What can we learn from some of the best customer experience examples out there? Keep on reading to learn more!
I don’t want to sound cliché, but there is no doubt that the world has been changing dramatically over the last few years. Even before the 2020 global coronavirus pandemic, it was already becoming increasingly digital – and the outbreak just speeded this up.
It’s like we speeded a YouTube video by x5. Crazy, right?
Anyways – the point is that, as we are moving from physical to digital spaces where there are no boundaries, providing outstanding customer experience has become more important than ever.
Why? Because on the Internet, customers have millions of companies to choose from for a single product or service. And if they don’t enjoy the experience, they are just a click away from the next company.
And of course, customer experience is not only about digital spaces. It is still as important in your local shop, hotel, or restaurant as well. People want to enjoy every step of their customer journey.
For this reason today, I have compiled some of the most awesome customer experience examples I could find. And hopefully, they will inspire you to improve and optimize your customer journey as well.
11 Awesome Customer Experience Examples
So, without further ado, let’s jump right into our examples!
1. Zalando: 100-day return policy
Customer experience examples #1: Zalando
The list starts with my absolute favourite online shopping retailer – Zalando. The German-based company knows very well that we are all very lazy (well, at least I am) when it comes to returning clothes.
Sometimes, we just don’t like a product, but we let the days pass because we never have the time to return it. And then – boom! – we are stuck with a pair of shoes that we are never going to wear.
However, this is not an issue with Zalando. The company has a 100-day return policy that allows you to send back any unworn item free of charge within 100 days of delivery date.
This policy significantly improves customer experience because it provides more time and security for online shoppers. It also helps them build trust with Zalando, which allows the company to develop a solid competitive advantage.
2. Starbucks: Gamified Loyalty Program
Next on our list of customer experience examples is Starbucks.
The company’s awesome gamified loyalty system allows you to collect stars when purchasing your favourite drinks, and get exciting rewards in return.
The awesome app features, the great user experience, and the innovative gamification approach are an excellent way to drive more sales, gain more brand visibility, and keep customers satisfied.
Customer experience examples #2: Starbucks
To drive even more engagement, Starbucks also gives you the opportunity to get stars faster with additional challenges and Double Star Days. You can also order on the go before arriving to your local coffee shop!
They way they’ve designed their reward system not only gets more revenue for the company, but also offers an outstanding customer experience.
In fact, The Starbucks Reward Loyalty Program currently has more than 16 million members, driving 40% of the total sales of the company.
Image Source: medium.com
The company’s successful gamification approach is one of the best customer experience examples showing that, with some additional incentives that translate to tangible rewards, you can:
- Incentivize more product purchases;
- Encourage returning visits;
- Get valuable customer data;
- As well as promote merchandise and partner offers.
Want to know more about the Marketing strategy of Starbucks? You might want to check my article 3 Marketing Lessons from Starbucks.
3. Coca Cola: Personalization
Next on our list of customer experience examples comes from The Coca Cola Company with their groundbreaking Share a Coke Campaign. Launched for the first time in 2011 in Australia, it quickly became one of their most successful campaigns ever.
It was strikingly simple, yet incredibly effective. The company wanted to increase revenue and drive more engagement, so they released coke cans and bottles with the 250 most popular names of each country in which the campaign was launched.
Needless to say, everyone quickly became obssessed with it. But why?
Well psychologically, people respond better to personalized products, perceiving as if they were designed with their particular needs in mind.
Of course, the moment we see our own name on a can, we instantly want to buy it and share the experience.
Customer experience examples #3: Coca Cola
Rolled out in 80 countries, this incredible campaign managed to increase the company’s sales for the first time in 10 years. They created a highly personalized and shareable customer experience which people absolutely loved.
4. Google’s Hum to Search: Emotional connection
Our list of customer experience examples continues with Google and their latest feature: Hum to Search. Launched in October 2020, it was created with a simple concept in mind: to help you find those songs stuck in your head.
All you need to do is sing or hum whatever you remember from the song for a few seconds, and Google’s feature will return the closest results possible that it can find.
According to TheVerge, Google uses machine learning models to “transform the audio into a number-based sequence representing the song’s melody,” which is then compared to existing songs.
Although this feature is relatively new and its true potential is yet to be explored, I truly believe that it allows Google to develop a competitive advantage for their Sound Search tool (which allows you to capture songs while they are playing).
Customer experience examples #4: Google’s Hum to Search
As opposed to other competitors such as Shazaam and SoundHound, Google manages to create an emotional connection with its audience beyond simply being a database for songs.
Just think about it. Sometimes, we spend months and years searching for that one amazing song that we heard once on the radio, but we didn’t remember the lyrics.
Being able to use this tool and discover songs that truly touched our heart is definitely one of the best customer experience examples I can think of.
5. Wordpress.com: Customer Support
The key to delivering outstanding customer experience is being able to communicate with your audience efficiently. And also, providing different options and channels so that customers can choose how they want to connect with you.
From my own experience, Wordpress.com has been extremely quick and helpful in providing solutions from their live chat. As a blogger, this has been very important to me – especially when something is going wrong with my website.
And although the live chat technology has been around for a while, companies have been rather slow in adopting it to their customer service strategy. And it is not only about adopting it either; it’s being able to make the most of it.
The Live Chat Support is currently available for some Premium Plans.
In case you don’t want to get in touch with them via live chat, I also love their Contact us option.
Customer experience examples #5: Wordpress.com
They way they’ve designed their Contact us form is very simple, intuitive, and even up-lifting. They allow you to select how you feel at the moment of leaving your message, making you feel like you’re being listened to.
And listening to your customers is very important if you really want to satisfy their needs. By doing this simple tweak to their form, Wordpress.com has managed to establish an emotional connection with their customers.
I also believe that it helps them sort out messages by priority – for example, they probably open the “panicked” messages first – although this is just my assumption.
6. Amazon: Product Experience Online
Next on our list of customer experience examples is Amazon, the customer feedback champion and one of the largest ecommerce platforms in the world.
Apart from setting the standards in ecommerce with competitive prices and unrivaled product inventory, the company is also one of the biggest references when it comes to digital product experience.
From a Google-like ability to search to extremely detailed product education, Amazon makes it easy for customers to evaluate if a product fits their needs.
Customer experience examples #6: Amazon
They have an extremely powerful system for customer reviews and ratings that help you learn more about a particular product.
Customers who have previously purchased the product can also upload images with it, and you can easily translate their reviews to your native language as well.
The company also provides a handy recommender system to help you understand which product might fit your needs the best. It is based on previous search terms or what additional products other users have bought among with the one you are evaluating.
And what’s even more awesome, you can even rate the reviews of other users to let everyone know if they have been helpful to you.
7. Netflix: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence
Undoubtedly, one of the best customer experience examples that leverages the power of artificial intelligence comes from Netflix.
The company uses AI, Data Science and Machine Learning to make personalizations of movie recommendations.
By analyzing the watching history of other users with similar tastes, it offers content that you might be interested in watching next so you can continue being engaged with the platform. But that’s not all.
On top of that, Neflix uses thousands of video frames as thumbnails to evaluate their performance, and places personalized thumbnails for each particular user – based on what they are more likely to click on.
For example, this is how the thumbnails of Harry Potter look for me:
And this is how they look from my brother’s account:
Customer experience examples #7: Netflix
For example, one finding could be that users who like specific movie genres or actors are more likely to click on thumbnails with these actors, or with genre-specific image attributes.
8. ABA English: Digital Customer Experience
Our list of customer experience examples continues with ABA English, a unique digital platform that help people learn English online.
The company uses the so-called The Smart Learning® method, which is based on live experiences, speaking sessions and well-tailored videos that help you practice real-life conversations.
Customer experience examples #8: ABA English
The incredible user experience that the platform provides makes you feel like you are using a streaming platform like Netflix.
It is intuitive, interactive, highly engaging, and even the videos (which are produced by the company to help you learn English in different contexts) have movie-like thumbnails.
Their website, combined with a powerful app that has a rating of 4.6 from 16 thousand reviews, provide a great digital customer experience for its users.
9. McDonald’s: In-restaurant experience
Next on our list of customer experience examples is McDonald’s. After the company suffered a steady decline in sales, they decided to take things in their own hands and focus on improving customer experience instead of simply tweaking their Marketing strategy.
Apart from simplifying their menu and focusing on higher quality ingredients, the company also made a global design revamp.
“We’ve moved away from a cafeteria feel to a more comfortable and, in some ways, more intimate restaurant,” said Max Carmona, McDonald’s senior director of U.S. restaurant design.
With this direction and focus in mind, McDonald’s modernized their chain, and introduced new technology that made the customer journey easier – self-service kiosks. These kiosks allow customers to order and pay using a digital screen, and simply get their order once it’s prepared.
Customer experience examples #9: McDonald’s self-service kiosks
These kiosks improve in-restaurant customer experience significantly, reducing the time for waiting in line, and allowing people to get their food faster.
It also means that people have more control over what they are ordering, as they can easily personalize their products from the convenience of the screen.
With all these changes that McDonald’s implemented to improve customer experience, the company increased sales from $7.1 billion to $9.3 billion within four years.
10. Karl Lagerfeld: Real-World Lookbok
Next on our list of customer experience examples is Karl Lagerfeld, the iconic fashion house that has captured the hearts of many fashion lovers around the world.
Customer experience examples #10: Karl Lagerfeld
The company provides a great digital experience for its customers, making you you enjoy every step of your customer journey.
From features such as express checkout, availability in store and personalized recommendations, Karl Lagerfeld really ensures a seamless online experience for its customers.
They also add a pinch of storytelling for each one of their products:
But one feature that really helps them stand out and build a competitive advantage when it comes to online shopping is their lookbook section, which uses users-generated images to make their clothes come to live in real-world scenarios:
By adding the hashtag #KARLLAGERFELD to their Instagram photos, users get the chance to be features on the company’s website wearing their favourite clothes from Karl Lagerfeld.
This unique experience, provided in collaboration with the company Photoslurp, provides a lot of value for customers who want to see more than just edited images with models.
They can actually see how clothes look like on different people, in various positions, and in unique, real-world contexts and envronments. Which can help them make the final decision towards purchasing a product from the brand.
11. Amazon: Appreciating its customers
Going back to Amazon, one of the best customer experience examples that proves how a company can show appreciation towards its customers is this one provided by Estefania Cárdenas, International Speaker in Marketing and Strategy.
Estefania received a product that she never purchased as it was supposed to be delivered to another customer. So, she texted them to let them know about their mistake, and they responded by gifting her the mistaken product in appreciation of her honesty.
Customer experience examples #11: Amazon
Needless to say, companies that go out of their way to keep customers satisfied are capable of retaining them long-term.
Retaining customers is extremely valuable for businesses – according to Outbound Engine, improving customer retention by 5% can increase profits from 25-95%.
In addition to that, acquiring a new customer can cost up to 5 times more than retaining an existing one.
And this was all from me for today when it comes to brilliant customer experience examples! If you have other great examples that you would like to share, do not hesitate to leave me a comment below or send me an email to mktoolboxsuite@gmail.com.
And I would be more than happy to include them in the list!
As always, thank you for taking the time to read my article, and I hope to see you in the next one!
