 The best way to think about the customer experience is as a story. This is how your customer experiences it. The story starts with their first contact with your brand, whether directly or indirectly. The plot thickens as they learn about your products or services and begin interacting with you.
The plot takes a major turn when the customer decides to buy something from you, and the story continues as the customer's relationship with your business moves forward to future purchases. Think of the Customer Experience as a Story When we're evaluating the efficacy of our methods, we tend to look at data. This data can come to us in the form of statistics like sales data or web analytics, or from customers themselves in the form of survey results. But this data can't fully convey the customer experience as the customer lives it. This data isn't useful because it doesn't convey the totality of the customer experience, and that's exactly what it is – a totality. Rather, this data gives you only the specific data it can, such as how much web traffic you're getting or whether or not your customers think your response time is fast enough. If you're lucky, you'll get a few sentences of feedback, but even this isn't enough. The customer experiences their journey with your company as a story. Like a novel or movie, each scene plays a part in the overall story. In order to understand what's working well or what's going wrong with your customer experience, you need to know this entire story and how all of the small parts fit into it. Know Your Customer's Story The best way to learn your customer's story with your brand is to put yourself in your customer's shoes and write out this story. We do this through mapping the customer experience. A customer experience map starts with the first contact you have with your customer and works its way through all of the story's "scenes," which are the individual touch points you have with the customer. A customer experience map is something like an infographic which shows the entire story. You can take in the big picture at a glance, but it also shows you all of the relationships between the different parts. You can more easily see where problems might occur and areas where you can make improvements in order to maximize the experience. There are many different ways to approach mapping the customer experience, but it should always be in story form. You should understand your company's customer experience through the customer's eyes. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.
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 The journey a customer takes with your company is very emotional. Emotion plays a key role in the customer experience and you should take it into consideration when mapping and planning your customer experience. Why Emotions Are Important The reason emotion is important is that it's a vital part of decision-making. We live in a complex world with many things to consider. In order to make a purchase decision rationally, you would need to carry out a detailed cost-benefit analysis of everything. Most people don't do this and instead make decisions based on emotions, which provide a kind of shortcut. Often, a purchase decision is made because it just feels right. Emotions also play a key role in motivation. How does a customer know when the time is right to finally make a purchase? For most of us, what drives us to act is the emotion we feel about a purchase decision. Emotions Come from the Customer Experience When making purchase decisions, the emotions used are based on everything that has transpired between the customer and the business. In other words, these emotions are shaped by the total customer experience. In other words, the sum total of how a customer feels about your business, which is a direct result of what happens at each touch point, is very important. Emotions Also Create the Customer Experience The fulfilment of these emotional expectations is also important for the customer experience. The customer expects to feel a certain way at different stages of the journey. After purchase, for example, they want to feel fulfilled and confident that they made the right purchase. Subtle changes can have an emotional impact on your customers. In Paco Underhill's book "Why We Buy," there is a case where the feel of the carpet in a department store affected customer buying behavior. Small things like this can work on a subconscious level. Different Emotions for Different People Which specific emotions drive decision making in your customers varies from person to person, or in this case, from target market to target market. Exactly which emotions are most critical depends on many things, including the type of products or services you're offering. The need for peace of mind is important for people buying software security packages. Meanwhile, feelings of excitement and self-expression may be more important for car buyers. The key is to conduct research in order to discover which emotions are important in the experience for your customers. Throughout the experience you offer your customers, you should look for these emotions and identify them. This is part of maximizing the experience. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  What happens if a customer's experience with your company isn't aligned with your stated core values? It usually results in the customer heading somewhere else.
Let's say that a customer buys from a company's whose stated core value is to put the customer first always. There's a problem with the product the customer bought but it doesn't quite qualify for a refund under the warrantee. Despite the fact that the customer isn't getting the value they expected from the product, the company does whatever it can to deny the refund. Clearly, the company doesn't put the customer first in a case such as this. Every business should make sure its values and experience match. If there's a disconnect between your stated core values and the service you actually deliver, it's likely to cost you a great deal in customer trust. If you fall short of customer expectations, you don't create a good customer experience. The ideal customer experience sets customer expectations and then exceeds them. Your values, your mission, and everything else you say about your company should be exceeded by the actual value you deliver. When you do this, you impress your customers and this has major psychological benefits. How Does Your Customer Experience Measure up? The only way to figure out whether your customer experience is aligned with your core values is to view the situation from your customer's point of view. Take each touch point you have with your customers and ask yourself, "Does this measure up to my company's core values?" Touch points include any kind of direct communication you have with your customer, such as social media updates, email messages, store visits, and follow-up care. There are also indirect touch points, which include what your customers hear from others about you. Start by identifying all of these touch points. Then, go through each one and run it through your core values. Let's take the example of Starbucks. Starbucks' core values are its five principles: "be welcoming, genuine, knowledgeable, considerate, and involved." In order to present a consistent customer experience that aligns with these values, Starbucks needs to ensure that every interaction with customers presents the company and all of its people as welcoming, genuine, knowledgeable, considerate and involved. Beyond Customer Service Every aspect of how your business is run is manifested in the customer experience. The way you deal with customers should be aligned with your core values, but so should every other aspect of your company, from the internal processes you use in creating or delivering your products, to the way you communicate with your employees. When everything is aligned, it creates a strong corporate culture that embodies these values, and customers can see this. It can be a long and involved process, but it's essential that you deliver on these values. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Is the actual experience you deliver your customers in-line with the experience you're trying to deliver? There's only one sure way to know and that's to conduct research. You need real, objective data from your customers on which to base decisions. Your own assumptions aren't enough. Here are 8 ways to gather the research you need.
Scour Social Media Search your name as a keyword on popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Look for positive and negative comments about your brand. These comments will tell you whether or not you're living up to customer expectations or not. Read Reviews and Ratings Find your listing on review and rating sites. Read reviews and see what feedback customers wrote about their experience with your company. For negative reviews, reply and ask for clarity or ways you can further help them. Ask Directly Come right out and ask. Offer a comment card or surveys. Offer an incentive such as a discount or freebie as enticement. The best time to ask for feedback is after the customer has bought and used the product. Make seeking feedback part of your follow-up process. Carry out Focus Groups While it requires a bit more investment of time and resources, focus groups are a great way to learn about the experience directly from customers. Invite select customers and lead a discussion about their experience dealing with your company. Website Analytics Website analytics offer an indirect way of evaluating the customer experience. If a large number of visitors come to your site but disappear without signing up, buying, or otherwise engaging, this could mean that there's a disconnect in the experience there. Communications Monitoring Monitor communications between employees and customers to see where there might be problems. This can also help you identify areas where employee training is lacking or where ongoing training is necessary. Employee Focus Groups It may also be useful to hold employee focus groups. In these groups, you can talk about your experiences with customers. Employees can talk about what they feel were successes or failures in the customer experience based on customer feedback or behavior. Encourage Interaction Always look for opportunities to interact naturally with your customers. The more you have interactions with them, the more likely you are to glean insights on how they view the experience with your business. This research should be ongoing. No customer experience is perfect and all can use some fine-tuning. Through the objective data you obtain during this research, you can identify areas of weakness for improvement. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Are you dreaming of setting up multiple passive income streams and earning more? Once great way to do this is through podcasting.
Podcasts are a type of audio content that is increasingly popular today. People can listen while they work, commute, exercise, shop, or anything else in their daily life. For you, hosting a regular show is a great way to earn a passive income. How to Set up a Podcast
About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Imagine what it would be like to have a system that earns you income even while you sleep. It sounds like a dream, but you can make it a reality by building passive income streams. With a bit of hard work and time upfront, anybody can do it. How do people build passive income streams? Many of them get started with one of the most popular methods, affiliate marketing. What is Affiliate Marketing? Affiliate marketing is an online business model where you earn income through a commission by promoting other people’s products or services. You start by joining an affiliate network and searching there for products or services in your niche. Choose something your audience could use, or you’d love to use yourself. Through your content, you promote this vendor’s product and receive a commission on sales by telling your audience about it. How Much Can You Earn with Affiliate Marketing? There is no upper limit to how much you can earn using this business model. It depends on how much work you want to put into it. Affiliate marketing commissions are high and, as many products are digital, there is no overhead such as warehousing and shipping. For example, you might promote an eBook priced at $37. If you have a 50% commission, just selling 20 will get you $370. As you can see, there is great earning potential. You have to create a great deal of content and build your audience, but much of the process can be outsourced or automated. This allows you to multiply the amount you can earn with little extra effort. Know Your Audience and Know Your Product The key to success in affiliate marketing is to choose products and services that are right for your audience. You really need to know your audience’s tastes, values, and behaviors well so you can choose things they would love and purchase. Your niche should be something you’re passionate about. Your passion will be contagious and inspire your audience to check out the offerings you’re promoting. This will also make your marketing authentic, which will build strong relationships with members of your audience. Leverage Metrics to Streamline Your Strategy Since affiliate marketing is done online, there are numerous tools you can use to monitor the results of your efforts. You can track sales data, website visitor behavior, trends in the market, and the activity of your competitors. Monitoring helps you to understand what’s working and what’s not. For example, you might find that one particular blog post converts at a higher rate than the others. This post may be longer and more in-depth. This tells you that your audience responds best to long-form content, and then produce more. Add Your Next Revenue Stream Once you get your first affiliate marketing campaign up and running, it’s time to launch your next. You can create multiple streams of income using this business model and earn a passive income. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  With a bit of planning and work, anyone can set up passive income streams online. There are many business models you can use. Before you get started choosing one that’s right for you, here are the pros and cons of passive income. Pro: You can earn money while you sleep.
About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Whether you’re interested in starting an online business as an entrepreneur, or just finding a way to make some supplemental cash, passive income streams are the way to go. A passive income stream is something where you set it up once, and then you make money automatically afterward without doing much, if any, additional work. There are many ways you can earn in this way. Here are the most popular and easiest methods of earning a passive income. Sell Information Products Information products are digital products such as eBooks and reports that you can easily create and distribute online. They offer tips and help, teaching the buyer how to solve various problems they face. It takes some work upfront to create an info product, but once it’s published, it creates a passive income as people buy it. If you put out a number of info products, you can earn a significant income. Affiliate Marketing Affiliate marketing involves selling the products of other vendors online. You sign up on an affiliate network and choose products that would offer value to your audience, and then promote them for a generous commission. Podcasting Create a podcast where you discuss topics of interest to your audience and interview experts in your niche. There are several ways to monetize a podcast including selling your own products, promoting affiliate products, selling advertising spots, or offering premium episodes. Create an App Is there some everyday problem your audience faces that a handy app would help? Once you finish the work of creating an app and working out the bugs, you can sell it for a passive income. If you’re not a programmer, create the plan and design for your app and you can hire a programmer to realize it for you. Dropshipping With dropshipping, you can create an ecommerce store to sell products in your niche. What makes it convenient is that you don’t need to hold and manage stock, which eliminates any overhead cost. When orders are placed, the supplier ships out the product directly to your customers. Online Courses Create an online course teaching something you know how to do that most people don’t. It can be anything from playing guitar to setting up an online business, getting started doing yoga or higher mathematics. The key is that you create the course once, then make it available for anyone to take online at any time. There are many platforms available to sell your courses on, and they’re only growing in popularity. Stock Content If you like photography, you can put your photos on stock image websites like Shutterstock. You can decide how much you earn per image and businesses will purchase, download, and use them. Once you post an image there, you’ll get paid each time someone buys it. Every type of passive income is different, but they all work in basically the same way. It takes a bit of work to plan and set up, but once you’re up and running, you’ll earn automatically with little or no effort whatsoever. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Imagine having multiple passive income streams that inject money into your bank account with little to no work on your part. Sounds great, doesn’t it? While you can set up easy passive income streams and earn exponentially more, there are a few commonly held myths about passive income to dispel first. Myth: The harder you work, the more you earn. Fact: A passive income allows you to create something once and earn from it for years to come.
Myth: It takes money to make money. Fact: You can set up passive income streams with very little overhead.
Myth: You can set it and forget it. Fact: Passive income streams usually require some maintenance.
Myth: You can start earning today. Fact: This business model is a long game that takes time before you’re earning a full-time income.
Myth: Just plug and play and start earning! Fact: It takes work upfront, but this work will pay you back later.
Setting up a passive income and finding success takes some time and hard work. It’s a long game, but the eventual return on investment is well worth it. You can eventually quit your full-time job, or build income streams you can use for savings, retirement, investments, or as a buffer against economic uncertainty. About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality.  Hiring a virtual assistant is a major step in growing your company. With a VA taking over certain tasks and aspects of your business, you can do more. They give you more time to plan and strategize, and more room to scale. The key to hiring and working with a VA successfully is to plan well. What Tasks Can You Outsource? Start by thinking about what tasks you want to outsource. Consider tasks you’d like to outsource today, as well as those you might find helpful as your business grows. For example, you may have some routine daily activities you can get rid of now, but also plan to turn over your social media and blog writing to someone in the future. You need to clarify which tasks you’ll outsource so you can find a qualified person to handle them. This will determine the skills and experience you’re looking for. Training and Onboarding Your VA When you first hire a virtual assistant, you’ll need to onboard them. This is the process of kicking off your relationship and getting them started. It includes:
This process is important at the beginning of your relationship with your VA, but you won’t need to continue after the first few months or so (though it never hurts to give feedback). What’s important here is to have everything planned and in place before you hire them. Create a Communication and Workflow Plan Before hiring a virtual assistant, you’ll need to set up a plan for working together. This includes any tools you’ll use, such as a project management software program or special platform for communicating. Since you’re working together virtually, you’ll have to choose a method and frequency for communicating with your VA. Even if they know what to do and the work is going smoothly, it’s good to touch base regularly and see if they’re having any issues. There may also be changes you need to tell them about. The Growth Mindset Finally, there’s a certain mindset you have to cultivate in order to hire a virtual assistant. There are risks involved and you’ll be handing over some aspects of your business to someone else. During the process of hiring and working with a VA, keep in mind the benefits of this working relationship and the future growth it will enable. We’ve only scratched the surface here and I have much more I can tell you about hiring and working with a VA. Are you ready to start growing your business with your first employee? I’m offering a full course that teaches you step-by-step how to find the right Virtual Assistant and work with them, complete with learning exercises so that you get started as you learn. Check it out HERE Don’t Wait!!! About The Author Pat Simes is a Business Strategist, blogger and Founder of Innovative Business Solutions and Innovate Academy. She currently resides in the Midwest and is committed to inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to transform their vision to reality. |
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