Outsourcing and the Customer Experience

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When considering what to outsource for your business, you need to think about the bigger picture – you need to think about your customers’ overall experience.

When it comes to outsourcing anything to do with your brand or your business, it is important to ensure your customer’s experience is a positive one. What does this mean? It means seeing your social media content, website content and email marketing through the eyes of your customer.

Whether a customer is talking to someone representing your business in person, over the phone, via email or engaging with online content, their experience needs to be a positive one in order to maintain a positive and beneficial relationship.

Social Media and Customer Experience

When it comes to social media, make sure you are not only posting relevant and engaging content to your social channels, but that the channels are also being monitored for questions, comments and direct messages. From a customer’s point of view, there is nothing more convenient than asking a question via social media… and there is nothing more frustrating than not receiving an answer in a timely matter or at all! If you have a social media presence, you need to be present for your customers! Of course, it is near impossible to be online 24/7, but designating a virtual assistant(s) to monitor your social channels and making it clear to your customers when you will be on and offline, make for a positive customer social media experience.

Social media is also the place many customers turn to for feedback, reviews and to share opinions on businesses. It’s important to listen, empathize and not react poorly to negative online posts regarding your business. Instead address the issue in as positive a way as possible and reassure them you are listening and addressing their concerns. Word of mouth via social media travels VERY fast. Nurture all customer relationships and answer every comment or concern with care – this also includes positive comments! A virtual assistant can learn your company’s voice and be the touch point person for all customer queries, comments and concerns.

Content Creation and Customer Experience

Is the content on your website what your customers need to 1) Find you 2) Contact you (and not just on a contact form; where applicable, provide a phone number, address, email address, social channels and business hours) and 3) Know all relevant and pertinent details about your business? This information should be easily found on any website – it not only makes for better business, but also tells customers that you want to be found and you value them enough to give them the information they need without them having to look for a needle in a haystack.

Your blog content should also be relevant to your business and should address any problems or questions your customers may have. Lastly, a FAQ page is always a great resource for new and returning customers looking for a quick answer to some of the more popular questions your business receives.

A virtual assistant that specializes in content creation can write on-point content that not only reflects your business’ mission and goals, but also serves to answer customers questions and help them solve problems.

Email Marketing and Customer Experience

Are the emails you send tailored to your customers experience with your business? Meaning if a customer only interacts with certain kinds of content on your website or only purchase specific products from your store are you sending them personalized emails based on how they interact with your business?

If you bring to life your different types of customers and work to really understand their wants and needs (Google Analytics and the Facebook Pixel are two of the ways this can be achieved), then you are better able to connect and empathize with them – and are in a better position to sell them what they are looking for.

If you are sending mass emails that are not relevant to the individual subscriber the more likely you are to lose them, not only as a subscriber, but as a customer.

A virtual assistant proficient in email marketing can easily set up and support lists or segments as well as write email content tailored to your customers’ experience.

Before any business outsources tasks that are read, interacted with or encourage customer interaction, they should develop a customer experience strategy and then make sure this strategy and its overall goal is made clear to their entire team. This means taking note of all touch points for your business and having a customer experience plan for each and every one of them. A business who successfully develops, communicates and implements a customer experience strategy will not only have higher customer satisfaction rates, but increased customer retention and revenue!

Are you looking to develop a customer experience strategy or work with a virtual assistant who knows the importance of customer experience to a business’ overall success? Then let’s chat.