6 Unique Ways to Create Personalized Customer Experiences

Are you focused on delivering great customer experiences?

If not, then you risk losing your customers to the competitors who are.

Just listen to the people:

Thirty-six percent of consumers say brands should offer more personalization in their marketing. And another 71% of consumers are frustrated with impersonal shopping experiences.

So what do you do to create a personalized experience for your customers?

Let's find out.

1. Give Customers Incentives for Sharing their Data

How do you personalize your customer's experience with your brand? The same way small mom-and-pop shops did it for hundreds of years:

By getting to know your customers.

Now, this doesn't mean you have to impose on the personal lives of your patrons. Instead, you can promote them to voluntarily give information to you.

You can do this by offering freebies, discounts, and other incentives in exchange for filling out a survey. Ask questions about their likes, interests, and habits.

Then you can use this to personalize the types of products/services you promote to them.

2. Use Gamification to Collect Intel

Maybe your customers need another reason to divulge their information to your business. If your incentives aren't driving enough feedback from customers, then use gamification.

There are different ways you can do so -- for example, personality quizzes. These are fun to do, and it'll get a great response if you share them on the right channels.

Platforms like Instagram and Facebook are great social networks to boost engagement.

Come up with a quiz that'll give you the intel you need so you can personalize your marketing.

3. Implement Geolocation Tools

What's great about geolocation tools is that it allows you to improve the customer experience without input from the customer.

Let's say you install geolocation tools on your website. Anytime a visitor comes, they'll find personalized offers and information based on their specific location.

The tool uses their IP address to find their location and tie it with one of your nearby locations. In most cases, you can pinpoint the city or county the visitor is in.

4. Create an Omnichannel Experience

Customers are reaching out to brands in multiple ways online. They may begin with an email, then contact you via social media or phone.

You need a way to keep track of all the interactions a customer has with your brand. This way, your team can pick up wherever the conversation left off, making it feel like a seamless experience.

One way is to use a CRM (customer relationship management) to keep track of your customers, their data, and communications so you can create an omnichannel experience.

5. Use Chatbots with Machine Learning Capabilities

Today's consumers are okay with using chatbots in place of a human representative. This is great news for small businesses that may not have the budget to house a full staff of customer service reps.

You can use chatbots on your website, as well as your social media pages like Facebook.

There are two ways to set up your chatbot:

1. Put in all the possible answers to questions your customers are likely to ask.
2. Use a chatbot with machine learning, so it continues to evolve based on conversations with customers.

We recommend the latter to make the experience feel more authentic and helpful.

6. Spark Conversations with Your Customers

Social listening is great -- you can learn a lot about what your customers think about your brand. With this intel, you can make improvements to your customer experience.

But there's another way you can use social media -- engaging with customers.

Brands that connect with their audience on social come off as real and accessible. It also shows you care about your customers.

Answer questions they may have and start conversations based on what you know your audience is interested in.

3 Examples of Businesses with Excellent Customer Experiences

There are many ways you can enhance the customer experience. Let's take a look at how these three companies are doing it.

Zappos

The customer experience sometimes begins with your employees. So Zappos decided to empower its workers to wow its customer base.

The shoe and apparel company is obsessed with making its customers happy. Even if it means having an employee fly to a customer's home to hand-deliver a package that was accidentally sent to the company by accident.

Starbucks

"Make It Right," is the mantra of the cafe we know and love for its small and tall cappuccinos. Starbucks is another company going the extra mile to impress its customer base.

It does this by having high customer service standards. But it doesn't have to be something exhaustive.

For example, when a customer orders a caramel macchiato, it comes with a precise pattern of caramel sauce. But it's not about the design -- it's about getting a taste of caramel with every sip.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Here's a business that's grown from a single location to well over 280 shops in America. It's known for its steakburgers (a.k.a., hamburgers), Chicago-style hotdogs and custard-based desserts.

But it takes more than just a tasty recipe to keep customers coming back. It takes great customer service to go with it.

So the company offers "Freducation," which teaches its workers to be cheerful and helpful at all times.

Create Your Own Unique Customer Experience

When coming up with your customer experience, find ways to set your business apart. What are other similar businesses doing (or not doing)?

What are your customers demanding?

Use the above tips to learn what your audience is looking for from your brand.

Once you start implementing tactics, come back and let us know in the what's working an what's not!