How to Instantly Improve Global Customer Experience
This week is the National Customer Service Week, so in its honor I’d like to show you how you can improve your customer experience strategy.
Customer service is an essential component of the overall global customer experience, from building awareness and attracting new customers to conversion, cultivation, and advocacy.
There are three organizations I’m going to analyze and demonstrate how they implement language services in their customer experience process.
Three Organizations Delivering Excellent Customer Experience
What do Amazon.com, Clark Public Utilities and the Ritz-Carlton all have in common?
They were among 50 organizations recognized by J.D. Power for providing the highest level of customer service.
They are also quite different from one another. One is an eCommerce giant, the other a public utility and the third a world-class luxury hotel chain.
In the case of Amazon.com and the Ritz-Carlton, there is a lot of very good competition out there. Customers have a choice to buy goods & services from other online retailers and travelers can stay at other luxury hotels.
With Clark Public Utilities, the case is slightly different, because there’s no competition. You only have one place to buy power and water in that geographical location.
All three of these organizations found ways to deliver the best service to their customers through a variety of ways. More importantly, they found ways to improve the overall customer experience & satisfaction.
It’s relatively easy to capture one transaction from a customer. Your goal should be on figuring out on how to get that customer to come back for more.
If your customer has an excellent experience interacting with you, they will surely buy from you again.
Here’s how you can instantly improve your global customer experience strategy.
Communicate with Your Customers in Their Language
The days of English being the language of commerce are behind us. If you’re not creating brand awareness in Chinese, Spanish and Arabic, you are missing out on a huge business opportunity.
Besides English, those three languages and their respective dialects are the most common in the world. That’s a lot of purchasing power!
Whether you’re doing business in other countries or within the United States, adding the ability to communicate in your customers’ languages is a guaranteed way to improve customer experience & satisfaction.
Here is how Amazon.com, Clark Public Utilities (CPU) and the Ritz-Carlton do it.
Amazon.com Localized User Experience
Amazon.com is a global eCommerce giant that consistently ranks first in online sales.
An intuitive navigation structure combined with localized websites makes it easy for customers to find what they are looking for and buy it. And if they’re later not happy with the purchase, they can generally return it without any hassle.
Roughly 33% of Amazon.com’s annual sales came from international markets.
That’s partly due to the customer experience they provide through localized websites. That number will most certainly increase as Amazon.com expands into other global markets.
Your take away: Consider translating and localizing your marketing communication materials and website content into other languages.
Clark Public Utilities Customer Support
Being a CPU customer myself, I was not surprised to see them ranked on the J.D. Power list for great customer service. CPU provides a great customer experience through their 24/7/365 call center.
Without having any competition where local customers can go buy similar utility services, CPU has a great business model with virtually no competition.
They don’t necessarily have to provide great customer service, but they do nonetheless.
When you call in, you’re greeted by a customer service representative that can assist you with your bill or any questions you may have. Let’s say you don’t speak English and have trouble communicating. The CPU representative will instantly bring an interpreter on the line who speaks your language to help facilitate the communication.
Many communities in the United States are as diverse as the world itself. In essence, that makes the global customer experience become more local.
Your take away: Consider implementing telephone interpreting services to support your call center operations.
The Ritz-Carlton Customer Service
The Ritz-Carlton operates luxury hotels and resorts in major cities across 26 countries. The customer service provided by the Ritz-Carlton is considered a benchmark for service industries worldwide.
Having stayed at the Ritz-Carlton hotels before, I can personally attest to the quality experience I’ve had. When you fly in and get to your hotel, all you want to do is check in and be on your way.
The entire interaction process from making reservations to checking in has to feel comfortable and seamless. It’s something that you experience consciously and subconsciously.
Regardless of your destination, the staff will make sure they communicate to you in your language in a courteous and welcoming matter.
Your take away: Consider the big picture of customer experience and make sure you’re not alienating persons who speak different languages.
Focus on the Customer
Implementing professional language translation & interpreting services may seem like an unnecessary cost, and it may very well be costly in the beginning.
However, when properly implemented, providing these services will turn into a profit center, while keeping your customers happy and coming back for more.
If you have other global customer experience ideas to share, I’d like to hear them.
Share your thoughts in the comments section.
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