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The Devil’s in the Details to Ensure a Seamless Customer Experience

In the Real World of marketing, success often means beating the clock to speed messages, offers and programs out the door. In the flurry of activity, truly thinking through what happens when consumers act on our call to action can slip through a crack. Sure, we check to make sure the phone number and URL works. But our QC needs to go beyond that. We want to make sure connecting the customer to the information they want is a seamless and positive experience.

Here are six pointers to make sure your customer leaves the interaction feeling good about your brand regardless of their stage of the journey:

1. Dial In Your Phone/Customer Service Reps

Make sure the customer service reps are in-the-know about upcoming marketing efforts, as well as the product itself. (This goes for both in-house and outsourced call centers.) Avoid your team having to redirect callers to another phone number or representative, or (gasp!) hoping that customers will self-direct themselves to another company altogether!

2. Make Your Landing Page/Websites Click

Ensure that the page literally link shoppers directly to the product or function featured. If you’re promising more information, provide a little of that promised content, along with a vehicle to sign up, order, or whatever the ultimate call to action is. Maybe that’ll be enough to meet their curiosity: make the customer’s next steps as minimal as possible. In any way you can, minimize the number of clicks the customer must make to reach their desired end.

3. Make Sure All Email Links Connect — On All Levels

Literally … this may seem obvious, but always check that all the links are fully functional. For every callout or hyperlink, make sure it not only works, but leads the customer to content relevant to the callout … and your customer.

4. DRTV CTA — Early And Often

Viewers are not always fully “tuned in” when watching a spot. Did you provide sufficient repetition of URLs and phone numbers for prospects to use and follow up? Telling them multiple times is not repetitive; it’s reinforcing. People often miss half the phone number the first time they hear it, and a URL can vanish in the time someone decides they want to make a note. Don’t make it hard for them to remember how to reach you!

5. Connecting In Social Media Advertising

Similar to my notes on email above, check to be sure destinations match the ad messaging. Don’t take prospects too far back – or forward – in their info gathering or sales process. You don’t want to be either too confusing or pushy. Ensure a smooth connection as they move from one platform to the next. Be sure to jealously protect the initial interest you’ve garnered.

6. Get Your Timing Right

Some marketers are tied by regulations as to when they can sell (e.g., the annual enrollment period for health insurance) or bound by seasonality (e.g., the back-to-school season). But many programs are at the will of the marketer, where you can set your own response deadline or sale period. Still, careful planning and attention to detail is in order. Promote too soon and you risk a lack of urgency. (“That’s so far off, I’ll look at it later.”) Wait until the absolute last minute carries its own perils: not giving prospects a chance to weigh their options before committing. (“Geez, I wish I’d had more time to think about this sooner!”) Get your timing right to preheat interest and tee up requests for more info, product pages, etc., is your key.

For Ideal-World Results, Apply Real-World Discipline

As you can see, there’s lots of moving parts. Plenty to think about. You can have a devil of a time to get all the moving parts humming in perfect harmony. When it goes right, the results can be heavenly. In that Ideal World, each action a customer takes beyond their first is easy, painless, and consummate in another profitable sale. Back in the Real World, it’s not always easy. If budget, resource, and timing limitations are keeping you from that Marketing Nirvana, we’re here to help.

Strategic planning, tactical skills, operations expertise…contact us anytime. Or, maybe you just need someone to listen. Well, we’re good at that, too (as long as you’re okay if we still come up with some actionable ideas to help improve your results)!