Six Excellent Customer Experience Examples to Take Inspiration From
If there is a 5% growth in customer retention, the company profits will rise by 25% to 95%.
This is a given.
For this, you must offer an outstanding customer experience that customers would choose to do business with you and not your competitors.
Most leaders consider CX as the competitive differentiator. After all, everything else becomes commoditized in time.
Let us look at six outstanding customer experience examples that brands provided. I am not including the CX leaders like Amazon, Netflix, Apple, Zappos, and CDBaby.
1. Southwest Airlines
Southwest, America’s low-cost domestic airline, sets an excellent CX example by being considerate of its customers.
When a man traveled to Denver to see his grandson for the last time, he got delayed due to heavy traffic and reached the airport 12 minutes after the plane was scheduled to leave. The pilot of the plane waited for the man before taking off.
Southwest Airlines’ excellent work culture empowered their employees to make such decisions.
2. Laura Ashley
Laura Ashley delighted the customer who ordered a bedding set with a surprise delivery of the product two days before the date of delivery. The surprise even doubled with a pair of lounging socks along with a personalized note.
Personalization has always been in trend. It is pretty hard to know the interests of a first-time customer, so Laura Ashley follows this simple way of sending a personalized note to turn first-time customers into loyal customers.
3. Tommee Tippee Cups
Ben Carter, an autistic child, used to drink only from the Tomme Tippee sippy cup. His father was looking for a replacement for a Tommee Tippee sippy cup that was a limited edition. He tweeted with a hashtag saying #cupsforben, and the tweet went viral, gathering thousands of retweets and likes. Finally, Tommee Tippee declared to create a limited run of 500 of the discontinued cups, especially for Ben.
Tommee Tippee was observant and carefully listened to their social channels. This allowed them to respond promptly to their customer’s needs in real time, which helped their brand positioning as a CX leader immensely.
4. Toronto-Dominion Bank
TD Bank developed a customer appreciation campaign that makes it the best. It believed – ‘Money speaks the best way.’ So, the bank thanked their customers by giving them money.
The bank also created a TD Thank You Account where they surprised millions of North American customers at ATMs, in branches, and on the phone with personalized thank you messages and gifts.
TD Bank appreciated its customers by surprising them with creative ways of showing they loved and valued them.
5. Morton’s Steakhouse
Peter Shankman tweeted to his favorite steakhouse that he would be arriving in town and asked them to meet him at the airport with a steak.
Tons of people have tweeted things like that in jest, never expecting a response. Imagine Peter’s surprise when he landed at the airport and found a server holding a bag containing a full meal, free of charge.
The nearest Morton’s was 23.5 miles away, which is quite a feat. While you probably won’t deliver steaks to all your customers, sometimes going above and beyond to delight your customers can earn customers’ loyalty for life.
6. The Opryland Hotel
When a writer was in Nashville for a conference, she decided that the clock radio at Opryland was one of the best, most relaxing devices that she’d ever experienced.
The writer liked the clock radio so much that she wanted to get one at home. When she inquired about it at Opryland, she figured that the device was custom-made for the hotel, and the closest she could get was something without the spa sounds.
Later when she went to pack up, the writer found a radio waiting for her, along with a note that let her know it was hers to keep.
Through this example, Opryland showed a small gesture can be hugely impactful and meaningful for your customers.
The most important aspect of providing excellent customer experiences is empowering your employees to go above and beyond for the customers.
You should allow your employees to bring their personalities to the organization, which can help you move mountains.
Let me give you the example of Southwest Airlines, where they allow their employees to express their individuality and make it unforgettable.
Hello. This is Bingo, and I’ll be your flight steward on today’s flight from Baltimore to Orlando. Some of you might be wondering why I’m called Bingo. Simple! You see, that’s the name my parents gave me. Why? Well, I was the fifth child in my family. My parents desperately wanted a boy; their first four children were girls. So when I showed up after four girls, it was quite natural for them to shout, “Bingo!” so that’s what my name is. [Source: Leader’s Guide to Storytelling by Steven Denning]
This was Bingo’s story, which now has become your story of Southwest Airlines.