EPISODE 33 OF WHAT WOULD THEY DO? THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE PODCAST FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
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In this episode, I’m answering a fantastic listener question from my guest expert Kirsty Fanton from episode 24, who asked:
“Who out there is using low-tech or no-tech ways to create a stellar experience for their clients, customers, or subscribers? I’m not just talking about sending a client gift — what else is happening beyond that?”
If you’ve ever wondered how to surprise and delight your customers without expensive tools or complicated tech, this one’s for you. We dive into creative, simple, and human-centred strategies that make your audience feel seen, valued, and excited to keep engaging with your business.
I’ll share my favourite out-of-the-box customer experience ideas, why small, intentional touches matter, and how you can start cultivating loyalty without leaning on big budgets or heavy automation.
What we cover:
The Power of Creativity – Why thinking outside the box helps you stand out in a noisy online space.
Personal Video Messages – How quick, personalised videos via tools like VideoAsk or Bonjoro can deepen trust and connection.
Surprise & Delight Without Spending Big – Creative, low-cost ways to add wow moments for clients and subscribers.
Loyalty Programs for Small Businesses – How to use simple systems (even inside your email platform!) to reward action-takers and engaged clients.
Soundbites:
“While customer experience is about efficiency, about getting your customer those wins that they signed up for, and saving them time and headspace, it’s also about emotional connections along the way. And what creativity does is it helps break the mold of business as usual. And it leaves a lasting impression because you put your thinking cap on.”
“Many of us think that loyalty programs and reward cards are reserved for B2C businesses. That’s absolutely not the case. I have used loyalty programs that I run totally inside my email platform for a long time and it is super effective to start conversations to encourage first or next purchases and to catch people off guard because it’s just not a done thing in the b2b space.”
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Your next steps:
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Check out my favourite CX tools and resources here.
Episode Transcript:
Nadine Nethery (00:00)
Hey, hey, and welcome back to the podcast. Today we are diving into a burning question that my guest expert, Kirsty Fanton had in episode 24. Her question goes like this:
I would love to know who out there is using low tech or no tech ways to really enhance or create a stellar experience for their clients, their customers, their subscribers. I would just love to hear about that to get some thoughts outside the box. And I don’t just mean send a client gift. Of course, that’s what you do, but what else is happening beyond that? So
who else could better answer this question than myself, the queen of out of the box customer experiences? So today we are going to explore why I believe in creativity and out of the box strategies as your superpower when it comes to customer experience and how small online businesses like Kirsty’s and yours can cultivate it even
can cultivate it to deepen connection and customer loyalty without high tech tools. So let’s start with creativity as a concept. I truly believe creativity, standing out for the right reasons and breaking the mold and the pattern that people are used to is so important, particularly in the era of AI.
As we uncovered in the state of the customer report, which you can download free via the link in the show notes, while customer experience is about efficiency, about getting your customer those wins that they signed up for and saving them time and headspace, it’s also about emotional connections along the way. And what creativity does is it helps break the mold
of business as usual, you know, you’re just another number in the system. You’re just part of, the stock standard online course or membership. And it leaves a lasting impression because you have put your thinking cap on and you have gone that extra mile.
So how can you spark your own creative customer experiences? there’s really three strategies that I personally rely on. Everything starts with your customer’s perspective. Surprise, surprise. So what does your customer value or your subscriber, your audience, what would delight and surprise them? So really flip that coin and put yourselves into their shoes.
Once you’ve done that, have a look at what everyone else is doing. So in your space, in your orbit, the other online business owners, how are they showing up and how can you go against that grain? If everyone else has a private podcast, what can you do differently when it comes to format, when it comes to, topic to angle, et cetera. And once you’ve answered those two questions, it really comes down to brainstorming it
with your team, but potentially even your business buddies. If you’re part of a mastermind, a business community, you know, raise some of those ideas with people you trust to get their feedback and their thoughts.
One of the easiest and possibly most obvious things that came to mind when it comes to being creative and standing out are personal video messages. I know I keep banging on about them, but in the online space, for whatever reason, personal video and personal outreach, because it is unscalable to a certain extent, is still totally underused.
Personal recorded messages via tools like VideoAsk or Bonjoro go such a long way to add a personal touch, whether that is in the lead phase where you are trying to sign a one-on-one client, for example, know, send them a personal video message before that.
discovery call or after the discovery call to just reassure them you’re there for more questions and you’re excited to potentially work with them. It could be after working with them, celebrating milestones. So once they’ve launched their website, for example, send them a personal video message rather than just an email. It really goes a long way and it helps you stand out for the right reasons.
And as it happens, I am sharing my tips and hacks when it comes to both VideoAsk and Bonjoro Insight Retention Lab. So if you want to infuse personal video messages into your marketing and into your customer experience, check it out. So some tangible ideas, because, you know, that’s how I roll. I would absolutely experiment with small, low cost surprises and opportunities because
While client gifts are awesome, there doesn’t always have to be a monetary value to that surprise and delight factor. So you could look at a coffee voucher, for example, to their favorite cafe on the day of your intensive, if you’re offering VIP days. You could look at a free introduction to a connection that can benefit them, totally unasked and totally out of the blue, setting them up with that
potential next client or a referral partner. If you have a membership, for example, and it’s the next logical step after working with you one-on-one, you could add a bonus in for them to check out your membership for free after that one-on-one project to continue that journey with you. It could also include a bonus.
audit, for example, three months after your time together, that’s not mentioned anywhere, but you pop up in the inbox and suggest auditing how your copy or your deliverables have worked for them and what tweaks could be on the cards to make their results even better. And you never know that might actually end up benefiting you because people might book the next one-on-one project with you.
As I said, if you are a small business owner, you don’t have a huge budget to spend on those extra touches. Why don’t you lean into the element of surprise and delight? You could give them extra visibility, for example. So in my case,
I put together a private case study podcast and invited past clients to share their story, also plug a freebie, their business for extra visibility. That didn’t cost me anything. And people put their hands up. They loved it and were excited to share their story. You can also consider a coffee card style loyalty program where
people earn reward points for every action they take. And then once they hit a certain milestone, they earn a surprise bonus or gift for example. Hitting those milestones could involve purchasing from you if you’re a course creator. So for every purchase they get a point. If they refer clients to you for every referred client, they can earn a point on their coffee card to then get a bonus reward.
It could also mean, leaving a review or introducing you to another connection. The sky’s the limit here, but I just want to highlight that many of us think that loyalty programs and reward cards and things like that are reserved for B2C businesses. That’s absolutely not the case. I have used loyalty programs that I run totally inside my email platform for
a long time and it is super effective to start conversations to encourage first or next purchases and to really catch people off guard because it’s just not a done thing in the b2b space. These obviously are just top line ideas but you can totally use your email system and the analytics and the subscriber slash client behavior to deliver
unexpected surprises based on their actions. So I’m a huge fan of rewarding action takers and rewarding people that are most engaged within my membership or within my referral partner program. So yeah, have a look, Kirsty, that’s for you. And for any listeners that want to be more creative in their customer experience, have a look at the data.
that you have available and have a look how you can leverage your email platform and amazing tools like Bonjoro which has a free plan to just surprise and delight at the right moments. Action step for you today: have a look where you can start with one unexpected creative touch that you can introduce into your customer interactions this week.
And once you get started, it’s pretty addictive. You will come up with a whole bunch of ideas to make your customer experience even more bespoke, even more delightful. If you would love your question answered on a future episode, please hit up the link in the show notes and submit your question. Follow, subscribe, recommend the episode or the podcast to your friends.
I will love you for it thanks so much for tuning in and I will see you next week.
