Most EMS companies brag about their equipment. “Look at our shiny new SMT line!” “Check out our certifications!” That’s great. But you know what customers actually remember?
Whether it was a pain in the butt to work with you.
Spoiler: If they’re coming back, it’s not because of your IPC-610 badge or your automatic stencil cleaner. Those things are core activities. The real differentiator is whether you made their lives easier.
For small- to mid-sized EMS companies, customer experience is the cheapest, fastest, and most underused way to stand out.
What a Good Experience Looks Like (And Where It Goes Wrong)
By Chintan Sutaria, OpenJar
Here’s an example customer journey broken down, and the little details that make a big difference.
1. Initial Contact & Brand Perception
Do you come across as modern, approachable, and helpful? Or do you look like a website from 2004 that says “Fax your BOM”?
2. Sales Interaction
Do your salespeople speak in business outcomes and project timelines—or do they just read off your machine capabilities?
3. RFQ & Onboarding
Is submitting a BOM simple and intuitive—or are you handing customers a homework packet?
Bonus points if you help with cleanup, get quotes back fast, and provide clear updates without being asked.
4. Order Placement & Communication
Are you integrating with your customer’s workflow? Do you have a clear status dashboard or are you able to link to your customer’s supply chain systems? Or are you sending flowery status emails like it’s 1999?
Being proactive here saves everyone time (and heartburn).
5. Issue Resolution
Are you proactively identifying / solving issues and making your customers feel like you have things under control? Do customers feel like they have to prepare for battle before raising an issue?
Being accountable is a trust multiplier.
6. Post-Delivery Follow-up
Do you follow up? Ask how things went? Seek feedback? And then do something to turn the feedback into actions?
Or do you disappear until the next RFQ like a ghosting ex?
Why This Matters (a Lot)
You want better margins? More repeat business? Actual pricing power?
Then stop throwing money at equipment and start investing in your customer experience.
A smooth customer experience:
- Keeps customers from jumping to the next cheapest quote
- Generates referrals (because people like to work with people who make them look good)
- Prevents avoidable screwups (because you get better data and fewer surprises)
And unlike your next capital expenditure, this doesn’t require millions of dollars.
The Bottom Line
You don’t need to outspend your competitors. You just need to out-care them.
If you’re running an EMS company and you’re tired of competing on pennies and lead times, maybe it’s time to shift the conversation. Don’t just be another vendor in the spreadsheet. Be the partner they want to work with.
OpenJar is founded by Chintan Sutaria. Chintan grew up working in an EMS business from a young age and then did business process consulting at Big 5 consulting firms. He has worked with many EMS companies on a wide range of projects, and is best known as the Founder and former CEO of CalcuQuote. If the problem is EMS related, he can help you or introduce you to someone who can.
