The demand for coworking spaces has been on the rise, and it doesn't seem to slow down any time soon. According to a forecast by Statista, there will be about 42 thousand coworking spaces worldwide by the end of 2024. If you own a coworking space or you're in the process of setting up one, your time to make a kill is now. It's time to start making the right moves to enhance your odds of business success. One key move you need to make is optimizing customer experience.
The Pivotal Role of Customer Experience in the Success of Coworking Spaces
There are plenty of benefits that your coworking space can offer its customers. For example, your coworking space can help members incorporate flexible and remote working into their office model. That alone can help your customers improve happiness, satisfaction, productivity, efficiency, and retention within their workforce. However, none of that will happen without an optimal customer experience at your coworking space. Customer experience, in this case, means how happy, comfortable, satisfied, and productive your members are when working in your coworking space. If the customer experience is good, your business benefits in so many ways:
1. Increased customer loyalty
When you meet the needs of your members to a satisfactory level, most of them will bring you more business in the future. The members become your loyal customers. You will gain a lot from having a loyal customer base.
- Loyal customers respond better to marketing campaigns. You will need a significantly lower marketing budget to keep your business profitable.
- Loyal customers share positive reviews about the business, both online and offline. That makes it easier for you to attract new leads.
- Low member turnover is good for your brand reputation. Put differently, many potential customers will avoid your space if they realize your member turnover is high.
- High member retention also eliminates the need for finding replacements for free seats. That further means diminished acquisition-related budget, time, and effort.
- Diminished acquisition-related budget, time, and effort means more time, money, and energy to improve member experiences.
- Stable membership builds an active community with thriving professional networks and interpersonal relationships. This then boosts customer experience, loyalty, and retention.
- The net effect of all these benefits is reduced expenses, higher profits, and an improved bottom line.
2. More business referrals
Research has shown that 84% of customers trust referrals from close family and friends more than paid ads or any other form of marketing. Referrals and word-of-mouth marketing carry even more weight in the coworking business considering the high level of networking that happens in these spaces. A coworking space is a coworking community of like-minded people.
If you have a strong coworking community, you will easily get referrals from members, and that will help take your coworking brand to new heights. Getting referrals from a happy, satisfied clientele is easy, inexpensive, and extremely effective. You can leverage their loyalty by offering incentives (e.g., discounted membership costs and additional credits) to get quality referrals. Their loyalty will also help you build a network and reputation within the community.
3. Overall business growth
Your coworking business earns most of its revenue from renting out the physical space. You can, however, diversify your offerings and create endless revenue streams if your customer experience is top-notch. Loyal customers won't mind, for example, paying premium prices for additional services such as food or drinks. You can also host workshops/events or set up a marketplace in your space and charge members to access them. And if your space is big enough, offering on-site childcare services for working parents can be great for coworking revenue growth.
Bottom line: It's easier to expand your business and grow your revenue by ensuring that members are happy and satisfied with your current services. The opportunities are endless.
Strategies for Enhancing Customer Experience and Creating a Thriving Coworking Space
How can you create a thriving coworking space that caters to the diverse needs of its members?
1. Create a sense of belonging
In other words, make the members feel like a part of a bigger family. You will do that by helping members create and sustain meaningful connections and relationships with one another. Among other strategies:
- Introduce new members to the existing members so that they don't feel or look like outsiders.
- Integrate onboarding automation software into your website for smooth onboarding.
- Organize regular community events at the coworking space.
- Launch a loyalty rewards program to enhance member retention and, consequently, give members enough time to create lasting relationships.
- Develop membership plans.
- Conduct surveys and ask members to share ideas of how you can improve the space for their benefit. People feel appreciated and wanted when you prioritize their suggestions and opinions.
2. Offer personalized services
Personalization makes members feel special- they feel like the coworking space was designed for them. How can you personalize your services? Start by creating a database of each member's name, nickname, birthday, contact info, special interests, unique needs, and other crucial details. The database will help you personalize communications, celebrate members' special days with thoughtful gestures like birthday vibrant posters, customized welcome messages, favorite snacks on their desk, or tailored event invitations based on their interests, allowing you to know the people at a deeper level.
A good database also allows you to segment your clientele based on their needs, geographical location, psychography, lifestyle, values, etc. You can then tailor your marketing message and services to specific segments of the clientele. Another trick is encouraging members to decorate their personal spaces with things that make the space feel homey.
Create a community directory for your customer data and simplify your customer management
3. Bring more help on board
Each one of the members in your coworking space has their unique interests. You need the assistance of a team of experts to serve each member satisfactorily. The experts will operate the space, create a welcoming vibe, maintain your tech infrastructure, and answer any questions that the members may have. They will build a culture that potential customers want to be part of.
Hiring employees for your coworking space is a lot easier these days, thanks to technology. If you don't have the space or budget to maintain an in-house team, you can always outsource expertise conveniently and at significantly lower prices. For example, instead of an in-house IT service desk, you can outsource those services to a professional outsourcing company. Help desk services outsourcing gives you access to help desk experts who will handle your members' technical issues promptly and efficiently. What's more, your members get professional help around the clock. That's good for customer experience and retention.
4. Offer added flexibility and scalability
For added flexibility:
- Implement coworking management software, where members can access your services online, e.g., book rooms and desks, join your events, get answers to their questions, etc.
- Make your membership plans flexible and affordable. For example, you can allow members to pay only when they need your services as opposed to subscribing to an annual/monthly membership.
- Give members the ability to scale at a reasonably low cost.
- Create more single occupancy spaces that members can use whenever they need more privacy
Generate recurring revenue and offer exceptional customer experience at your shared or coworking space
5. Invest in modern amenities
For your customers to be efficient, effective, and satisfied, ensure that your space has:
- High-speed internet at all times. Ensure that the internet is above 100 mbs to eliminate unwanted downtime and lagging.
- A backup power source to guarantee business continuity at all times.
- Common areas for socialization and networking.
- Well-equipped meeting and conference rooms for effective business presentations, employee workshops, etc.
- A pantry and a modern kitchen where members can prepare or share healthy meals.
- Comfortable furniture.
Note: For inclusivity, ensure that all your amenities are accessible to differently-abled users.
Final Word
Creating a comfortable coworking space will help your members thrive, and your business grow. Our actionable tips will help you with that. Put them to practice today and watch your coworking space grow its clientele, customer retention, and revenue.
