Why Customer Experience Matters to Your Business

Recent developments in technology are empowering consumers like never before. This digital revolution is expanding consumer choice and giving users access to information around the world, anytime, anywhere. Customers can now make educated choices between competing brands, as information is literally at the tips of their fingers.

As a result, customers have higher expectations of brands. It’s more difficult than ever to convince customers of the value your product or service brings while competing with more established brands and companies. This is prompting businesses and marketers to bring their A-game when it comes to customer experience (CX).

The world of marketing is now shifting to a customer-centric approach. Despite this new trend, some marketers and businesses are still using traditional methods.

New marketing strategies such as experience marketing, account-based marketing, and contextual marketing aim to deliver highly relevant and personalized customer experiences. We’ve outlined the significant advantages of adopting a customer-centric approach below:

Benefits of a Customer-Focused Approach

• It’s more expensive to find new customers than to retain existing ones

Most marketers invest a huge amount of time and resources in generating new leads and attracting new customers. Studies show that there is more value in focusing resources on retaining existing customers. After all, it costs five times as much to attract a new customer, than to keep an existing one.

A CapGemini study revealed that customers with strong brand attachments deliver 23% more profit and revenue than the average customer. By providing excellent customer experiences, businesses can gain the trust and loyalty of each customer.

Another report by BIA / Kelsey and Manta found that returning customers spend approximately 67% more than a new customer. Customer retention is improved with a customer-first approach that delivers great customer experience.

• Fill the gaps in your customer experience journey

Data analytics tools are now available to aid marketers in their customer experience research. By looking at the metrics and data behind every customer touchpoint, you can determine gaps and bottlenecks in the customer journey.

Customers interact with companies through multiple touchpoints; by phone, via email, websites, social media channels, or in-store. You need to unify your channels to ensure consistency in customer service and communication.

According to Accenture, 89% of customers become frustrated because they need to repeat their issues every time they speak to a company representative. To drive the point home, another study revealed that 87% of consumers believe that companies need to work harder to provide a more consistent customer experience.

• Optimized customer experience improves customer satisfaction

A 2014 survey by McKinsey & Company revealed that effective customer journeys increase a customer’s overall satisfaction by 20%. By optimizing your customer experience at every touchpoint, you can ensure a more seamless customer journey. This can potentially increase your revenue by up to 15% and lower your customer service costs by 20%.

However, it’s not enough to just look at individual touchpoints. You need to understand your sales funnel and focus on the entirety of the customer journey to improve their customer experience. When you focus on the customer journey as a whole, it becomes easier to see the “big picture” and deliver unified and consistent customer service.

When the customer experience is consistently positive, you can increase brand trust and loyalty while building strong business relationships.

• Delighted customers are the best brand promoters

Satisfied customers are the best sources of referrals and brand advocacy. They’ve used your products and have experienced how you do business, so if they’re still buying from you, you’ll know it’s because they’re satisfied. There have already been countless studies that show how consumers trust the referrals of friends or trusted associates.

Nowadays, it’s very convenient for customers to hop on social media and post negative reviews about your company. Keep your customers happy, and they’ll provide all the social proof you need to build credibility for your brand.

• Create competitive advantage

A recent study found that by the year 2020, customer experience will take higher priority than price and product as the key brand differentiator. As mentioned above, today’s digital world has shifted the focus from brand to consumer, so a shift in priorities is likely to occur.

Whatever industry or niche your business belongs to, you will always have competitors who either have lower prices than yours or more features to boast. Despite this, many brands are still able to differentiate themselves from tough competition based on perceived value. This perceived value is often derived from a great customer experience.

It’s no longer about you. It’s about your customer.

In the past, entrepreneurs and business owners believed that the key to a successful brand is in providing the most competitive price with the best features, but that no longer holds true in today’s digital age.

The goal is now centered on how customers can achieve success with your products, with the help of an optimized customer experience and journey. Technology is making it easier for businesses and marketers to offer the personalized brand experience that modern customers crave.

Needless to say, increasing brand loyalty produces profitable results for both brands and their customers. Customer loyalty can only truly be addressed by providing a highly personalized customer experience that not only satisfies but exceeds expectations.