CX author Dan Gingiss on turning customers into your own salesforce

Some businesses are only focusing on getting more customers, but once the customers are there, companies don't spend anything to keep them.

Customers can leave for multiple reasons:

• We've over-promised but can't deliver on our promises.
• The rest of the organisation is not delivering the kind of experience the customer wants.

Because you end up acquiring three customers to keep one, that one customer becomes much more expensive.

When customers talk about their experiences, it is more authentic than other advertising.

At the heart of remarkable customer experiences is the WISER model:

• W - witty. It is about being clever, refusing to be boring and using language to your advantage.
• I - immersive. Ensuring that the entire customer journey is consistent and fluid.
• S - shareable. It is about intentionally finding places in your experience where people will want to share.
• E- extraordinary. It is about being better than ordinary.

When you become WISE to customer experience, and people start sharing about your brand, you have to become WISER than the competition.

The R stands for responsive. When people talk about your company, you need to be part of that conversation, especially on social media. Responsive is about answering questions, responding to compliments and handling complaints. 

Becoming a customer of your own business means going through the process you're asking customers to go through.

When you go through the customer experience, you may find processes that are confusing, difficult or may break. You'll never find this unless you do it yourself.

Customer experience does not have to be a year-long, multi-million-dollar process.

It can be a series of little things. If you notice and deal with the little things, to get rid of the pain points and customer irritations and make them better, you're transforming the experience.