How To Craft A Warm And Cozy Customer Experience

 

Employees who will respond quickly and do anything to make customers happy—even opening products to give out samples to curious customers—that’s Trader Joe’s. Or how about the trust that customers have for the Subaru brand? They don’t worry about a lack of transparency. Customers know they are safe in their Subaru because the brand proactively addresses any issues that come about and ensure their reliable cars remain reliable.

You have definitely experienced an interaction with brands that made you feel warm and fuzzy inside, as have we all. These companies understand the customer experience and put forth the effort to make every one of their customers feel like they are taken care of. And it works, doesn’t it? You can’t help but feel great when you walk out of a store where you felt taken care of, and listened to. And it makes you want to go back. Every smile, kind gesture, and genuine connection from employee to customer elevates the experience with that brand.

Taking care of your customers / making them feel welcome is one of the most important customer relations strategies that you could ever implement–it’s also the most genuine and human. 

But with so much going on, it’s easy to fall in a rut of going through the motions when it comes to customer service–templated responses save time and energy and employees are exhausted (as are all of us) and the enthusiasm just isn’t as present as it was earlier in the year.

Everyone wants to be greeted with a warm welcome and leave feeling cozy and cared for, especially during the holidays. As we slip into the holiday season (the busiest shopping time of the year) this is an excellent time to review your customer experience strategy and make sure it’s warm and welcoming. 

 

The Role of Customer Experience for Modern Customers 

Business is all about relationships. If you come across a brand (or an employee) with a crappy attitude, does that make you want to give them a lick of your time or your money? Usually not, warm and welcoming is the way we all want to feel. And this is especially apparent with modern customers.

With modern customers wanting more authenticity, transparency, and connection with brands, genuine customer service needs to be paid attention to that much more, whether that connection happens in a brick and mortar location or you’re an e-commerce brand–the success of your brand is built on it.

Brand success depends on companies investing in customer relationships, turning transactions into authentic connections. Millennials are not phased by traditional marketing measures–they don’t want to be sold to. They want to connect genuinely with brands in order to buy and then become loyal to them. 

This takes some thought whether you’re providing service to customers in person or online–they both matter, they just take different strategies and require different methods for providing it efficiently.

So there you have it, focus on the real, genuine experience that you provide to your customers and give them the feeling we all want and love. Hygge it up!

 

 

How to Hygge Up Your Customer Experience for eCommerce

 

1. Responsive Mobile Site

Mobile shopping has been a game-changer in the last decade–do people even shop on their computers anymore? Opening up a brand’s app or visiting their website online and clicking to purchase right from your mobile phone in under 5 minutes–the ease is magic. 

If people shop on their mobile devices for ease, you have to make sure that ease is actually present for your customers in order for them to take advantage of it, especially when so much shopping is going on during the holiday season. Mobile shopping increases 64% during the holidays, so now’s the time to get your mobile site in tip-top shape.

People are impatient and they want to lessen their time and energy making purchases whenever possible. Make sure the mobile version of your site (or you app if you have one) loads in 5 seconds or less. 

Start by checking that every graphic, photo, and text is responsive. If it loads funny, disappears on mobile, or adds unnecessary scrolling it has to go.

Make it pretty and presentable and user-friendly so your customers can get to their online shopping.

 

2. Align All Content With Active Campaigns

Every one of your content roads and customer interactions should be leading to the same CTA, the same goal. Whether that be a holiday promotion, gated content, or a new product launch, make sure it all aligns.

For example, if you’re running a 50% off holiday promotion campaign on social media, if a customer visits your website they should immediately see that promotion there as well. Your #1 goal should be to direct people to convert based on that campaign. Make sure everywhere a customer will come across your brand promotes that campaign and everything is consistent, driving results for that goal.

Take a look at your email marketing, social media messaging, customer success strategies, employee phone introductions, email signatures, blog posts, all of it. Drive as many people to that one place you’re pushing for by making it easy to understand and access.

 

3. Personalize Steps In The Customer Journey

Everyone wants to feel like they’re special, and personalizing a customer’s journey is the perfect way to do that. 

Personalized products or experiences for your customers makes them 4 times more likely to convert. 

This doesn’t mean that you have to personalize everything you have to offer, but choose scenarios that you can reasonably customize that will add value to your customers.

On your website or through email marketing, personalize product recommendations based on what a customer interacts with or has purchased from you in the past. Or add incentives or provide more information (for free!) to increase conversions. If a customer feels like they are getting a little something extra when they make a purchase, they’re much more excited to hit the “Buy” button.

Another great way to add customization to your customer experience is by simply leveraging list segmentation for your email marketing. Try dynamic segmentation. Dynamic segmentation is all about assigning customers to different segments based on their purchasing behavior. By doing this, you can increase conversions because you are providing your customers with the right content at the right time, making it effortless for them to see (and buy) what you know they already want. 

 

4. Encourage Self Gifting

Holiday shopping isn’t just about purchasing gifts for loved ones, we all buy gifts for ourselves around the holiday season too. The deals are great, new products are hitting the shelves, and the energy is high–why wouldn’t you buy that new kitchen set that you’ve really been wanting? Maybe it feels guilty, but it shouldn’t.

Enhance your customer experience by encouraging customers to treat themselves too. Get them out of that guilty rut and show them that they deserve that nice gift too–buy what you want! 

By understanding this change in consumer buying habits around this time of year, you can leverage the idea of self-gifting. Groupon does this well–Self-Gifting Day!

 

5. Improve Shipping Burdens

What’s the worst feeling when it comes to gift buying? Shipping delays are a huge problem creeping up on the list. How can you improve the shipping burdens for your customers?

The feeling of waiting and waiting and waiting some more for a package as Christmas day inches closer is a stress-filled situation. Encourage early gift buying so the stress doesn’t creep up on your customers. 

Do this by offering incentives to get gift purchasing done early, or offer expedited delivery options at checkout. Maybe it’s discounted shipping for a speedy delivery, fast shipping is a big deal to people. Whatever it is, communication is the key part of shipping for customers, so be creative, tell them what’s up, and find ways to create that ease. 

 

Hyggge Up The Holidays

Serving your customers and creating a great (and easy) customer experience makes the difference your brand needs to stand out and gain those loyal fans. It all comes down to encouraging self-gifting, communicating as much as you can, and streamlining your online shopping experience (including mobile). So give your current customer service strategy a scan and hygge it up for the holiday season!