Sustaining an audience is hard

Sustaining an audience is hard,” Bruce Springsteen once said. “It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.” He was talking about his route to music stardom, yet his words are just as applicable to the world of customer experience.

Consistency may be one of the least inspirational topics for most managers. But it’s exceptionally powerful, especially at a time when retail channels are proliferating, and consumer choice and empowerment are increasing.

No matter which retail sector you are in, it is imperative to actively seek to “wow” your customers by providing unique and exceptional customer experiences and set your organization, brand, and/or franchise apart from the competition. Elite CXS offers a variety of measurement options to suit your needs. Our highly flexible and customizable solutions and reporting will focus in on the area’s most important to you. Elite CXS is here to help you on this journey with:

It should be no surprise that customer experience is a defining characteristic of successful hotels. Customer experience is what the hospitality industry is all about.
As consumers, we are savvy shoppers with hundreds of choices. We look for and demand the best, especially when it comes to choosing where we will sleep, vacation, and take our families.

When looking for a vacation or business trip, customers look at what you will offer them and how comfortable they feel utilizing your product. You need to make a memorable impression for customers/guests to first choose your product and then come back time and time again. What sets your business apart? How do you build and maintain brand loyalty? You need to stay ahead of your competition and set yourself apart by providing a stellar experience journey. Elite CXS will keep you up to date with trends, monitor your customer’s experience and help you measure the effectiveness of your operation.

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A Unique Perspective

Elite CXS offers a unique perspective to the customer experience. Our knowledge will help you to achieve and/or maintain ratings across social media and review sites for your brand.

Our TrueVoice CX solution helps you drive and populate positive reviews, maintain consistency across all listing sites, real-time mobile customer chat and staying on top of your competition through competitive benchmarking. Elite CXS’ web inquiry and telephone-based mystery shopping solutions are designed to ensure your brand standards are met through active measurement of the reservation, inquiry and online ordering processes. Elite CXS’ onsite mystery shopping and video mystery shopping solutions are designed to drive higher customer delight levels and profitability through active measurement of front-line staff and their execution against the ideal sales process. Our web design team can perform analytics and check-ups to ensure your website is running at optimal performance.

 Incorporating Covert Video

 

Using the latest in Covert Video Mystery Shopping technology, we send qualified evaluators to conduct visits at your establishments. Our editing team will refine the footage of one visit down to an interaction-based video that shows each key staff interaction along with images of the facility conditions and receipts.

A typical environment poses many obstacles we have learned to overcome. Background noise, awkward angles, periods of inactivity, limited lighting and documenting photos all pose challenges for the evaluator and the editing team.

The value of adding video shops along with a written component of mystery shopping is key to fully understanding the data. Much of the rapport established by the staff is difficult to document in words alone. Through covert video, you are allowed to see the mannerisms, body language, tone of voice and context of the interactions that take place. You can see first-hand how techniques and issues such as sales processes, tours, objection recovery, integrity situations, upsell techniques and promotional campaigns are handled.

 

Interactions from a collection of videos can be compiled to create an Executive Highlight Reel of key successes and areas needing attention. The footage can be used for individual training purposes as well as for creating training modules for the staff and management. Elite CXS is here to help you improve your customer journey, one process at a time.

The travel industry has undergone a transformation over the last decade. It is more important than ever that travelers have a stellar experience throughout every journey in order to gain a client for life. Elite CXS understands the importance of Customer Experience management but we focus on a thoughtful and meaningful approach. Many CX management firms are providing a “data dump”, leaving you to sort out the meaning and corrective action plan. Elite CXS takes the information collected from sources like video, telephone and written mystery shopping, reputation management, social listening and auditing to develop a tailored solution for your brand.

Hotels and Accommodations

When customers walk into a top hotel and resort, they expect to find things designed to improve their experience. The property needs to be inviting and immaculate and give you that personalized service you expect at a luxury resort. As they walk in the hotel lobby, guests need to feel a wow factor, while also feeling welcomed and comfortable. Easy check-in and a warm welcome are key.

The look and feel of the hotel must connect with guests from the moment the valet opens your car door to the reception staff smiling while offering you a bottle of water. It must continue on as they find specialty pillows and a personalized note in their room, and perhaps a phone call to see if they have everything they need.

Keeping up With Changing Customer Experience Expectations – While some aspects of customer experience are timeless, customer expectations change over time. Brands need to keep up with changing customer desires and demands if they want to stay relevant in today’s highly competitive hospitality industry.  Ten years ago, customer experience was about comfort and cleanliness. Guests were satisfied with basic and clean creature comforts. But these days you need to make an impression! Customers don’t want cookie-cutter cleanliness and comfort; they want character, technology, and affordability.

Although hotels primarily cater to families and older generations (certainly these demographic groups are still an important focus for hotel brands with loyal followers), hotels must now gather more ideas from millennials who are quickly stealing a major portion of marketers’ attention with their desire to see the world. Social media is another key influencer in the millennial generation’s unique interest in traveling in the early stages of adulthood. Brands must have a strong social presence that exists both online and in their hotels through the use of on-site screens with social media feeds and streams of user-generated content.

The Expensive Cost of Ignoring Customer Experience – Hotels that get stuck in the old way of designing customer experiences will likely get left behind. Many hotels assume that a clean and comfortable room will do. Instead you need to think beyond the basics, get to know your customers better, and see what it will take to really wow them.

Consistently surveying your customers is a must to stay on top of the changing times and in sync with you customer base. Find out what they want to see so you can improve your customer experience to better appeal to them. Would guests like late check-out? Is the view important? Do they need a wake-up call? In the hospitality industry, long-term customer satisfaction and loyalty is everything. It only takes one bad experience for customers to defect to competitors. So, think outside-the-box to provide guests with an elevated customer experience they can’t find anywhere else. Elite CXS will assist you in every step of defining, monitoring and measuring your customer’s journey and loyalty to your brand.

Our TrueVoice CX solution will help you keep a finger on the pulse of your businesses’ lifeline by obtaining customer feedback, driving and populating positive reviews, maintaining consistency across all listing sites, social media engagement, real-time mobile customer chat and staying on top of your competition through competitive benchmarking.

Elite CXS’ onsite mystery shopping and video mystery shopping solutions are designed to drive higher customer delight levels and profitability through active measurement of front-line staff and their execution against the ideal level of customer experience, i.e.

– Overall hospitality – Valet – Front desk – Bell service – Cleanliness – Reinforce brand standards – Environmental services – Proper POP placement – Managers – Food & Beverage – Housekeeping – Maintenance – Spa/Pool reception – Spa/Pool Attendant – Fitness center – Gift shop – Restaurant/bar – In-Room dining –  PBX/Wake-up call – Group sales – Guest safety – Concierge – Employee engagement – Employee training

Cruise Lines

Understanding why focusing on passenger experience Is crucial for cruise companies – Cruises are one of the single most unique experiences that any vacationer can have. This is because of a combination of luxurious accommodations, on-board entertainment, and the ability to visit many locations in a single vacation. There’s no other vacation on Earth that has the unique appeal of a cruise, so it’s no wonder that the world of cruising has become a very competitive environment. Cruise lines like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and other major cruise liners have dedicated tremendous efforts to technological innovation, including surf pools, LED movie screens, on-board driving ranges, ice-skating rinks, and more. While these flashy, modern facilities are certainly beneficial at drawing in customers, the only true way by which customer loyalty can be obtained is by providing an incredible customer experience.

Cruisers are often repeat customers; and they love to talk about their experiences – A recent GIAP study found that cruisers are very likely to be repeat customers. They cite a CLIA study which indicates that approximately 55% of cruisers had taken at least one cruise before. Within that category, it was found that 60% of people had taken a cruise within the last three years. Additionally, it was found that a large amount of cruisers didn’t use the booking website of their cruise line to gather information about their potential cruise options.

Only 23% of all respondents used corporate resources from cruise liner companies, while over 33% of respondents discussed the best cruise liners with their friends and relatives. Together, these statistics show that word-of-mouth marketing is perhaps more important in cruise lines than in any other industry. Not only are customers brand-loyal – and loyal to the cruising vacation – they are extremely likely to take recommendations from friends and family.

They are also more likely to share their experiences if they had a great time on a cruise. Therefore, by focusing on providing an incredible customer experience, you can convert one-time cruisers into repeat customers, and allow your loyal customers to share their experiences with loved ones and friends who are thinking of taking a cruise vacation.

A better experience can be the only competitive advantage you have – All the showy technology and fantastic amenities in the world won’t make up for a poor cruise experience. According to the GIAP study, customers have a fantastic experience only when the cruise line provides them with value-added service, and truly seems to care about their overall vacationing experience. Cruise liners who treated their customers like valuable resources and paid special attention to their needs – rather than seeing them as a necessary burden – were associated with a rise in customer satisfaction.

Travelers must be treated as the absolute highest priority by cruise liners. Though there are many other variables that make up a fantastic cruising experience, a great customer experience persisted throughout all measurements as the overwhelmingly most important factor to customer satisfaction.

Customers create their own experience; and they need your help to do It – This is, perhaps, the most difficult aspect of cruises as a hospitality industry. In a traditional hotel, it’s very easy to guide customers through your services, and provide a great experience. However, cruise liners combine the traditional hospitality services of hotels with comprehensive food and beverage services, entertainment, and other facilities, making them much more complex. Add on to this the fact that most cruise liners stop at multiple locations throughout their time, and you have a truly difficult problem: How can you please your customers when they are the one in charge of their own experience?

Cruise liners must accept that they can’t truly “stage-manage” a cruise experience. Your customers, in the end, are responsible for creating their own experience. Therefore, the best thing that a cruise liner can do is provide excellent service – at every single level of staff and management.

You never know exactly how customers will interact with the services on a cruise liner, so it’s up to you and your staff to provide excellent experiences during every single interaction. Doing so provides the best of both worlds. Customers get to do whatever they want – yet still feel as if the staff and facilities on your cruise liner are providing a wonderful experience.

Put the customer first; and your cruise line will grow – The cruise industry has enjoyed steady growth since the 1990s. These are truly great times to be involved in this unique segment of the hospitality industry. But don’t let the growth of the market fool you – competition is tough out there. With all the innovations, new cruise liners, and expanded facilities, make sure you don’t lose sight of the most important aspect of cruising – the traveler. By prioritizing the traveler who is staying on your cruise liner above everything else, your company will grow. The age of your ship, where you go, how fancy your drinks are do not make the ultimate difference in the end. If you place your customer first, and they can truly sense that you are doing your very best to provide an excellent customer experience, they will appreciate your hard work – and your business will continue to grow. This is where Elite CXS comes in to help you monitor, measure and manage each step along this customer journey.

Our TrueVoice CX solution will help you keep a finger on the pulse of your businesses’ lifeline by obtaining customer feedback, driving and populating positive reviews, maintaining consistency across all listing sites, social media engagement, real-time mobile customer chat and staying on top of your competition through competitive benchmarking.

Elite CXS’ onsite mystery shopping and video mystery shopping solutions are designed to drive higher customer delight levels and profitability through active measurement of front-line staff and their execution against the ideal level of customer experience, i.e.

– Overall hospitality – Web inquiries – Arrival/departure facility – Bell service – Cleanliness – Reinforce brand standards – Environmental services – Proper POP placement – Managers – Food & Beverage – Housekeeping – Maintenance – Spa/Pool reception – Spa/Pool Attendant – Fitness center – Gift shop – Restaurant/bar – In-Room dining –  PBX/Wake-up call – Amenties – Guest safety – Concierge – Employee engagement – Employee training

Airlines

Customer satisfaction is always top of mind for airlines. Unhappy or disengaged customers naturally mean fewer passengers and less revenue. It’s important that customers have an excellent experience every time they travel. On-time flights, good in-flight entertainment, more (and better) snacks, and more legroom might be the obvious contributors to a good experience and more loyalty.

While we might hear about those aspects the most, the customer experience is not about just the flight itself. It’s everything from purchasing the ticket on the company’s website or mobile app to checking bags in at the airport or via a mobile app to waiting in the terminal.  It is about the overall experience and how the traveler was treated at each step along the journey.

From varied seating choices to chef-designed meals, airlines have made great strides in improving the passenger experience. However, passengers report that they are still often left looking for more. In a world where the customer has the power, how can the airline industry appeal to the next-generation passenger and improve customer experience?

According to Forrester Research, on average, each US airline is leaving as much as $1.4 billion in annual revenue on the table by not making improvements to their customer experience. This revenue may be captured before, during, or after the flight when airlines can establish customer loyality as well as garnering ancillary sales. These ancillary offerings often provide much higher margins with much less complexity and effort than the product of flying the passenger.

One big challenge for the industry is that air travel has become a commodity product. The emergence of low-cost flights, price comparison engines, tight cost margins, unpredictable fuel costs, and holiday comparison sites is forcing an industry that has traditionally innovated in customer experience to take another look at the customer journey. In addition, negative press coverage of incidents involving passenger mistreatment, technical glitches, IT failures and employee dissatisfaction have all had a negative impact on customer perceptions.

Customer experience matters more, because prices are easy to compare – Airlines have been forced to focus on the value of customer experience. This isn’t just because one plane is pretty much identical to any other, but also because it is easy to use comparison engines to compare flight prices – making customers very sensitive to cost. In the customer experience business, it is all about balancing the demand delta of cost verses service delivery. It is very difficult to cost cut your way to success if it involves demolishing your brand reputation.

It is also an industry where customer reviews and social media make quality transparent. Videos about broken guitars and, more recently, ugly scenes of passengers being forcibly dragged off overbooked flights have caused significant amounts of reputational head wind. This means that customer experience can count more than price alone.

Customized experiences – you get what you pay for – More than any other sector, airlines make it very apparent what experience you get for which price. You don’t expect a champagne experience on a beer budget. Low cost airlines have unbundled experiences into basic, customizable components for which you pay extra. Premium airlines offer many of these as standard. Although many premium brands are starting to look a lot more like low cost ones. This can be problematic from a brand expectation perspective, especially if travelers expect a champagne experience, and end up with a beer one!

Self-service initiatives are great but means front line employees are even more important – Airlines were one of the first industries to use the internet as a key tool to sell tickets. They used surge pricing before Uber was even a thought. They also rapidly rolled out self-service kiosks in airports. Now, travelers can check in, choose their seat, and get their boarding pass on their smart phone app without having to leave home. Once at the airport, that same app can also tell them the gate number, provide a map of how to get there, and alert them when the plane is boarding. Some airlines have also deployed chatbots to help customers to book tickets online and answer basic questions. This frees up staff to concentrate on focused customer experience areas that add value to the brand experience.

Because your customers might not see a single representative until they board the plane, investing in the front line is increasingly important. Therefore, your customer facing people, from gate staff to flight attendants, need investment, tools, and empowerment as they are the face of your brand. Consistently monitoring the performance and garnering feedback of these interactions is the cornerstone for developing loyalty and repeat travelers.

When it comes to customer experience, it’s all about the journey and Elite CXS is here to help you with each step.

Our TrueVoice CX solution will help you keep a finger on the pulse of your businesses’ lifeline by obtaining customer feedback, driving and populating positive reviews, maintaining consistency across all listing sites, social media engagement, real-time mobile customer chat and staying on top of your competition through competitive benchmarking.

Elite CXS’ onsite mystery shopping and video mystery shopping solutions are designed to drive higher customer delight levels and profitability through active measurement of front-line staff and their execution against the ideal level of customer experience, i.e.

– Overall hospitality – Staff Friendliness – Staff engagement – Customer service interactions – Reservation process – Cleanliness – Skycap – Check in/ baggage check
– Web inquiries and response – Reinforce brand standards – Gate agent – In-Flight services – Seating/amenities – Arrival/Baggage pick-up

Rental Cars

While the car rental business has been growing steadily year over year (it is expected to grow at 15% CAGR through 2020 and beyond), the experience of customers during the rental and post rental phase has remained the same. The Retail industry has raised the bar in this space significantly and customers are expecting similar experiences with rental services as well. Considering the importance of this in the entire customer experience lifecycle in terms of satisfaction scores (NPS surveys) and repeat business – it is vital that car rental providers look at improving their services.

Though average vehicle age and variety of selection does matter, J.D. Power attributes strong customer experience performance to improved app technologies and superior customer service, saying “positive staff touch points in the reservation and return processes are associated with the highest levels of overall rental car customer satisfaction.” In particular, strong customer service works well to attract younger travelers, who frequently value customer service as more important than hard product.

The car rental industry is at the cusp of major transformation/disruption with customers looking for seamless experience and ‘app-store speed’ service. And the survival of the car rental providers will solely depend on how fast they can identify and respond to changing demand amid an increasingly competitive and evolving environment.

Entry barriers have been significantly lowered (e.g. Uber, Lyft ), newer business models have evolved (Easy Cars, Zip Car, Silver car) and customers have plenty of alternatives to choose from. It is time to elevate the business propositions, provide improvised and pro-active engagement and invest in over the horizon approaches to elevate the customer experience. The entire strategy needs to be centered around the customer journey and Elite CXS is here to help with each step along the way.

Our TrueVoice CX solution will help you keep a finger on the pulse of your businesses’ lifeline by obtaining customer feedback, driving and populating positive reviews, maintaining consistency across all listing sites, social media engagement, real-time mobile customer chat and staying on top of your competition through competitive benchmarking.

Elite CXS’ onsite mystery shopping and video mystery shopping solutions are designed to drive higher customer delight levels and profitability through active measurement of front-line staff and their execution against the ideal level of customer experience, i.e.

– Overall hospitality – Staff Friendliness – Staff engagement – Customer service interactions – Reservation process – Cleanliness – Rental interaction – Return interaction – Web inquiries and response – Reinforce brand standards – Vehicle condition – Wait times

 

Travel Agencies

Customers today want excitement, convenience and the best deals when planning a journey. According to a survey, 53% of respondents used travel agents’ websites while researching their holiday purchase. Whether travelling for business or on holiday, many customers want travel agents to provide them with their expert knowledge and opinion. Providing a service that is better, faster and more affordable than what the customer can do for him/herself is important in order to match the customer service needs.

A major reason for customers to opt for a travel agent is that they don’t have adequate time or expertise to choose the finest options, especially if it is an overseas trip. In such scenarios, your customers want the best option in the shortest possible time and are looking for travel advice owing to their lack of experience on the subject. Here’s where the customer’s trust in your agency is of essence. Offering convenience includes primarily the wants and needs of your customer and being well versed in the details that go into planning.

If your customers have any queries, make sure you are available. Provide multiple communication channels for them to get in touch with you. This could be over the phone, via live chat service or email. Travel companies must determine what customers want from them and should know how they want to hear about it, both prior to purchase and during the travel.

Be elaborate in the details when you deliver any relevant information and create a relationship with them. Help the customers out by offering your expert advice and resources that they pay for. Going a little out of your way would only certify better customer experience. Personalize your services and get to know what the customer wants. Once the customer has made the purchase, it should not be the end of the client-agent relationship. Therefore, travel agents should make themselves available pre and post booking and should be responsive to any queries that the customers have, which helps retain customers and counts as good customer service.

Never forget your biggest competition is online! Meet them on their turf by being on top of the latest online trends and stay updated with what your competition is doing. Elite CXS is here to help you develop a well-planned customer experience journey and engage with you each step of the way.

Our TrueVoice CX solution will help you keep a finger on the pulse of your businesses’ lifeline by obtaining customer feedback, driving and populating positive reviews, maintaining consistency across all listing sites, social media engagement, real-time mobile customer chat and staying on top of your competition through competitive benchmarking.

Elite CXS’ onsite mystery shopping and video mystery shopping solutions are designed to drive higher customer delight levels and profitability through active measurement of front-line staff and their execution against the ideal level of customer experience, i.e.

– Overall hospitality – Staff Friendliness – Staff engagement – Customer service interactions – Reservation process – Telephone interactions – Web inquiries and response – Reinforce brand standards – Staff knowledge – Sales process adherence – Follow-up – Overcoming objections

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