Offering amazing customer service is one of the best things you can do to boost your business and ensure you get lots of great reviews, and more importantly, lots of loyal customers who come back to you time and time again. 
That is why it is so important you do everything you can to surprise and delight your customers at every turn. Here are a few ways you can do that:
1. Start with training
The first step in surprising and delighting your customers is training your customer service team so that they are able to skillfully handle any complaint or query with a quick resolution. You may also want to give them the power to make decisions that will surprise or delight the customers for themselves such as handing out freebies or lowering the bill when things do wrong, so that whenever customers have cause to get in touch with your business, they will have an amazing experience, and no matter what has gone wrong, come out of the interaction feeling positive about your company.
2. Treat them like VIPs
As a business, you need to show your customers you value them, and this is even more important if they are regular customers who support you over the years. One of the best ways to do this is to treat them like very important people because that is what they are to your company - VIPs.
There are lots of ways to do this, but one of the best is to have regular VIP sales that only your most loyal customers are invited to, or by allowing them to gain loyalty points on every purchase, and me these as general as possible if you want them to be as blown away as possible.
3. Allow them early-access
Something else that is sure to delight your customers is giving them early access to sales and other special offers, as well as any brand-new products that you decide to launch.
There is always a buzz around new product launches or greatest sales that will enable you to pick up more products for less, so if you make it known that a select few of your customers will be able to have their pick before the offers are opened up to the general public, then you can bet that they will think fondly of you.
4. Develop your technology
This might seem like an unusual suggestion in a post about surprising and delighting your customers, but it really isn’t. One thing that will absolutely surprise and delight them is being able to navigate your store with ease. That is why apps like this Summer Camp Software that simplifies the process are so popular with customers and why companies with really good websites always end up getting ahead. The easier it is for customers to do what they need to do when intersecting with you, the happier they will be.
5. Personalize the service
Customers will not fail to be blown away when you remember their name, their product preferences, even the name of their dog, and it has never been easier to do so thanks to customer relationship management software that will allow you to track various pieces of data about your customers so that, when they get in touch, you will have it all available to you at the touch of a button.
You can also think about tailoring the specific offers you send them, so that they know you get them, and so that they do not end up getting bombarded with endless offers that they have little to no interest in.
6. Hand out freebies
There are few people on the planet who do not like being given something for free, so a really easy and effective way to surprise and delight your customers is by giving them a freebie from time to time. 
Some companies choose to put a small free item in every package, and it always goes down well. But even if you just send out free gifts on birthdays or other special occasions, it is sure to be well-received.
7. Have a customer of the month
We all know about employee of the month schemes; they are a great way of motivating your employees by awarding them a gift or token for doing great work, but what about customer of the month schemes?
These might not be as common, but think how delighted your customer will be to get an email and a voucher for your company for being your customer of the month! It will be a completely unexpected surprise for them and they will be blown over by the effort you have gone to, It will, of course, also encourage them to make you their preferred provider of whatever products and services it is that you sell.
8. Send out birthday cards
Sending out birthday cards, and holidays too, as mentioned above, is a really nice way to let customers know that you value them and you askew thinking about them. It is always a good idea to hand sign them if that is possible, as it will give a more personal touch than a printed card, but any card is likely to be well-received.
If you can put a voucher or offer them a discount for their special day, in the card, then that will go down even better.
9. Deal with complaints quickly
So many businesses lose a lot of goodwill with their customers because, when something goes wrong, they drag their heels and stall on putting it right, and that’s if the customers can even get through to lodge a complaint in the first place.
That means you will absolutely surprise and delight youtube customers if you take the time to deal with complaints in a prompt and effective manner, and especially if you include some kind of free gift or compensation for things going wrong. 
10. Engage with them on social media
If your customers send in photos of themselves using your products, then retweet them and give them some attention; if they post a witty comment, then reply with some lighthearted banter of your own. 
The more you get to know your customers and the more they get to know you, the happier they will be with your company and the more delighted they will be to be getting some personal attention on social media.
11. Run a competition
Running a competition whereby you enter any customer who has made a purchase in the last X weeks and offering up a big price like a vacation or a new car is something that will definitely delight the person who wins it, and even customers who do not win this time will be impressed at the lengths you have gone to in order to try and brighten their days.
12. Run webinars
If your business sells something of a particularly technical nature, or even if you sell tools for DIY, for example, then setting up some free webinars that teach your customers the technicalities of your software or how to paint their homes, for example, is a great way to generate lots of goodwill because everyone has things they need to know, and often they need to pay to learn them, By offering up your skills for free, you will absolutely surprise and delight your customers.
13. Support the causes they love
Giving back as a business is one of the best parts of running a successful business. Donating a portion of the profits to a good cause is a great way to generate lots of positive PR, but if you get your customers involved, and ask them to suggest a cause of the month that you will donate a portion of the profits to in their name, they will love you even more for it and they are more likely to become loyal regular customers in the future.
14. Send thank you notes
This is something that you usually only see small independent sellers do, but it is really not too time-consuming to have an employee write small thank-you notes to be placed in each package, and although this is fairly small thing, it can make a big difference to how well you are thought of by your customers.
15. Help them out
If you see a customer is looking for a job on social media, and you have a vacancy, then hit them up, If you see one of your customers has a kid who is looking for work experience, hire them, see a customer who is struggling and could use a boost, send them some free stuff. This will not cost you a lot of money in the greatest scheme of things, but when your customers see you doing lovely stuff like this, well they will want to ensure they keep benign customers, that’s for sure.
The more effort you put into surprising and delighting your customers, the better your business will be, so what are you waiting for?

WRITTEN BY

Brand Voices