Business tips

6 customer experience mistakes every business should avoid

December 5, 2022

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Improve customer experiences by avoiding these 6 mistakes

When it comes to business, no amount of marketing or advertising can outweigh a bad customer experience. Negative customer experiences are so damaging that 67% of customers report it as the reason for switching to a competitor.¹

Since attracting a new customer is 6-7 times more expensive than retaining a current one, delighting them throughout the entire buying experience and beyond is essential.² With a great customer experience you can positively impact revenue, improve loyalty and gain an edge in a competitive market.

In this article, we’ve gathered 6 customer experience mistakes businesses should avoid and how they can be improved on.

1. Not responsive enough

Whether it’s via a phone call, chat message or tagged social media post, customers want timely replies. When they have a customer service question, 90% of customers rate an “immediate” response (less than 10 minutes) as essential or very important.³ Make sure your customers feel heard on all platforms without long waits.

2. Using jargon and complicated terms

Using technical terms specific to your industry can leave customers confused and frustrated. It’s essential that you speak your customer’s language. Also, you can show your industry expertise by breaking down complex topics into simple terms through language that resonates with your customers.

3. Lack of staff training

Your staff represents your company and its values. If training is neglected or inconsistent, your team won’t be able to build strong customer relationships.

Ensure that training covers the best ways to interact with customers, as well as comprehensive product and service knowledge. With proper training, every staff member can be counted on to navigate issues and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

4. No personalization

Today’s customers expect businesses to provide relevant product suggestions so they can spend less time browsing. The good news is that you can personalize every step in the customer journey by gathering and analyzing data.

With the right data, you can create personalized experiences that delight your customers. For example, you can:

Keep in touch with customers after they make a purchase, like recommending products similar to the one they bought.
Send discounts to customers based on their past purchases, such as a discount on air filters 3 months after they bought an air purifier.
Share quizzes to match customers with the right products by understanding their needs.

With personalization you can win over customers, boost sales and improve conversion rates by 8%.⁴

5. Ignoring feedback

If you don’t listen to your customers, you could be missing out on valuable insights that help you build better products and services. Feedback is a useful tool for businesses to leverage and comprehensively learn about how they are doing from clients.

Even negative feedback can be used to understand customers’ pain points. With this knowledge, businesses can improve their service and prevent similar problems from happening to other customers. Don’t forget to check your business’ social media, where you may receive messages about questions, troubleshooting and complaints.

6. Making customers work too hard

Above all, customers want seamless, enjoyable and fast interactions. Customers should not have to spend time trying to navigate a confusing website, searching for contact information or waiting long times to meet with an agent.

Go through your business’ website as if you were a customer visiting it for the first time. Consider how easy or challenging it is to get information and see what processes can be streamlined.

Turn customer service mistakes into strengths

By learning from these 6 common customer experience mistakes, you can elevate your own strategy. Exceptional customer service empowers businesses to enhance customer retention, improve brand loyalty and boost your return on investment.

“107 Customer Service Statistics and Facts You Shouldn’t Ignore” https://www.helpscout.com/75-customer-service-facts-quotes-statistics/
“8 Common Customer Service Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” https://userguiding.com/blog/customer-service-mistakes/
“Live Chat Exposes a Fatal Flaw in Your Go-to-Market” https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/live-chat-go-to-market-flaw
“Why personalized experiences can boost conversions” https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/browsers-to-buyers/why-a-personalized-consumer-experience-matters-in-the-ecommerce-world

Improve customer experiences by avoiding these 6 mistakes

Turn customer service mistakes into strengths

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