Why Is Personalized Service So Important To the Guest Experience?

This is the era of personalization. Companies are increasingly using customer data to improve customer experience. 

Personalization is not a new strategy. It is a type of one-to-one marketing. Here the company is willing to offer the product to an individual customer in a unique way. It is based on customer requirements and preferences. 

So, why is personalized service so important to the guest experience?

Well, this type of in-person personalization is what makes your product desirable. It gives your brand that distinguishing edge from competitors. It helps create lasting guest relationships. In turn, it becomes the chief cause of increased return visits. Over time, it leads to increased profits and enhanced reputation.

Below we will look at the changing consumer expectations. We will also see how your company can provide personalized customer service. And, how this can bring back more customers.

What is personalized service?

We live in a digital age which has given new dimensions to what you can achieve with personalization. 

Brands today do not just communicate with their customers. They carry out detailed conversations with their customers and end-users. The chief motive behind this is to gain their perspective. This helps achieve greater personalization. 

A personalized service tailors the consumer’s individual needs and preferences. The sole purpose is to provide the best customer experience. It makes customers feel more valued. This helps keep customers and motivates greater brand loyalty.

The primary purpose of personalization is focused around providing the best customer experience. This comes by tailoring your product to individual customers.

It involves serving the customer's needs in the most effective manner. It paves way for easy interactions between the buyer and the company. 

Companies collect and record customer data and interactions to provide personalized services. They then use this data to adjust the product to the consumers. 

This explains why is personalized service so important to the guest experience.

When you offer personalized customer service, you communicate with your customers. This communication is through many channels preferred by them.

Your company will collect and access customer data to make personalized changes. You will then provide relevant product recommendations based on this information. Your team can also provide customer support resolutions.

Customization vs. Personalization

Until a few years, personalization was limited. You might have seen personalization in personalized mugs or mobile covers. The simplest example is when customers ask for their pictures to be printed on gift items or mugs. 

Today, personalization is being practiced across various niches. Offering personalized services or products has become a crucial part of online business.

You may have your entire business based on customizing a product.

Or, you may plan to add customization trends to your business. Real-time personalization is another trend picking up. These trends may be motivated by a need to improve the customer’s shopping experience.

There is a thing to note here. A personalization service is different from a customized product. 

In the case of customization, a product already exists. Your customer provides his requirements. Then you change or adjust the existing product or service according to the needs of the customer. 

In the case of personalization, you tailor the product or service differently. You center it around the needs of the customer or your marketing strategy.

In other words, you can understand the difference between the two in this way. It depends on who inputs the data or makes the changes. 

In the case of personalization, you as a company create or modify an item using customer data. This is done in line with an individual customer’s needs. 

In the case of customization, the customer suggests changes to the product. Customers do this to meet their needs or requirements.

Why do you need to focus on guest experiences?

Your customers are your guests. You may well offer standardized products. But, if you intend to offer a successful guest experience, you need to add personalization.

For this, you need to have detailed information about your customers. You can gather information about them through conversations. Surveys and data generated by web traffic can also be valuable. Their social media accounts also provide useful data.

What you need to do is to discover marketing best practices and lay your plan. You can then get the most out of your campaigns. Once you do this, digital technology comes into play. It will make it easier to provide effective customer relationship management.

Excellent customer service is important for retaining customers. Personalized customer service keeps your customers in the long run. It helps maintain financial success. 

Let us have a look at what value personalized services can offer.

What can personalized service help you with?

You may wonder why is personalized service so important to the guest experience. Let us see how.

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Contributes to your bottom line

Today, the digital market has become more competitive. Thus, it has become important to focus on a personalized guest experience.

You can’t underestimate the value of customer service. The will and skill to create unique and unforgettable moments for your customers is the need of the hour. It gives you that edge over your peers.

A Salesforce survey report from 17,000 global customers mentioned this. 56% of them expect the personalization of offers.

Most consumers consider a brand's customer service as the biggest reason for purchase. So, companies that focus on their customers get the upper edge. When they engage in personalization, they are bound to churn more profits than others.

Shows customers you care

Today, there are hundreds of similar products available in the market. So, consumer expectations are on the rise and will continue to accelerate. If your company wants to keep pace, you need to be able to create engaging customer experiences. 

Such experiences are built on judicious use of customer data. It meets their expectations and builds trust. It also empowers consumers to carve their own purchase paths. 

So, personalization becomes a type of digital service innovation. It is critical for differentiating your brand from others. Else, your business will risk offering a unique digital experience.

When your customers walk through your door, they need something extra. When you offer them personalized service, they make note of it. Customers will prioritize these positive customer experiences.  86% of them leave a brand even after two negative experiences. (Emplifi)

Consistent personalized service sets a standard of value and care. Your customers are bound to appreciate you.

Sets you apart

Consumers have a lot of choices these days. You can offer them personalized service. It will help you create your unique market identity.

Your competitors will also be busy carving strategies for personalization. They may come up with better pricing or extra features that you may not offer.

While you cannot control your competitors, you can improve the kind of service you offer. You can offer a high degree of personalization to take your service notches higher. This can compel your customers to change their decision to do business with you over others.

Another marketing research shows a trend in favour of personalization. 58 % of customers are willing to pay more for a product if they receive improved customer service.

How to offer a personalized guest experience?

Know your customers personally

You cannot offer a personalized experience if you don’t know your customers well. Knowing your customer is essential for your business endeavour. 

To be a successful business owner, you need to understand what your customers want. Then, you can find out the most effective way of offering that product or service. 

Knowing your customers is not just knowing their names, ages, and incomes. You should also be aware of their changing tastes, hobbies, and preferences. As a successful marketer, you should know what and how they watch, read, and listen to information.

Personalization becomes crucial as shown by surveys. 68% of customers can withdraw their business if they judge indifference in the attitude towards them.

Recognize and reward customer loyalty

You are already aware of how important are repeat customers to any business. You can always get new customers. What is more important is to keep your existing customers. And you have to keep them with a high level of satisfaction with your services.

Market statistics show interesting data. An average repeat customer spends 67% more in months 31-36 than what they spend in the first six months. 

In fact, 95% of companies report that the annual spend of their loyalty members is much more than their non-members.

This is where recognizing customer loyalty becomes significant. Whenever a repeat customer comes back, you need to recognize his presence. Consider giving him a reward. It could be in the form of a discount offer or a personalized ‘thank you' note for their consistent business. 

This simple gesture helps set up an emotional connection. It shows customers that you appreciate their business and recognize them as well. A well thought and launched loyalty program can help you keep existing customers. It will also help you bring in new customers and drive more sales.

Create a customer loyalty program

The best way to connect with your customers and increase sales is to create loyalty programs. Such programs offer them personalized rewards and boost your marketing strategy. This is because they intelligently influence your customer’s buying decisions. 

Customer loyalty programs bring back repeat customers. They are the ones who can spend more on each transaction. Such customers are more likely to repurchase and try a new offering. 

With loyalty programs, you provide them with an incentive to opt for your services. They will choose you instead of those of your competitors.

You can create personalized campaigns to suit your brand. Let your team make judicious use of AI, chatbots, and gamification features. You can also put in place Scan &Win campaigns to delight and keep your customers.

Reward valuable customer feedback

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You can render a high level of customer experience by rewarding customers. Reward your customers for sharing their thoughts and feedback on your services. It shows your commitment to their experience. At the same time, it also highlights the value they get from your product.

Your business success depends on getting quick customer feedback. You can launch a campaign to start more customer conversations. For example, some companies start a beta program. Here they invite customers to share their thoughts and take part in product testing.

You can always take feedback from customers. This should be irrespective of the type of experience they have had with your product. Constructive feedback helps you improve your product or service. In turn, it improves customer satisfaction as well. 

If you really implement the feedback given by your customers, you are in for success. Surveys show that 97% of them are more likely to remain loyal to your brand.

You can reward the feedback of customers that leads to an impactful change. For example, you can bring them under the spotlight on your website or social media. You can even send out a gift certificate.

Educate your customers 

Personalized services are not just discounts and offers. You can go ahead the extra mile to teach your customers new skills. 

You can offer them skill workshops or free classes. Webinars or demonstrations will also work as long as they can add value to your customers’ lives.

Customers would love to get consistent education and support. It helps them to know more about your brand. You can devise and launch a strategy that helps you hold on to customers. It will also help you extend your market reach.

As a business, you shouldn’t lose sight of this. You can scale up your initiatives by educating your customers. This way they can also get the most from their investment in your services. 

For example, a bakery could offer a one-day demonstration of easy cake recipes. An online training academy can offer 15-days of free training, and so on.

Keep your customers in the spotlight 

Another way of personalization of services is to do a customer spotlight. You can tell how thankful you are for your customers by talking to them personally to know who they are.

This is to showcase the people who help your business to be successful. Conduct a short interview with your most loyal or frequent customers. Post it on your website, social media or on an online bulletin board.

You can also organize a monthly giveaway for your customers. This applies especially to your loyal email subscribers. You can also offer a discount on the next buy or host an in-store social event.

By now, you have ample information about why is personalized service so important to the guest experience and how you can implement it.

Personalized Services with Consolto

Consolto video conferencing app provides support for live chat across different platforms. This includes WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS, and more. This means that you can engage with your customers in their preferred channels. 

We understand the power of customization. That is why we also focus on giving your customers an unforgettable experience with Consolto’s various features.

Consolto allows multiple agents to interact with your website. Each of these can be equipped with live chat capabilities. You can assign a different agent on each page. You can even add product specialists to pages that sell unique products the agents know best. 

You can even add a custom button. This can have the capability to launch live chats with specific agents. This way, your specialized agents can handle relevant leads. 

On a more personalized note, you can design a webpage on your website with all your agents featured. It will have a unique button for each agent to provide dedicated services.

Consolto also provides features to style up your widget. This means your customers can use their very own custom design.

There is a range of styling options available. You get the option to change the type and colour of the widget, background colour and text colour. You can even change the CTA button’s background and text colour.

You can use them to create a unique look for your personal or your business use. Simply put, you can add your brand’s unique colours. 

All this personalization will help you increase brand awareness among website visitors and customers. You can even add real-time personalization.

Give an unforgettable online experience to your customers. Send friendly welcome messages in line with your brand style and tone. Give your customers the best of video conferencing.

Businesses have shown significant results. 79% of them showed increased sales, revenue, and customer loyalty, with Consolto Live Chat.

Wrapping up

Personalized services go a long way in making your business stand out. The above suggestions will help you a lot as you now know why is personalized service so important. You can offer a curated service experience to your customers. This type of service will encourage appreciation and responsiveness from your customers. 

Knowing your customer's choices and behaviour is a key element of modern-day marketing. Personalisation will continue to call the shots in marketing. It is your turn to realize its power and use it to your advantage. 

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