If you’ve studied customer service at all, you’ve certainly heard of WOW moments, those moments of extraordinary service that make an impression on customers.

While these over-and-above moments are not needed to create great customer experiences, they can still have a positive impact on your customer’s emotional state. WOWing customers is generally a good thing, and you should make use of any easy opportunities you have to these mini-momentous moments.

Take the opportunity to look for mini-momentous moments with customers.

The great news is that you have opportunities all around you to WOW customers with simple gestures that cost little in the way of time or money.

Here at CTS Service Solutions, we refer to these moments as 5-Second WOW’s, and while it is rare that these actions actually only take five seconds, the name serves as a reminder that they are quick, low-effort ways to put a smile on the face of your customers and to help create memories that resonate.

3 Examples of Easily WOWing Customers

Here are a few examples of 5-Second Wows that will demonstrate how easy it is to create memorable customer experiences with only a little extra effort:

#1: The Spa Refreshment

In one of my retail service businesses, a spa, I had a regular customer who brought a Diet Coke in with her every time she came for an appointment.

Each time, her service provider took the Diet Coke from the client, placed it in the break-room refrigerator, and then brought it out to her at the end of the service.

The personalized touch made the client feel right at home.

#2: Curbside Service

In 2009, my colleague Stan Phelps of 9 Inch Marketing began a project of collecting stories of customer service extras for his book What’s Your Purple Goldfish? How to Win Customers and Influence Word of Mouth as well as for his website purplegoldfish.com.

One story Stan collected was from a Realtor, who was returning a loaner car to BMW of Darien, Connecticut. When the service agent saw the Realtor pull up with his children, the agent told him to hold tight and went and got his car.

Then multiple service agents came out to help him switch the two car seats out of the loaner. The Realtor was handed his paperwork right there at the car and told to have a nice day.

#3: The Customer Star

The third example is when a team member of mine went to Office Depot looking for some specific clipboards she was having trouble finding. She had gone to a competitor first and received terrible service. However, the rep at Office Depot was attentive and personally assisted her until she was able to find what she needed.

My team member told the Office Depot rep how much she enjoyed going to that location and how much nicer the people there were than at the competition. The store rep asked her if she would share her comment with the rest of the Office Depot team.

The store rep handed a headset to my team member, who repeated what she had just said to the Office Depot employee, but this time, to the entire store over the public address system. The store employees burst out in applause, and my team member felt incredibly special!

What Do WOW Moments Really Mean to Customers?

So what do these 5-Second WOWs really mean? What do they accomplish?

• Did the cold Diet Coke improve the quality of the customer’s treatment?
• Did the assistance with the car seats make the car’s engine run better?
• Did the announcement over the loudspeaker make the clipboards last longer?

Of course not.

Little WOW moments like these do not fundamentally alter the product or service you provide and, quite frankly, will not make up for a service or product that does not meet customer expectations.

WOW moments will not make up for a service or product that does not meet customer expectations.

What these 5-Second WOW’s do are create moments of connection and caring that enhance the customer’s experience. They create moments of positive emotion.

Quick WOW’s create moments of positive emotion for customers.

These moments make the customer feel special, and they help you and your organization stand out from the crowd.

When added to a consistent and well-delivered customer experience, these moments can help turn a good customer experience into a great one.

So, never forget that there are 5-Second WOW’s all around you if you only take the time to look for them.