No matter how good your service is, what sticks to your customer is the experience of working with your brand.
Loyalty and word-of-mouth come from offering the best service. By paying close attention to how you interact with customers, you can build better relationships that they would be glad to share with peers. Here is where Customer Experience steps in.
What is the customer experience?
Good customer experience can have a ton of different meanings for different brands. Ultimately, the goal is to provide quality service that makes an impact.
According to Toolbox Marketing, the definition of customer experience (CX) is the “impression left on a customer by a brand or organization, based on the quality of interactions during the customer’s lifecycle.” Creating better customer journeys isn’t limited to after-sales conversations. It involves the whole process – from the time they land on your page up until they receive your products (or are enjoying your services).
Small and big companies have already gone ahead and invested in CX as early as 2017. Approximate of 91% of B2B brands made it their priority during the same year. What more in 2020 when customers are looking beyond product pages?
Comparing customer service vs. customer experience
Often used interchangeably, customer service and customer experience are commonly assumed to mean the same thing. However, these refer to two different aspects of the customer journey.
Customer Service involves solving customer concerns and addressing queries to increase their satisfaction with the business. It’s mostly service made after purchase but can take place pre-sales, such as when customers inquire about choosing products.
On the other hand, customer experience involves all of your customer’s interaction with the business – from the day they discover your brand to the day they finally purchase your product.
In essence, customer service is just a part of the overall customer experience. It’s a step that they go through while they’re interacting with your business. It’s not enough to only focus on giving the best service. You have to take a step further and be with your customers throughout their buying journey.
Customer Experience strategies for brands
Now more than ever, customers are looking forward to experiences over products or services. The hunt for authentic brands who genuinely care for consumers made CX an indispensable part of every business strategy.
If you want to improve your organic word-of-mouth marketing aspect, customer experience management is the way to go. A 2018 Accenture survey proves this even more, with results showing that 87% of happy customers share their peers’ experiences.
Let’s take a look at the tips to boost your CX in 2020 –
Customer data personalization
Copy-pasted replies are a thing of the past. Today, it’s all about genuine conversations and personalized experiences. However, personalization is only possible with the correct data.
Move beyond traditional analytics that group your data. Instead, invest in a platform that can identify, map, and create unique experiences for your customers across different channels and devices.
List every touchpoint and create unique strategies for each
Touchpoints are your brand’s customer contact points, whether in person, through the website, or an advertisement. It refers to any form of communication between the consumer and the company.
To beef up your CX, it’s essential to be aware of all your touchpoints and create unique strategies for each. Remember that every interaction, no matter how small it may seem, has a significant impact on turning visitors into buying customers.
Invest in omnichannel marketing
Another way to improve CX is through seamless, omnichannel experiences. Connect all your channels to store data and recognize a customer to pick up where they left off from any platform. If they added an item to their cart on their phones, they should see the same item on their desktop website carts.
Making the lives of your customers easier won’t go unappreciated. If it seems a bit overwhelming and expensive at first, you could always integrate it into your high-priority platforms and gradually move forward.
Collect real-time feedback
There’s no other way to find out if you’re delivering good CX than by directly asking your customers. Feedback is a powerful way to improve your strategy and pinpoint your areas of improvement.
You could try live chat tools, follow-up emails, or even make calls to your customers to gather their insights. Not only will this provide you with opinions from the people who matter, but it will also show your customers how valuable they are to you.
Audit regularly
From a business leader’s perspective, it may seem like your CX is at its best version. But this doesn’t always translate from your customers’ point of view. One overlooked strategy is performing regular audits across all your channels.
Put yourself in your target market’s shoes and figure out what great customer experience means to you. Visit your page as a new user, explore your website, and try other services like returns or live chat. Audits are an inexpensive way to experience what your customers do and eventually find ways to improve.
Hire a customer experience specialist
There’s nothing wrong with making your strategies, but investing and growing with a professional CX specialist can make a huge difference. A significant portion of a marketing team’s CX doubts stems from the concern of not having the right skills. To make sure that your team is trained by the best, get the help of a dedicated professional who can align your different departments with pursuing your CX goals.
Customer experience specialists can analyze your existing landscape and tell you where to improve. Additionally, these professionals can create a strategy that fits your organization.
Improve mobile experiences
Almost every customer will be browsing their phones when looking for a particular product or service. There’s a high chance that your mobile platforms will create their first impression of your brand. If you have inefficient mobile apps, websites, or even outdated social media pages, you’re already losing a potential buyer’s interest. Focus your strategy on building better mobile-first experiences to engage your customers the moment they discover your brand.