What’s Your Story?: How Customer Experience Creates a Narrative

Selling a high-quality product or offering a stellar service is not the only factor to consider when you’re launching and building a business. In order to truly remain profitable and successful, it is important to consider how a customer perceives your business. The way a customer interacts with a brand, its products, and services can provide valuable insight into the overall narrative that your business is driving, whether you are a local brick and mortar retail store or an international e-commerce brand. All of this starts with creating a compelling customer experience.

Read Reviews

Spend time reviewing any reviews, scores, and write-ups your company has received online, by both individuals as well as online and local publications or magazines. Reading reviews and write-ups can provide you with valuable insight into how others view your business, and what more you can do to better improve on their experience with your service or company in the future. Set up email alerts to remain informed any time there is a new review or published article that references your business online. Consistent maintenance of your customer reviews can prevent you from missing out on potential business due to a negative review that has not been cleared up or responded to by you. Use reviews and write-ups not only for valuable insight but also to help remedy issues others have experienced with your business and brand.

Word of Mouth

Word of mouth marketing is any form of marketing that requires individuals to communicate a message, idea or piece of content to one another in order for it to effectively spread. Using word of mouth marketing is not always predictable, which is why it is one of the least common methods of marketing used by major corporations and brands today. However, unique ideas, funny videos, and interesting facts have all been known for going viral via word of mouth. If you have a distinctive idea, brand, or business that is sure to stand out among your competition and the audience you intend to target, consider a word of mouth marketing campaign for a potential to go viral and global in less time than a traditional marketing funnel would take.

Sharing Stories

If one of your goals as a business owner is to establish a positive and professional reputation, consider sharing stories and experiences of your customers with your current followers and target audience. You may choose to highlight and share customer experiences with other visitors or prospective customers to build bonds and strengthen trust between you and your loyal followers. Allow your customers to submit and share their own shopping or customer service experiences with you directly on your website, using an email marketing campaign, or even on your social media pages. Use submitted and verified customer experiences to help share positivity surrounding your brand with those who follow you or simply want to learn more.

Get Personal

One way to strengthen the bond and trust with your customers is to interact with them personally. Interacting with customers is possible by responding directly to an email, inquiry, or even a comment left on one of your company social media pages. Interacting with your followers and customers directly and personally can help to solidify the bond you have with your users while also showcasing transparency and trustworthiness to new prospective customers. Establishing a bond and relationship with your users and loyal followers is one of the best ways to set yourself apart from competitors and highly competitive businesses that are already successful. When users feel as if you are real, truthful, and authentic, they are more likely to rally behind a business and brand with their money and support.

Influencer Marketing

Using influencer marketing with social media is another way to quickly tap into a highly targeted audience or demographic. Influencer marketing involves contacting any individual on your preferred social media platform with a large and expanding following. Most individuals who are considered influencers, regardless of industry, have typically amassed more than 10,000 followers. Purchasing ad campaigns or time in the spotlight using an influencer’s social media page on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, or even Twitter can quickly provide you with additional views and exposure, allowing you to spread the word of your brand in less time. Using influencer marketing is one of the quickest ways to solidify your business or brand’s reputation in the eyes of your target audience, even if you are building your company from the ground up.

Creating a Compelling Customer Experience

Understanding the your customer experience can drastically influence your marketing campaigns, strategies, and future successes whenever you are crafting new methods of reaching an intended or targeted audience. With a thorough understanding of your customer base and the type of narrative you want to create for your company, you can develop promotions, campaigns, and strategies that are sure to resonate with your audience.