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One of the most important factors in having a successful business in any industry is having great customer experience and service. It has been on the rise for many years and continues to rise especially right now that we are living in uncertain times. Everything a business does including advertising, research, marketing, and more, all play a role in shaping the customer experience. The most important investment a company can make is focusing on customer experience management (CXM) to remain competitive in their industry. Read on to find out why customer experience is important for your business and strategies to improve it.
What Is Customer Experience?
Customer experience is an interaction that occurs between a customer and an organization throughout the business relationship. It can be direct contact, such as when a customer initiates a purchase, use, and service. It can be indirect such as word-of-mouth recommendations, criticisms, reviews, and more.
Research shows that over 80% of customers are willing to pay more for a better experience. The better the customer experience, the more repeat customers, and positive reviews you will receive.
Customer Service vs. Customer Experience
Most people think that customer service is the same as customer experience, but it is not. Customer service is an aspect of the entire customer experience. It is the point where a customer receives assistance directly from your company before, during, or after making a purchase.
On the other hand, customer experience goes beyond that one to one interaction between the customer and business. Customer experience can occur without that interaction and instead through various channels such as website, live chat, social media, and more.
Key Advantages of Customer Experience
There are numerous advantages for having exceptional customer experience for your business.
- Increased customer loyalty: exceptional customer experience is the foundation of having a solid foundation to stability loyalty and customer retention.
- Increased customer acquisitions: social media plays a huge role for businesses to acquire more customers. Customers spread the word about their business on social media, so it is important for them to have a great experience from the first point of contact.
- Better customer engagement: social media is a great tool to have better customer engagement for your business. With customer engagement, you can create a mutually beneficial relationship.
Why Does Customer Experience Matter?
As you can see there are several key advantages for having exceptional customer experience, but why does it matter?
For one, customers who have a great experience tend to spend more money. Whether you have a sale on your products or services or not, these customers will spend the money to purchase them without hesitation.
Customers that have great experiences also tend to be more loyal. Regardless of the industry you are in, if you provide a great experience for someone, they will not leave and go somewhere else. They will continue to do business with you because you have gained their trust. Studies show that when a customer has a bad experience, they may leave and find someone else that can provide them better service.
Lastly, by delivering great experiences it can reduce your business expenses. Investing in upgrading your customer experience is always worth it. However, managing bad customers experiences are more expensive than making the upgrade.
Although improving your customer experience can be an investment and take more time, in the end the outcome is worth it.
How to Improve Your Customer Experience
By now you are probably thinking that it sounds great but how do I improve my customer experience? Here are some strategies that can help you get started:
Mobile Experience
Having a good mobile presence of your website is important. With the use of smartphones, most people search websites and make purchases on their phone. The way your website looks on a mobile phone can either keep them engaged or they will exit and turn away. Make sure you have a user-friendly website that can work effectively and efficiently on all commonly used devices.
Real-Time Support
Customers expect to be able to interact with you at any time of day as they may have issues or questions arise and are seeking answers. Platforms preferred by customers to receive support is website, email phone, social media, live chat, and more. In order to do this, your business needs to have a customer data management platform that allows you to deliver customer service in real time.
Customer Self-Service
Customers want assistance right away when they need it. Research shows that most people prefer using a self-service option rather than speaking to a human representative. If you can automate your customer service, it not only benefits the customer but it can help reduce overhead costs for you.
Conclusion
Your business needs to have the right tools and people to help deliver customer experience that not only meets the customers’ expectations but also makes them want to return. Being there for your customers and building your brand through satisfied customers is a win for both you and them.
