Customer Experience

Customer experience is an aspect of your business that is in everything you do, as part of what you are offering and how it’s being offered. It’s a straightforward aspect of your martial arts business that can often make a big difference with the right amount of attention paid to it.

Jack Bradley | NEST Management

Where does it all start?

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It all starts the first time someone comes across your business which can be in numerous ways, from picking up a flyer with your details, a Facebook advert, your own website or a promotional event. It’s important to take that little bit of extra time to look over your messaging on these things and try to view it from an external perspective. This can help you see what others see when they first come across your martial arts business and if you are delivering the right message.

When responding to any customer queries, make sure you do it as promptly as possible and with a polite and professional attitude. As simple as this may seem, it’s something that can often make one of the biggest impacts to a potential customer.

Why not consider getting friends and family to help give you an alternative view as they may see something you don’t.

What should I do?

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Anything you do should reflect how you want people to see your business and this isn’t just limited to the elements mentioned above. You should consider the way that you and any staff interact with people and if it reflects the message you have on things such as your advertising, website and Facebook page. Having a consistent message, tone and overall attitude can help to reassure people and build trust more easily which in turn helps to keep a positive customer experience.

Having clear and solid processes in place for both yourself and staff when it comes to dealing with customers can help to ensure the customer experience is kept consistent and helpful.

It’s an unfortunate fact that ‘you can’t please everyone’, but you can appeal to the vast majority. Don’t be too worried if one person doesn’t like something, but do ask them for feedback if possible.

How can I improve?

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Rather than fully replacing any systems or processes you currently have, it’s simpler to make adjustments to your existing ones. Small changes can often make a big difference and improve the quality and experience people may have with your business. For example, people visiting your website that then decide they would like to come along to your trial lesson, would expect to be able to book directly from your website. If they have to send you an email through a contact form and await a response, this is not only more work for you, but can detract from their customer experience.

Being consistent with your communication can also make a big difference. If you say you are going to call a customer on Monday at 10am, make sure that’s what you do.

For existing students, an easy step you can take is ensuring you have a clean and safe environment for them to learn in. You can also listen to any comments or concerns they may have; this may not feel like anything you don’t already do, but it’s the first step towards going that extra mile!

If you have the NEST online booking widget installed on your website, you can easily take direct bookings that are recorded into myMA. This reduces your admin time and also helps to create a positive customer experience for visitors to your website.

Everyone’s the same…right?

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Even though you are trying to appeal to as many people as possible through your advertising, it’s important to remember to treat them as individuals when they contact you. This kind of approach helps people to feel like you’re making an effort for them and listening to their specific needs. The effect this can have on not only a person’s customer experience but, also their opinion of your martial arts business, can be very positive.

Imagine the next time you contact a business and they seem to genuinely care about your concerns and want to help, rather than them giving you a generic ‘call centre’ response. It could make the world of difference in how you perceive the business as a whole.

When it comes to customer experience, the important thing is to remember that you should be aiming to create an overall positive experience , both before and after a customer joins. By taking the time look through your processes and business then improving the areas you might think need a little more attention. It could have a long lasting benefit to your sign ups, retention rates and martial arts business as a whole.

If you are attending the Client Conference, our guest speaker Andrew Mcmillan will be talking on the importance of an excellent customer experience in more detail. If you are not able to attend, be sure to drop us an email with any questions and we will be happy to answer them.

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