Customer Experience as a Competitive Advantage
Introduction
You don’t need me to tell you that customer experience is a competitive advantage. You know it. You’ve seen the numbers: Forrester estimates that customer experience can improve business results by 20 percent or more. But how do you get there? And once you’re there, how do you sustain it? That’s where most businesses stumble, because they don’t have a blueprint for creating a high-performing, connected digital experience across every department in the organization — from operations and finance to sales, marketing and service. So what does it take? I’m glad you asked! Let’s start with some basic principles:
Customer experience is no longer a nice-to-have; it is required for digital transformation.
Customer experience is no longer a nice-to-have; it is required for digital transformation. The reason for this is simple: customer experience has become the key to business success in today’s world.
As customers’ expectations rise, companies that fail to deliver on their promises risk losing market share and revenue as a result of poor service or product quality issues. On the other hand, companies that provide an exceptional customer experience are able to generate higher profits from existing customers while also attracting new ones through word-of-mouth referrals (i.e., positive reviews).
The customer experience is one of the most valuable assets you have, but few companies know how to measure it.
The customer experience is one of the most valuable assets you have, but few companies know how to measure it.
The CX market has been growing at more than 10{b863a6bd8bb7bf417a957882dff2e3099fc2d2367da3e445e0ec93769bd9401c} per year and is expected to be worth more than $200 billion by 2025. But how do you measure the value of that?
There are many ways you can go about quantifying your customer experience: surveys and interviews with customers; social media monitoring; call centre analytics; NPS scores (Net Promoter Score); website traffic analysis etc…
Focus on the journey, not just the touchpoints.
The journey is more important than the touchpoints.
The customer experience is not just about the touchpoints, but rather all of the interactions with your brand over time that add up to form an impression of your company in their minds. The journey can be broken down into three parts: pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase. Each part has its own set of opportunities that should be considered when designing a strategy for creating a great customer experience across all channels (including digital).
Your front-line employees are your most important customers.
Your front-line employees are your most important customers.
They’re the ones who interact with customers, and they have the most impact on customer experience. As a result, they can make or break your business. These people know your business best and can help you improve customer experience in ways that will make it more effective, efficient, and profitable.
Don’t stop at customer service; go deeper into finance, HR and operations as well.
Customer experience must be a company-wide effort. While customer service is important, it’s not enough to simply focus on the front end of your business. To truly gain competitive advantage from customer experience you need to go deeper into finance, HR and operations as well.
The good news is that there are many ways that you can improve your organization’s performance by 20 percent or more just by improving its ability to deliver great experiences for customers and employees alike–and those gains will pay off over time as you attract loyal customers who buy more from you than they would otherwise have done in other circumstances (i.e., at another company).
Use digital tools to build a connected, cross-functional experience.
- Use digital tools to build a connected, cross-functional experience.
- Use digital tools to help you connect with customers.
- Use digital tools to help you connect with employees.
- Use digital tools to help you connect with suppliers and partners in the supply chain.
Customer experience is a competitive advantage that can improve business results by 20 percent or more
Customer experience is a competitive advantage that can improve business results by 20 percent or more.
Customer experience is not just about customer service; it’s about the entire customer journey, from first interaction to final interaction with your brand. And it’s also about how you and your team interact with each other to deliver on that promise–and how they feel while they’re doing so.
The key word here is “integrated.” If you want to create an outstanding customer experience, then every employee should be aligned around delivering it consistently across all channels (including social media). This means everyone–from executives down through frontline staff–must be trained in their role within this larger context of what makes up an excellent CX strategy: understanding their customers’ needs and expectations; knowing how best to engage them at each stage along their journey; responding quickly when there are problems or questions; anticipating what might come next based on past experiences…
Conclusion
We live in an age where customer experience is king, and companies that do not understand this will suffer. Customer experience is no longer a nice-to-have; it is required for digital transformation. The customer experience is one of the most valuable assets you have, but few companies know how to measure it. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, focus on the journey, not just the touchpoints and use digital tools to build a connected cross-functional experience