Crafting the Customer Experience For People Not Like You: How to Delight and Engage the Customers Your Competitors Don't Understand

1. WEBSITE/DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

Most people will initially find you online or will visit your website or Facebook page to check you out if they heard about you via word of mouth. You want to make sure that your website and your social media pages are welcoming to diverse groups. The least you can do is feature people who don’t all look the same if you use pictures of people on your site or pages. Find imagery that shows different races, ages, even lifestyle cues such as dress, tattoos, or braids. People always want to identify with someone who looks like them, so be certain that you display a range of representation when it comes to showing people. If you want to really put the welcome mat out for a particular customer group, flag them with a question or callout on your page. For example, famous fruit and vegetable producer Dole’s website home page doesn’t list all the products and produce they sell. Instead, they feature nutrition. They have tabs for eating right (with information on fruits, vegetables, juices, and salads, as well as recipes) and living right (including fitness tips and weight loss tips). But they also have a tab called SuperKids that’s prominently positioned at the top of the their page. Although kids can certainly access this section—which features games, music, comics, videos, and more—I can guarantee that the customer group they’re trying to attract and engage with this is moms. Dole knows that the way to a mom’s heart is through her child. They could have ...