Have you noticed that common business practices seem to have gone by the wayside and become nice touches when they occur? For instance, common business practices used to include: printing your tickets and receipts for you rather than having customers print their own; problem solving with you rather than relying on the customer to problem solve; nicely packaging your purchase rather than asking “would you like a bag”; looking at you and saying “thank you” when completing a transaction and more.
Yes, there are still locally owned stores and well-staffed and trained employees in nationally owned stores who are providing good customer service and nice touches during shopping experiences. Here are some recent examples.
Talbots employees wrap clothing purchases in tissue, add a sticker, place it in a bag, and walk out from behind the cash-counter to interact with customers one-on-one as they leave the store. Nice touches for certain.
AT&T staff always greet me at the door, work with me to resolve problems and answer questions – no matter how long it takes. They are friendly, helpful and patient. All of which are nice touches in the hectic world of constant technology expectations.
Fred Meyer (owned by Kroger) staff are friendly and helpful throughout the store when I need help finding items and at check-out, whether I am self-checking or working with a cashier. Stockers, department managers, and customer service desk workers all take time to respond to questions. Nice touches and appreciated customer service interactions.
GoDaddy customer service telephone help that was efficient, productive, friendly and patient. Thanks John! Two months ago, I posted a Kudos and I still remember your excellent customer service.
Shopify help via email and phone calls has been helpful and often includes the nice touches of video links showing how to complete actions within the site set-up process. Thanks to the help-team members.
Locally owned Finer Frames, Sweet Tea Living, Again, Shoe Hound, and Again2 store owners and employees are friendly and take time to interact with customers. Thank you for making customers feel welcome, wanted, and invited back. Nice Touches!
Wait staff providers who respond “you are so very welcome” when I say “thank you” make me smile every time. This communication interaction grace is a rarely experienced nice touch!
What is your company doing to provide the nice touches of customer service that used to be the standards of doing business? What can you be doing to keep customers working and shopping with you? Brainstorm lists of easy-to-do, free-to-do, low-cost-to-do, and other reasonable actions that add nice touches to doing business with you. Customers will notice your nice touches.