels here, heavily promoting their “customizable” burgers while still having pre-designed burger favorites on the menu. This makes customers feel like they are truly getting a product that is unique to their tastes.
Empathy Standout: Chik-Fil-A
Have you had the pleasure of dining at one of these places? Chik-fi-A is known for two things basically, being closed on Sundays and their amazing customer service. Dining inside is an absolute delight and that cannot be said of many fast food chains. You order at the counter and instead of making you stand around waiting, they let you take a seat and will bring the food out to you. Employees check in on you and go out of their way to make your experience pleasurable offering to grab you condiments or refills. And if you thank them, they respond with “It’s my pleasure.” No, Chik-fil-A, the pleasure is truly ours.
Time & Effort Standout: Jimmy John’s
Picture this: you’re busy at work, you forgot to pack a lunch, and your next meeting is in 15 mins. You barely have time to walk across the office to the vending machine, but you’re soooo hungry. In those moments, I usually opt for Jimmy John’s because they have never failed me, even their website is fast. They value customer’s time and made a name for themselves with their “freaky fast” deliveries using a fleet of bicycles to ensure even traffic wouldn’t stop them. This commitment to going above and beyond to feed their customers
CX FOR SUCCESS
Looking at the above restaurant examples you can see how these restaurants have managed to carve out a customer base despite there being no shortage of dining options.Chances are that your business also does not exist in a vacuum; you have competitors and your customers have choices. Paying proper attention to your CX is going to ensure that customers choose your brand over and over again.