The UAE has proven its strength across a multitude of business areas. However, an area that’s sadly not kept up to speed with the country’s dramatic progression is the customer experience.

What this has created is an opportunity for businesses to take the lead and really own a large section of market share. A shining example of progressive customer service, and as a result market share, in the Emirates is Careem, the taxi service provider. Careem has cleverly identified its top 10% of clients and makes personal calls to them every month to ask their opinion as to how they might improve their service. Out of this, Careem Kids was born. Customers didn’t want to have to carry car seats around with them so Careem launched this new (and quite brilliant) service, which has made lives easier for parents and increased its offering and customer base, all in one.

Companies should be reinvesting budget into designing customer experience journeys and focusing on creating memorable interactions with their customers. Overall it is more cost and time effective to create a repeat customer, than to constantly attract new business. That said, the touch point that needs the most focus and can make or break the customer relationship is the one that’s often not given enough importance. A company’s frontline employees often hold the organization’s reputation in their hands- over time, brand reputation really does come from how customers are treated.

I’ve prepared a few questions businesses need to ask if they want to improve their bottom line through improved customer service:

1.What is the customer journey? Know where their journey starts and create touch points along the way.

2.Who is your target audience? Is the type of person or business are you hoping to attract the same as you are currently attracting?

3.What are the right platforms to use? This is largely based on where your customer’s journey starts- is it the moment they step into your shop, or is it the moment they type the name of your service into Google?

4.What is the right frequency of engagements? No one likes getting spammed nor do they appreciate five members of staff assaulting you with the same questions one after the other.

5.What is the right message? Know and understand your audience before you approach them.

6.What are the core interests of your audience? Find out and capitalize on them.

7.What is your cost per acquisition? If you consider this against your client retention cost, this will give you a much better financial yardstick as to the value of your customers.

Related: Customizing Connections Between Companies And Customers