The Power of Customer Experience

A few weeks ago, I begrudgingly took my Audi car in for a service. I say begrudgingly because any car service I have done to-date is typically inconvenient and more costly than I would have liked.

In advance of booking my car in for it’s inaugural service, the dashboard lights let me know that I needed new oil, new windshield wiping fluids and a full service. Rightly or wrongly, I also have a perception that it’s a coin-toss as to whether you get taken for a ride (metaphorically!) when the post-service bill is presented.

In addition to this, the Audi service centre is not near our city office or public transport which would require a 30 minute Uber ride to and from the service-centre in rush hour traffic.

Anyway, I pulled up to Audi’s service centre at 8.20am. I was met by a professional representative named Anthony who checked my car in. With a smile, Anthony confirmed that my car was under 3 year free service program and the cost of the service would be $0.  First smile of the day!

Anthony then confirmed that there was a complimentary shuttle bus that would drive me into the city and drop me at my office. There was also a complimentary return shuttle from the City at 3pm or 4.30pm that would drive me back to the Audi Service Centre to pick-up my serviced car.

I was gobsmacked and definitely impressed. This was the best car servicing experience that I had ever had and completely surpassed my expectations.

I was then invited to have a coffee and pastry in the waiting lounge where I got some alone time to catch-up on emails.

Before I had finished my coffee, the shuttle bus driver came over to greet me “Mr Bergl, please join us, we’re ready to take you into the city and drop you at your office”.

Later that day, I walked for 10 minutes to the pick-up point nearest to my office and seamlessly made it back to the Audi service centre, to meet my serviced and shiny car accompanied with a $0 bill.  

It was the best car servicing that I had experience. I felt appreciated and important and it reaffirmed that I had made the right choice with my car purchase and any buyers-remorse that existed after buying an expensive car had been quashed.

When back in the office the next day, I told all of my friends and colleagues about how well I had been treated and did a lot of marketing on Audi’s behalf. In fact, I’m now writing an article on how awesome they were. The car is brilliant and they didn’t just give me great service, they gave me an exceptional customer experience.

Customer experience is so powerful in modern-day business.

The reality is, I paid a premium price for a premium product.  I’m not na?ve enough to think that those services were ‘free’ per se, however, Audi:

• Made it incredibly easy and seamless for me to ‘do business with them’ (friendly staff, no waiting to check-in/check-out, dropped off and picked up from work)
• Focused on customer experience over profit ($0 service fee)
• Made me feel special (chauffeured to and from work, staff incredibly polite and professional)
• Built a high level of trust with me that they are genuinely focused on delivering high quality cars with high quality mechanical & customer service

The IT industry and car industry are different, but there are some similarities in both that can impact the success of business growth. A great customer experience is incredibly important, firstly to create happy customers, but more importantly to differentiate yourself in a competitive marketplace.

The exciting thing when considering ‘customer experience’ is that it doesn’t have to be a drastic change in your product/service offering to be a step ahead of your competition and create a ‘wow factor’ with our customers. It’s not uncommon to receive mediocre service in all industries, so doing a bit more than what’s expected is likely to get you ahead.

Here are a few considerations that you can implement in your own business to drive a greater customer experience, be easy to do business with and forge customers for life:

1)   Understand what your customers really want and give that to them. If you don’t know, ask them. Invite 10 customers for lunch or dinner once per quarter and ask them about your service and product quality, pricing strategy and overall engagement.

2)   Prove that you appreciate your customers. Waive miscellaneous fees that a historical vendor may have charged them and let them know that it’s a small token of appreciation to say thank you for your continued business.

3)   Emotionally connect with customers. If a customer is going through a positive experience such as winning an award, or a sad time such as the funeral of a loved one, send them flowers or a gift to let them know you’re thinking of them.

4)   Go the extra ‘inch’. Do 10% more than you said you would do. Many fall short of what they say will do, so by you delivering 110% you will exceed expectations and I can assure you that you’ll be talked about in work and social conversations and win repeat and referral business

5)   Monitor & engage in online communication and offer and deliver solutions if you get bad press. It helps to protect your public image but since reviews on social media platforms such as Reddit, Facebook, Google are growing, ensure you’re addressing issues and learning from mistakes

6)   Exceed Expectations – Do what you say you will do 10% quicker than your agreement. Deliver 10% more that is expected. Be honest even when it’s bad news and pick up the phone rather than email.