Did you know customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than companies that aren't?

This stat is especially true for the hospitality industry coworking business belongs to, which urges us to set off on the journey of becoming the most customer-centric coworking space around.

Being experienced travelers, we surely know that every exciting trip starts with sketching the fastest route to our dream destination and mapping all essential checkpoints on the way. This is exactly what we are going to do now.

So, welcome to the first checkpoint.

1. Understand Where You Are Going

There are so many opinions about what it means to be a customer-centric space. Basically, it means to be focused on providing an exceptional experience for your members. You go above and beyond to meet their needs and exceed their expectations. You're always looking for ways to improve their experience and make their time at your coworking space as enjoyable and productive as possible.

In other words, you need to build your business around customer satisfaction and happiness, constantly tracking specific metrics to deeply understand the performance and ensure you are moving in the right direction.

This may sound incredible, but our research revealed that nearly 80% of coworking spaces do not measure customer happiness. This means they don’t understand whether their customers are really happy or not. And very often, the actual numbers are much lower than what we assume customer experience with our brand.

It’s rather challenging to measure member happiness, which brings us to the next checkpoint, where we are to define a set of metrics that will guide us like a compass.

2. Set Customer Satisfaction Metrics

A set of metrics may differ, but here are a few gauges that are pretty common for most flexible workspaces.

• Customer satisfaction allows you to see how satisfied customers are with your space overall. A high customer satisfaction score (CSAT) suggests they're happy and likely to continue using the service in the future, while lower scores might lead them elsewhere for their needs.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) is also critical because it shows how likely customers would be to recommend your space. A high NPS score means people are very satisfied with the service and ready to bring their friends along for the ride!
• There are a few different ways to think about the lifetime value (LTV) of a coworking space member. One way is to simply look at the average length of time members stay paying customers. This can give you a good indication of how long, on average, your members are sticking around. Another way to think about LTV is to consider the total revenue that each member generates over their lifetime. This includes not just their membership fees but also any ancillary revenue streams like event rentals, food and beverage sales, etc. Ultimately you want to maximize both of these metrics.
• The retention rate is a good indicator of how loyal customers are to your space. If they continue coming back month after month or even year after year, then chances are you'll see more referrals from them in the future as well!
• The number of members canceling their subscription each month/year is an important indicator of how satisfied customers are with your space. A low churn rate suggests that people really love where they're going and won't be picking another hub anytime soon!
• Community engagement helps you understand how your community feels about the services and products you offer. The key to measuring community engagement is through touchpoints with customers across many of your products and services, like the number of activities on the feed, likes/comments per post, and event attendees.

Now, when our customer-centric goals are set and monitored, we can continue our journey without any risk of losing track.

3. Collect Member Feedback

Collecting member feedback is utterly important for a customer-centric coworking space.

Firstly, it helps you understand members’ likes and dislikes so you can make necessary tweaks. Secondly, it helps you identify areas of improvement before they become bigger issues. Thirdly, it helps build trust between the space and its members. When members know their feedback is being taken into account, they're more likely to be vocal with their suggestions and thoughts.

There are many ways to collect member feedback, such as:

• Surveys

Surveys can be done both in paper form or electronically when you need to collect feedback from a large number of people. However, they can be time-consuming to fill out, and people may not feel motivated to do so.

• Instant in-app feedback

Offering instant in-app feedback is a great way to get quick feedback from members. People are more likely to share their opinions when it's easy and convenient for them.

• Web forms

Web forms are also a great way to collect feedback, as they allow people to provide more detailed information than an in-app survey.

• Follow-ups with churned clients

If someone has left the space, you can follow up with them to get more information about why they left. This can help you determine what changes need to be made to keep your members happy and engaged.

No matter what tools you choose, make sure to read through your customers’ comments, suggestions, and opinions, as they are invaluable for your business growth. This way, you and your team will figure out what customers expect from your space and invest in things that will meet their needs.

4. Provide Omnichannel Service

So, our next checkpoint is omnichannel customer service, which is a practice of providing a seamless customer experience across all channels, your website, brick-and-mortar hub, mobile app, or any other touchpoint.

The key is to ensure that each interaction is seamlessly integrated so that customers feel like they are always speaking to the same company – even if they switch channels.

This can be a challenge, but there are a few things you can do to make sure you're providing an omnichannel experience that meets customer expectations.

1. Make sure all your channels are integrated

The first step is to ensure that all your channels are integrated. This means having a centralized database, such as CRM, where all customer information is stored. This way, you can easily access customer history and preferences regardless of the channel they're using.

2. Train your staff to provide consistent service

It's also important to train your staff to provide consistent service across all channels. This means ensuring they have the same information at their disposal, so they can give customers the best possible advice no matter how they contact you.

3. Use technology to your advantage

There are a number of technology solutions that can help you provide an omnichannel experience. For example, chatbots can be used to provide customer support on your website or social media channels.

Similarly, automatic call distribution (ACD) systems can help you route calls to the right department or agent, regardless of the channel they're using.

4. Monitor and respond to customers in real-time

Finally, it's important to monitor and respond to customers in real-time – regardless of the channel they're using. This means having a team in place which can quickly resolve any issues that arise.

By following these tips, you can ensure you're providing an omnichannel experience that meets customer expectations and helps to build long-lasting relationships.

And we can move to the next checkpoint.

5. Support Like a Pro

It is impossible to imagine a member-focus coworking space without outstanding member support, so, at this checkpoint, your task is to organize it.

There are two ways to organize top-notch member support at your coworking space. First, you can choose a third-party system such as Intercom or Zendesk and integrate it with your main coworking space platform or use in-app member support capabilities (if available).

Of course, using an in-app ticketing system is way more affordable and convenient. However, the choice is up to you, but either way, the process of reporting an issue or sharing feedback for your members must be as simple as tapping the Support button. Then, members will effortlessly track their queries on their ways to resolutions and get push notifications with updates on their tickets.

Implementing support systems makes the process open and transparent, shaping a positive impression of the workspace community about your brand.

Besides, a customer support system makes admins’ life much easier as all customers’ queries come in a single inbox where they are organized by date, type, and status.

Such detailed query history and categorization allow managers to get on top of it all. They always have a big picture of all the problems workspace members are experiencing at the moment. Admins easily prioritize the most urgent queries, assign relevant people to the tickets, and choose the best approaches and the fastest solutions for each particular case at a glance.

Moreover, the customer support system provides you with statistical data that helps to deeply understand members’ issues as well as their satisfaction with your services. Use this info to make tweaks here and there to elevate member experience at your flexible workspace.

Now that you have professional support at your coworking space, it’s time to move to the last but not least important checkpoint.

6. Introduce Cutting-edge Technology

Let’s imagine a fascinating coworking space with a comfortable interior, meeting rooms, an open area with sitting and standing desks, a gaming room, sleeping capsules, and whatnot. But the only way to figure out how to access these facilities is by going to the reception desk to ask. Want to become a member? Ask a manager. Want to book a meeting room for a team brainstorming session? Ask the manager again. Want to join an event? Well… you know what to do.

Just agree that running to the helpdesk every time a customer wants or needs something is not the best way to enjoy the benefits of a flexible workstyle.

Here is the conclusion: you can become 100% customer-centric only by adopting the technology that makes members self-sufficient. Let them book rooms and desks from their phones while they are on the way to your hub. Let them unlock your doors with smartphones late at night or early in the morning without waking up your manager or security guard. Empower your members to connect with the community, discover and join events, learn about perks, and purchase required office stuff the usual way, just like ordering food or shopping online.

It’s not sustainable for your manager to always be there for every customer. And they don’t have to as the technology can do it in their stead.

To Take Away

Now you have a detailed roadmap for the journey of your life. Please don’t get surprised when you find out that even after checking all points you still feel like coming back and improving something. This is a clear indicator that you have reached the final destination. Because only truly customer-centric businesses are absolutely restless in their craving for perfection. Being a customer-centric coworking space is more about the process, which is always challenging, exciting, and never-ending.