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Luxury Experience Principles. What did I learn at the Waldorf Astoria that can impact B2B software? More than you think.
According to Marketing Week, 68% of customers feel most brands have very similar communications and marketing messages. I’ve experienced this when building out new messaging for an AI/ML product in the fintech market for a new target audience. Months later, our competitors copied our messaging.
What I learned about the principles that could be applied to software solutions that you too can leverage:
🔍 Attention to Detail:
Notice and care for the little things. Many firms limit customer interviews to the product team to minimize multiple requests. When each member entered the coffee shop separately, we had different experiences. The same happens when a cross-functional sales, marketing, product, and customer success teams interview the customer together. More and unique insights are identified, establishing connective tissue.
👋 Welcoming Presence:
When firms recognize the customer, they build trust and a connection. The hotel’s welcome started with an email before the visit and extended to the door, lobby, and reception. It differed from the lack of welcome from the coffee shop. Use the interviews to acknowledge customers, listen to tone, and watch the body language as you break down the entire customer journey by persona, from pre-sales through post-sale. Turn those insights into actions to build those welcoming moments into the journey.
⚡ Effortless Ease:
Anticipate what the customer needs and remove the friction before it’s felt. The insights from the interviews can identify which customer journey points cause friction before a product launch. Pinpoint when services are required, create offerings, and coordinate with sales on when in the journey to introduce them.
💫 Thoughtful Personalization:
Observe, remember, and adapt, making every guest feel known. Use the context to personalize for emotions during the customer experience. A one-size-fits-all services strategy with a 24-hour response time may satisfy a startup CFO because he fears a huge services bill. However, an enterprise CFO may fear that approach and eliminate any vendor without 24/7 direct access to service resources who understand her complex environment.
🤝 Reestablishing Trust:
Setbacks happen and are an opportunity to shine. Turn a customer complaint from multiple customers into a co-creation opportunity through a Customer Advisory Board or End User Board. Develop new offerings or processes and publicly recognize them as founding members or offer a discounted price for their support to solve the issue.
Luxury experience principles aren’t reserved for luxury brands. These are universal principles every B2B software firm can embrace.
Which luxury experience principle do you want to embrace? Schedule a Discovery Session. Together, we can create a strategy for your business.
