By Marilyn Patterson, Demand Generation Manager
As a hot topic, it’s not surprising that prioritising customer experience (CX) continues to be a top strategic objective in businesses hungry for that competitive edge. CX not only encompasses the entirety of the customer’s experience with your business, throughout all aspects of the buyer’s journey, it also includes their perception of your brand and what stories they are eager to share about it.
In 2021, the global CX management market reached USD 8.79 billion and is expected to grow 18.1% every year from 2022 to 2030. As these unexpectedly weighty percentages show, CX is critical to a brand’s immediate and long-term success:
Research also reveals that less than one in 4 brands have the necessary technology to engage with consumers consistently, while marketers using three or more channels in a campaign earned a 494% higher order rate than those using a single-channel campaign.
Marketers are recognising the benefits of CX strategies in growing numbers and linking them in creative ways to encourage greater audience engagement.
1. Develop a seamless omnichannel CX strategy
2. Personalise your CX with specifics
3. Measure your CX
4. Listen to customers' feedback and act on it
5. Create an emotional connection with your customers
Brands like Disney, Amazon and Starbucks offer customers the ability to interact via web, mobile, voice, and email. If the customer moves between channels the experience remains seamless.
This integration allows customers to pick up where they left off, providing consistent communication and delivering a positive experience no matter which device they switch to. History is shared, so this means the customer does not have to enter information multiple times or explain unresolved issues and questions over and over again.
In today’s highly connected, competitive market, personalisation is fundamental to business survival. Knowing your customer’s name and intention can be especially effective at specific moments during the customer’s journey.
Personalisation includes actions that show your intention, by communicating that you value their patronage. These can be as simple as sending first-time customers a thank you gift, offering a discount to buyers who abandon their cart, or sending customers an update on products that complement what they have already purchased – like the latest accessories for the laptop they bought in the previous month.
Keep testing and optimising your CX strategies. Measuring how well they are working will let you know where improvements are needed. CSAT surveys measure customers’ satisfaction with the product or service they bought from you, while Net Promoter Scores measure the loyalty of customers to your business. The data collected can be used to identify factors and behaviours that lead to positive or negative customer experiences.
Spotting trends can alert you to further opportunities to delight your customer throughout the buyer’s journey. Analysing negative behaviour, such as your customer drop-off rate can help you understand the reasons why this is happening and identify which teams or departments require further training to align with expectations.
Be brave and set up customer feedback loops by inviting online user reviews, using survey tools and social media monitoring, and asking for opinions and suggestions. This creates two-way communication that allows you to collect customer feedback, analyse it, make changes and then follow up to ensure satisfaction.
Even negative reveiws are helpful and opening dialogue is the best way to understand more about what your customers desire. Showing that you care provides immense encouragement to continue doing business with you.
Research shows that emotion is the most important driver behind the customer experience, fuelling motivation and purchasing decisions.
Buyers are people, and individuals are seeking deeper, more personal connections with brands they respect and can align their personal values to. Companies that demonstrate sincere empathy and understanding of the customer’s need, aim to serve only if it’s mutually beneficial, and have a personality that is contemporary and relatable, hold the keys to building stronger relationships between brand and consumer.
How will you determine if these relationship building tactics are paying off? The answer is written in the business results. Excellent customer experiences can be a huge differentiator for your revenue streams. Companies that consistently excel at customer experience demonstrate increased customer retention, derive higher revenues and profits than their competitors, and grow their customer advocacy base, as well as continue to build creative service offerings customers are eager to buy.
References:
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/customer-experience-management-market
https://emplifi.io/press/86-percent-consumers-will-leave-brand-after-two-poor-experiences?utm_medium=cmswire&utm_source=paid-media?utm_content&utm_content=86-percent-consumers-will-leave-brand-after-two-poor-experiences
https://go.emplifi.io/us-uk-customer-expectations-report.html?utm_medium=cmswire&utm_source=paid-media?utm_content&utm_content=us-uk-customer-expectations-report
https://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/its-the-journey-that-matters-improving-customer-experience-and-loyalty/
https://www.twilio.com/blog/announcing-the-state-of-personalization-2021
https://www.omnisend.com/blog/omnichannel-statistics/
https://www.qualtrics.com/uk/experience-management/customer/what-is-csat/
https://www.qualtrics.com/uk/experience-management/customer/net-promoter-score/
.png?width=40&height=40&name=XTwitter%20(1).png){kind=small}
