Have you ever seen a brilliant marketing campaign for a product or service, but after interacting with the brand you felt disappointed with the experience you had, to the point where it was highly unlikely you’d return? You’re not alone! This lack of customer focus has been the norm for a long time but thanks to the digital age this is shifting and now more than ever the customer experience is becoming more and more critical to business success.
Customer experience is the next competitive battleground. It's where business is going to be won or lost. ~ Tom Knighton
What is customer experience all about anyway?
It’s about ‘baking’ customer service and satisfaction into every aspect of a business. It focuses on the needs of customers and takes into account the relevant customer journeys from start to finish, and ensures that at every touchpoint along the way, the experience is exceptional.
Customer experience matters whether you’re a solopreneur, small business or big business. Here’s why...
1. It’s great for your bottom line.
Improved customer experience has the potential to increase your revenue by up to 15%, while lowering customer service costs by 20%. [Source: McKinsey & Company]
2. It’s what customers expect.
87% of consumers believe that companies need to put more effort into providing a consistent customer experience across all channels. [Source: Kampyle]
3. It’s where the future is headed.
It’s expected that by 2020, customer experience will take greater priority over factors like price and product as the key brand differentiator. [Source: McKinsey & Company]
It’s no secret that happy customers are great for business. They not only tend to buy more often but they will also gladly send more customers your way! Technology has given us so many ways to up our game - to learn more about our customers and deliver the experiences that they expect.
The successful brands of today have raised the bar for customer experience, and it will only go higher as technology advances. That’s why it matters now more than ever that businesses begin to shift their focus onto the customer and how to deliver better experiences now and into the future.
How do you feel about this shift? Comment below!