We recently sent a ‘love letter’ to our customers in the form of a customer success survey; we wanted to hear their sentiments. At Adlib we realize there is always room to improve, and paying attention is one of the best ways of showing you care.
We’ve been customer focused for years, but now we are taking it to the next level. We recently kicked up our game by creating a team focused on Customer Success - led by myself, with the title of VP, Customer Success - but it's more than that. Customer success is part of our corporate culture that we want to celebrate and expand.
The results of our recent customer survey indicate that many of our customers would not hesitate recommending us to their peers.
But the feedback wasn't all positive. Here are some observations with direct customer quotes:
Communicate!
Customer Quote: "Better release communication, and roadmap info would be nice."
Adlib Takeaway: Often a company gets so busy delivering their product or service they forget to include their customers in important information. It may be common knowledge within your office, but the customer can't see your internal postings and white boards. Lesson: It's better to provide more information than less – with options to opt-out if it’s too much.
Don't forget the Aussies
Customer Quote: "A quicker response time for clients that are from different time zones, such as Australia."
Adlib Takeaway: Many of us have customers around the globe and it can be a challenge to serve everyone effectively unless you're global yourself. Adlib has customers in more than 50 countries and providing them with timely support can be a challenge. Regardless, you can partially resolve issues by extending support hours, provide self-help options etc. without necessarily opening remote locations.
No Generic Standards, Please
Customer Quote: “Well, the [Adlib] customer service is considerably better than that of [unnamed major competitor in the PDF conversion, aka the "800 lb. gorilla"]."
Adlib Takeaway: While hearing you do a better job than your competitor is nice, the battle for your customers’ attention and loyalty doesn't stop there. Only comparing your company’s performance against generic industry standards will limit your thinking and prevent you from truly delivering a standout customer experience.
The Pursuit of Perfection
Customer Quote: "I would score you a 9 simply because there is always room for improvement.”
Adlib Takeaway: Customer input will be both good and bad; be sure to balance them when driving performance improvements internally.
If you're doing it right - delivering a high quality product that delivers fair value and a superior overall customer experience - you increase the likelihood of your company's long term success as well as the chance you'll hear this from your customers:
"I'm happy with the quality, price and excellent customer service."
Ten simple words that were music to the ears of hard-working Adlib teams across multiple departments!
