Master the Critical Non-Essentials in your customer journey.
The Cost of Indifference
67% of the people who stop doing business with you leave because of your perceived indifference. They move on, assuming you probably won’t notice or care.
Most of the time, that’s the furthest thing from the truth. You might just be so busy in the day-to-day of your business that it feels impossible to make every customer feel valued. Or you’re firefighting, trying to stay on top of everything that’s urgent right now, so whatever can wait for another day… does.
If you’re spending more time and energy marketing to new customers than you are taking care of the ones you already have, you’re putting yourself in the hamster wheel. You’ll have to continuously win new work to replace the good customers who leave.
A top-shelf customer experience is about showing a customer that they matter. It tells them you’re not indifferent to them, so they won’t be indifferent to you. And it’s a great way to win customers for life.
Mastering the Critical Non-Essentials
Demonstrating how much you value the customer relationship doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming.
That being said, it is worth allocating a portion of your marketing budget to building strong, lasting relationships. Since it costs up to 7x more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one, any investment you make in your customer relationships is likely to show up in your bottom line.
Critical Non-Essentials (CNEs) are the small, unexpected touches that surprise and delight your customers. A CNE is not essential – if it didn’t happen, your customers wouldn’t miss it. They’re not even expecting it. But these special touches are meaningful, and a great way to showcase your personality and values. When someone receives a CNE, it puts a real smile on their face.
Here are three steps to make your customer experience a little more delightful:
- Map out your customer journey. Find one or two key moments – maybe just after their first purchase, 1 month after onboarding, or the third time they place an order. There are no wrong answers here.
- Choose delight. Assuming you’ve cleared the bar for customer satisfaction, it’s time to aim for customer delight. How can you take a small moment and turn it into a magic one? It could be as simple as a handwritten note, a small gift, or tickets to a local event.
- Systemize and train it. Just because it’s a surprise for your customer, doesn’t mean it should sneak up on you. Create and document the system for making sure your CNEs are delivered consistently – and delegate as much as possible.
Investing in CNEs is a straightforward, systematic way to surprise and delight your customers, so they know how much you care (even when you’re busy).
This Week’s Takeaway
It’s worth putting the same energy into your customer relationships as you do into your marketing. After all, a customer for life becomes a raving fan who does your marketing for you! Critical Non-Essentials are small touches that go a long way to build a lasting relationship.
What are the magic moments in your customer journey?
If this strategy would help your business, put it into action with help from me and a room full of growth-minded business owners in Mississauga on May 15. I’ll be covering a few different ways to unlock the revenue in your database.
Book your visit here: extramilecoach.ca/actionclub
Upcoming Event:
How Many Dollars Are in Your Database?
Join ActionCLUB on Friday, May 15th from 10-1 for the next in-person session where we’ll be discussing tactical, actionable insights and tools for reengaging your existing clients and contacts to generate more referrals and repeat business.
Details
- Friday May 15th, 10am-1pm
- Located at Idea Mississauga, Square One
- Interactive session: “How Many Dollars Are in Your Database?”
- Featuring table discussions & a networking lunch with local entrepreneurs
Supercommunicators: By Charles Duhigg
This book offers a useful lens on why some conversations seem effortless while others stall out. It breaks communication down into three layers: practical, emotional, and social, and suggests that most disconnects happen when we’re not aligned on which one we’re actually having. It’s a helpful framework for navigating everyday interactions, especially in business settings where what’s being said often isn’t the whole story.
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