The document outlines 20 strategies to surprise and delight customers, emphasizing the importance of positive customer experiences and emotional connections. Key recommendations include personalizing interactions, over-delivering on promises, and encouraging employee engagement in customer service. The ultimate goal is to foster loyalty and transform customers into enthusiastic advocates for the business.

1. 20 WAYS TO SURPRISE
YOUR CUSTOMERS
1

2. THE ROAD TO GREAT CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE
2
Source: Bain & Company

3. 3
WHY SURPRISE
YOUR CUSTOMERS
IS SO IMPORTANT.

4. 4
We spend most of our time and
money on acquiring customers
and building products.

5. 5
Customers feel
left out.

6. 6
70%
of buying experiences are based
on how the customer feels he/she
is being treated
Source: Hubspot

7. 7
56%
of customers, who are having a
poor service, talk to other people
about them.
Source: ECHO customer service survey 2012

8. 8
ATTENTION!!!
Your business
is always at
stake.

9. 9
The customers
perception of your
company…

10. 10
…is formed by every small
interaction with you

11. 11
… because they
are part of the
larger experience.

12. of customer loyalty is created
in post-sales activities but…
12
80%

13. delight and surprise customers is not
just a post-sale activity.
13

14. Delight and surprise
your customers has
to be in your DNA
because…

15. …customers will never love
your company until your
employees love it first.
15

16. 16
Delight your employees
and they will delight
your customers.
Happy employees create happy
customers and allow for sustained
customer delight.

17. 17
HOW TO SURPRISE
YOUR CUSTOMERS.

18. 18
#1 THE UNEXPECTED
SURPRISE
From time to time, you can surprise a
customer who has a birthday within days
from a contact and you send him e.g. a
t-shirt as a gift.
Ship small gifts like candy in every
package as an extra thanks to our
customer.

19. 19
#2 DON’T MANAGE BY
CALL LENGHT
It may at first sight seem counterproductive,
but many companies have found that the
more time you spent advising a customer,
the better return on investment.
Invest in your customers and they’ll invest in
you.

20. 20
#3 ALWAYS HANG UP LAST
Train your employees to always hang up last.
This allows a customer to always add something at the
end of a call and prevent them from ever feeling cut off.

21. #4 LITTLE THINGS COUNTS
It’s essential to call customers back if they get
cut off or if you forgot to tell them something.
Send a customer a message asking if their
phone is working as expected.
Offer them a (complimentary) cold bottle of
water on a hot day.
These little things go a long way towards
building loyalty with our customers
21

22. 22
#5 Surprise when least expected
Once in a while your customers will experience an error or that your website is
being updated.
Make that experience a fun experience and you will experience that customers
is more likely to forgive you.
AHHHHH! YOU FOUND ME!
Unfortunately you have found an elusive 404 error page, which means the page you were looking for is not here.

23. 23
#6 NO MORE BAD UPSELL
Always try to fulfill the customers needs, but there is no reason to pressure them with
bad upsell when you are solving their problems.
In other words, don’t sell them a new product they don’t need.

24. #7 UNDER PROMISE AND OVER
DELIVER
Always over deliver and provide more value than our
customers expect.
This way they are always pleasantly surprised with your
work.
There are many ways of over delivering, like shipping
packages earlier than promised.

25. #8 TAKE OWNERSHIP OF PROBLEMS
Don’t leave a customer in doubt of what is going to happen next.
Do what you say you are going to do: “I’ll get back to you with an
update by the end of the day”
Even if you don’t have much to report, get back to the customer!
Never let a customer call us more than one time with the same
problem
25

26. 26
#9 EMPATHY IS IMPORTANT
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes.
See things through their eyes. Think about how
you want to be treated when things go south with
a product or a service that you purchased.
Are you satisfied when you are brushed off? Do
you like the way you feel when you are not taken
seriously? Of course not!
Act like it’s you on the other side of the phone and
you can’t go wrong.

27. #10 ENCOURAGE EMPLOYEES TO CARE
Perform at least one act of kindness a day, such as opening the door for a
customer, or carrying heavy parcels to cars.
Being prepared to 'walk the extra mile’.
For example, asking an employee who lives close to a customer to make an
urgent delivery on the way home, or to check that an installation has gone
smoothly, can generate very positive word of mouth.

28. 28
#11 BE ACCESSIBLE
Managers should be accessible and easy to get in
contact with.
Customers should be encouraged to contact the
management.
Remember that customers keep business in
business.
If you don’t take care of your customers, someone
else will.

29. 29
#12 BUILD A CUSTOMER
FOR LIFE
Always approach your customers with a
personalized warm welcome.
Always listen politely to understand the
customers needs.
Always communicate and connect with
customers.
Always help our customer to get started
Always end with a fond farewell and
invitation to return.

30. 30
#13 UNLOCK CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS
One of the main delights for customers is getting support tickets and
complaints answered by the top management.
Customers get delighted when they see the managers at the top take
time out for this.

31. 31
THANK
YOU
#14 DESIGN THE EXPERIENCE IN ALL TOUCH POINTS
When shipping a package, show your gratitude and thank your customers with a sticker or
note that reads, “Thanks for being a customer since…” with the year the customer first
ordered from us. New customers reads, “…we will try our best to give you the best service
you ever experienced.”
Taking that extra step to make a purchase feel more like a gift can pay off in big ways..

32. 32
#15 MAKE IT EXCLUSIVE AND SPECIAL
Organize once a month an executive breakfast for the 10 best (not necessarily
largest) business clients. As a top decision maker, do not send a substitute.

33. 33
#16 CREATE TOGETHER WITH CUSTOMERS
Be co-creative and involve employees and customers to develop new and
relevant delights and surprises.

34. #17 MAKE IT SIMPLE AND INTUITIVE
Carefully craft the experience to be as straightforward as possible. Leverage feedback to
constantly improve and update the experience at least once a year.

35. #18 SHOW THAT WE LISTEN
Show the customers that you listen and fix issues that matters for the customers. The goal
has to be to improve the experience, so customers chooses to stay with you.
35

36. 36
#19 BE A CUSTOMER
Every employee is encouraged to try
to be a customer.
That’s why employees every month
shouid be giving the time and
resources to try to be a customer.
Ask them to share their experience
and proposal for improvement with
the rest of the organization.

37. 37
#20 SERVING THE
CUSTOMERS
Everyone that's hired, it doesn't matter what
position, goes through the exact same training
as your call center or retail agents.
They're actually on the phone for two weeks
taking calls from customers or serving your
customers at a shop.
Because serving the customers should be the
heart of your business, so when the queue in
Customer Service is too long, everybody can
take a call.

38. Thank you
Contact information:
thorleif@hallund.com

39. Thanks to the following great companies for
providing statistics and inspiration
Thanks to these fantastic people for being an
inspiration
My wife and children, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Wallace Green, Marek Slacik,
Jesper Hansen, Eivind Karlsen and Mattias Ringqvist
Zappos, Apple, Telenor, HubSpot, Headset.com, Nordstrøm Virgin Media, Bain and many
more