Choose Your Preferred Path: Customer Delight vs. Customer Satisfaction

Have you ever had an experience as a customer that stands out in your mind, for better or worse?

Of course, people tend to remember the worst interactions they’ve ever had, but the times that someone went above and beyond to make our day can carry even more weight.

Those moments are examples of customer delight, which we should all strive to achieve.

What is meant by customer delight?

If customer satisfaction means meeting customers’ expectations, customer delight is about exceeding them. Customer delight means that satisfaction is not enough—you want to ensure the customer has the best possible experience with your organization. This means going beyond the basics to provide something more.

While customer satisfaction might mean that your customers are content with your product or service, it might not be enough to keep them from leaving for a competitor. Customer delight, on the other hand, inspires loyalty. These customers will not only become repeat buyers but are more likely to refer you to others in their network.

How do you provide customer delight?

Creating customer delight
 requires collaboration, as a customer’s experience with your company doesn’t start and end with just one department. Here are a few ways to strive for customer delight in your business.

1. Include freebies with purchase. These can be physical or digital, like free samples, stickers, eBook downloads, access to a resource library, usable graphics, fillable templates, and more.
2. Reward loyalty. When done correctly, loyalty programs can make customers feel like they’re in an exclusive club. A basic example is a program that allows you to accumulate points for every dollar you spend. Customers can then redeem those points for discounts, free items, and more.
3. Give more than they asked for. Whenever you have an opportunity to deliver, go above and beyond. Provide more information, recommend additional products, link to relevant articles, and make the customer’s life easier whenever possible. Please don’t make them seek out further assistance. Instead, be ready to provide it.
4. Create a community. Social proof goes a long way toward selling your product or service, and people love to be part of a group. Creating a community hub for your customers is easier than ever with social media and can reward you in surprising ways. Please give them a space to come together and connect with your business and each other.
5. Get personal. Every customer wants to feel like they’re more than just a number. Personalized email fields, birthday coupons, hand-written thank-you notes, special offers, and replying to social media comments will make your customers feel seen and appreciated.

Many of these options can be implemented with minimal work upfront. However, you’ll need to maintain them consistently to be a regular source of delight for your customers. When you are loyal to them, they will be devoted to you in return.

Want to ensure you’re striving for customer delight in your business? A business coach can help you capture the magic. Please fill out my contact form to schedule a free video call and learn how to improve customer satisfaction.

Coach Dave