Mother's Day is right around the corner and now is the time to start thinking about your customer experience strategy. While some may think that customer service and customer experience are interchangeable, it's not. Customer service is handling a customer situation by situation whereas customer experience is giving the customer something they can feel, attach an emotion too, and go on a journey

When you start prepping for Mother's Day, take time to think about how you're going to create an experience for your customers. What will you do to give them something other than just great customer service? What is one way to go beyond just creating and delivering a gorgeous arrangement? How are you going to get them to come back to you after Mother's Day? We have some tips to help you out!

Before the holiday begins, get your team together and talk to them about how you are going to be creating experiences for customers. Tell them what you expect of them. You aren't just delivering customer service anymore, it's all about giving the customer an experience they will never forget. It's about connecting with customers on a deeper level than just florist and customer. It's about being their memory creator. You're the start of making memories for Mother's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

This may seem like a, "Duh!" tip. But, the point here is that customers aren't going to call back if no one is there to answer the phone. If you know that you will get a slew of phone calls on certain days, prepare ahead of time for those extremely busy days. It's going to get crazy, and some customers won't understand that you can't handle their order like gold.

When you are delivering flowers, capture the moment. You don't have to capture every moment, but capture some of them. You can use this for marketing as well as sending it to your customer. Not every customer is going to be there to see the look on their loved one's face when they receive their flowers. This will be a wonderful, unexpected surprise that your customer will definitely appreciate.

If you don't have time to capture the moment, it's always great to capture a photo of the delivery. By sending the sender a photo of their loved one's delivered flowers, you are giving them peace of mind. It's a great way to surprise them and go beyond their expectations. Your customer will remember this and will then continue to use your services.

On special holidays, do you add anything special with your arrangement? And, no we are not talking about offering to add something for payment in return. If it's Mother's Day, consider adding a special flower, a small box of chocolates, or something special for all arrangements for mothers. Your customer will hear about it and know that this was something you did extra special for their mother, and it will not only brighten her day, but it will make your customer remember you.

While having great customer service is valued, creating an experience for your customer is valued more. You are not only providing for their needs, but you are also going above and beyond what is expected. So many customers have come in contact with bad businesses, and when they are treated better than expected it means a lot more to them. They won't mind spending the extra money next time because they know they can expect amazing business from you.