Providing a great product or service is only a fraction of providing a great client experience.
We might be tempted to think delivering a great final product should be enough. We tell ourselves it should be all about the work. But whether we like it or not, there’s more to it than that.
I once ordered a softbox lighting set-up from Amazon. Nothing fancy—just something I could use as we began recording more videos and webinars. The product had decent reviews and a videographer buddy of mine said it looked like it would do the job.
So, I went ahead and purchased it. After it arrived, I excitedly tore into the boxes to get it assembled, but quickly realized something was missing: directions.
Yep, no directions.
Setting up the kit wasn’t rocket science, but directions would of drastically cut down on assembly time. There were a decent amount of pieces, and it took some trial-and-error figuring out how to assemble the kit.
After it was set-up, I could see that the kit looked just as it did in the pictures on Amazon. What I had ordered looked exactly like it did online. It was just what I wanted…
But I realized in that moment that even though the product ended up being exactly what I expected, the experience is made up of so much more.
How much better would the experience have been if directions had been included with the kit? And what if on those directions I was told about how long it takes to assemble, and what tools I would need? And what if along with the directions, there were a few tutorials I could access online? What if after I was done I could access a brief guide on how to best use the lights?
A Great Client Experience Deals with Questions & Fears
When someone buys your product or service—especially for the first time—she probably has fears. When I bought the softbox kit, I was curious whether it would really work how I needed it to. Had the company provided some materials around that fear, I would have been more confident in my purchase.
What are some questions or fears your clients may have?
If you’re in the wedding industry, there are plenty of examples. Many of the couples we used to work with back when we were wedding photographers had never been married before, so the entire wedding planning experience is a new one.
It’s one of the reasons we used to send our engagement session guide to couples prior to their session. They’ve never had an engagement session before, and whether they say it or not, they want to make sure they get some great pictures. Our engagement session guide walked the couple through the process, pointed out a few things they should think about, and reassures them that they would be well-taken care of throughout the session.
The better you can be at explaining how your product or service will work for your client—not for clients in general or for other people similar to them, but for them—the better experience they will have. So, what fears might people have when buying your product or service?
The Curse of Knowledge
It can be difficult to understand the questions or fears that our clients might have because we’re so familiar with our services.
This is the called the “curse of knowledge”: basically, since we know our product or service really well, we tend to forget that others don’t know as much and assume they know more than they do. And as a result of our familiarity, we have a hard time putting ourselves in our client’s shoes.
It’s why software developers will spend hours observing how users actually use their software. Since they developed it, how it should be used is obvious to them. But an actual user, especially one without previous experience of the software, will be able to reveal areas that are unclear or need improvement.
One way to battle the curse of knowledge is to be attentive to the questions that clients or customers are asking, and to encourage them to feel comfortable asking anything. Those questions often reveal deeper fears. And, if possible, get out and talk to people who could be potential clients. Ask them to tell you about what questions they would have about your product or service if they were a customer.
That way you can develop resources around those questions and fears.
Here’s what makes for a great experience…
What this recent experience really emphasized was the opportunity a company has throughout the client experience. While providing a great product or service is important, we have more influence over how the client feels about our product or service than we think.
1. Your clients need a guide.
When I was looking for a lighting set-up, I really didn’t know what I needed, which is why I reached out to my videographer buddy. He acted as my guide throughout the purchasing process.
Had this company created some content around what I should be looking for in a lighting set-up, I would have been more confident in my purchase. And it would have given the company the opportunity to act as my guide. This would have been as easy as including something like this on the page: “This lighting setup is perfect for those trying to…”.
Are you guiding people through your website? When someone new lands on your website do they immediately know where to go next? People shouldn’t have to guess where to find relevant information on your site or what step comes next.
One way we encourage people to do this on their websites is by including information on their ‘about page’ regarding their process. We know this will be one of the first pages that people visit, so including some information on what comes next and educating them on what the process will look like can go a long way in assuring the potential client that they’re in the right place!
2. Your clients want to be educated.
Who knows how to get the most out of your product or service? You do. Which is why you should take every available opportunity to educate your clients on how to use your service.
Why? Because the more they get out of your product or service, the happier they will be. We recently added a live chat feature to our shop so that we can answer questions in real time. We use Crisp to do this, and after we installed the app we started receiving emails from the company on how to best use it.
They spend time sending these emails because they understand I might not intuitively start using all of the features they have available on the app. By providing some content around an issue and providing a solution with one of their features, they’re educating us on how to best use their product.
This is part of the reason why we send a pricing guide for our collections instead of just sending a list of prices to prospects. It gives us the opportunity to further educate prospects around what they’re getting. Again, since nearly all of our couples have never been married before, much of this is new to them. The more we can educate clients, the more comfortable they’ll feel spending money on us.
3. Your clients should be affirmed.
It’s normal to feel a little remorse after making a purchase—especially a bigger one. Businesses have a few easy opportunities to battle that sense of regret.
After signing up for Thinkific, an online course creating software, we received this message from the founder thanking us for signing up and pointing us towards a few support materials.
Sure, we know it’s an automated email, but it’s a nice touch nonetheless.
We’ve been using Later.com for years (it’s a marketing platform that helps you stay organized on social platforms like Instagram). Back in the day, it was a violation of Instagram’s terms of use for apps to “auto-post” for you, so Later didn’t offer that feature even though it was something many people were looking for anyways. Later, knowing that this feature was a big-deal to people, sent an email in their onboarding email sequence explaining why they didn’t include the feature and why Later was better for it.
The app both educated us and reinforced that we made the right decision.
The Client Experience Lasts Longer Than You Think
The client experience is a culmination of how a client feels from the first touchpoint she has with your brand through the final time she interacts with your product or service. This has the potential to be a long, long time (especially if you do something like wedding photography)!
Fortunately, you have more control over how a client interacts with your brand than you think. Take the time to guide, educate, and affirm. It can be done easily and without a ton of investment. But the results can be transformative to a business.
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