UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN THE AGE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN THE AGE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

As the popular mantra goes, the customer is king. Modern customers are fully aware of the power they possess and the options available to them. As such, most consumers will not hesitate to abandon businesses that bring them no satisfaction. In fact, Sitecore research reports that only 38% are willing to give brands one more chance before switching to a competitor. Hence, this shows that businesses have to go the extra mile to acquire and retain customers. Creativity and innovation have to go into the products and services. Most importantly, businesses must create a positive customer experience for each customer because it is a major determinant of success and failure.

HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Customer experience is by no means a new concept. Although Lewis Carbone is credited with coming up with the term customer experience in 1994, businesses have always been concerned with keeping the customer happy. However, there was a difference in the emphasis for two reasons. Firstly, customers did not have the options they enjoy today. Hence, businesses were firmly in control and did need to go beyond basic customer-friendly services. Secondly, the physical storefront was the only touchpoint through which customers could interact with businesses.

The power shift in favor of customers came in the 1990s when the internet arrived. Suddenly, more options opened up to customers, and brands had to allocate resources to this new touchpoint. As the digital transformation continued, customers gained more control, and businesses had to do more to keep their customer base from shrinking. Also, the rise of social media gave customers the platform to share opinions and reviews about brands and their services. One good review could motivate several to buy a product and vice versa. As a result, customers play a bigger role in the success or failure of companies.

Many believe the COVID-19 pandemic to be the biggest game changer for customer experience. The outbreak of the virus changed many aspects of human life, including the way we do business. Now, online shopping is more popular than ever, and businesses have to allocate more resources to create a multichannel online presence. Customer experience has gone from a luxury to an absolute necessity.

WHAT IS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?

Customer experience is the overall impression a customer associates with the brand or business following one or several interactions. It encompasses the feelings, opinions, and perceptions customers have towards the products or services offered, and the quality customer received. The experience can be positive, negative, or neutral, and each massively correlates to the actions taken by the customers.

Rather than being a one-time process, customer experience is gradually built at each stage of the customer journey. Because modern marketing is often multichannel, customers react to businesses using multiple touchpoints. This includes websites, emails, social media platforms, and even physical stores. At each of these touchpoints, there is an interplay of factors determining the experiences customers derive. It ranges from aesthetics, speed of service, convenience, personalization, and ease of use. If your business ticks all the right boxes in these areas, you create a positive customer experience. Failure to do so will cause a customer to walk away with a forgettable experience.

Let’s drive the point home with two examples. Customer X discovers a brand after seeing a Facebook ad and clicks on a link that takes him to their website. This customer is directed to a landing page where he sees a friendly message encouraging him to volunteer his personal information. Over two months, he receives email marketing content, each more relevant than the last. When he has queries, he is promptly attended to by the customer care agent who provides all the right answers. Upon finally deciding to make the purchase, he visits the websites and is guided to the one-page checkout. After making the purchase, he enjoys the product for several months.

Now, let’s consider someone, Customer Y, who has a very contrasting experience. As opposed to personalized emails, she is sent generic messages. She spends over forty minutes on the phone waiting to speak to a customer care agent who doesn’t answer her queries satisfactorily. Consequently, she has to struggle through the checkout process, which she doesn’t quite understand. Which of these two customers will likely become loyal to their respective brands? Which of these two will likely recommend the business to their friends? The answers are fairly obvious, and both are functions of the customer experience.

WHY IS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IMPORTANT?

For a business to survive in this highly competitive climate, it needs loyal customers. With loyalty comes increased expenditure on products and services on offer and higher sales revenue. Additionally, loyal customers undertake word-of-mouth marketing that helps friends and family discover their favorite brands. Furthermore, loyal customers will not churn. Since acquiring new customers is five times more expensive than retaining existing ones, loyal customers increase profit margins.

What is the key to earning customer loyalty? A great customer experience, of course. Delivering positive experiences will improve every KPI for measuring success. Hence, optimizing the experience of every customer at every communication channel is important. The consequence of failing to do so are far too serious.

HOW TO CREATE THE ULTIMATE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Now that we have established the importance of customer experience to a brand’s success, let’s examine how to deliver that experience to them. Ensuring customers leave every interaction with satisfied smiles is a tough ask, but it is achievable. Here is an overview of connecting with customers on a deeper level:

CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAPPING

A business cannot provide the convenience customers crave without understanding the journey a customer undergoes between awareness and conversion. A customer journey map is a depiction of the stages a customer has to go through while interacting at each touchpoint. Customer journey mapping can reveal challenges and difficulties keeping customers from making purchases. Once these problems are identified, new strategies can be employed to improve interaction at that touchpoint.

COLLECT AND ANALYZE CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

The obvious next step to satisfying customers is to listen to them. Customer feedback collection can be done by creating forms and surveys and sending them out. The forms and surveys specifically for the touchpoints highlighted in the customer journey maps that are drawn. Live chat and chatbots are also great tools for collecting customer feedback. After feedback collection comes analysis. It is important to analyze and measure the results against popular metrics. Examples include Customer Satisfaction Score, Net Promoter Score, and Time To resolution (To understand more about these metrics and measurement of customer experience, click here). What this does is simultaneously measure experience and provide insights for improvements. The real improvement in customer experience comes from implementing these insights into the business processes.

PRIORITIZE SPEED

Today’s customers and race car drivers share at least one similarity; they like it fast! Speed is important to a great customer experience because it gives each customer fewer reasons to abandon a brand. Hence, be sure to optimize the speed of all business processes. This means faster website loading speed, faster checkout process, and faster customer service delivery.

INVEST IN PERSONALIZATION

According to Accenture, 91% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that provide personalized services. Personalization always translates to a satisfying customer experience, and that’s why customers refuse to settle for less. Eliminate generic interactions and replace them with personalized services to increase engagement. Strategies such as segmentation, dynamic content, dynamic marketing campaigns, and recommendations are worth investing in for businesses that prioritize their customers.

USE THE RIGHT SOFTWARE

The process of creating experiences can be overwhelming for businesses with a large customer base. Thankfully, customer experience management software can streamline and automate the process. This software helps the business to understand the customers better by collecting data through data and analyzing it. Subsequently, they provide insights that can inform the decision-making of marketers and salespeople. Also, solutions such as customer data platforms (CDP), customer relationship management (CRM), and marketing automation tools can complement human efforts to deliver rich customer experience every day.