Customer experience is more important today than ever. Customer Experience, which we also find under the name CX, is the result of all user/customer interactions – from noticing an advertising message, through the purchasing process itself, to the sale. Every move a brand makes should be carefully thought out if it cares about a given image. Details influence customer perception and their decision to buy again. How to realistically influence CX? What to do to make the customer not only satisfied, but also loyal? The answer to these questions is Customer Experience Management.
Customer Experience – what is it?
Managing customer experience comes down to collecting all possible data about customer interactions, analyzing their behavior and quickly responding to actions during their journey (customer journey).
Customer Experience is a subject that is particularly important for brands with which consumers interact on many levels – on websites, social media, Web Push notifications or e-mails.
Customer Experience is a model of business approach that assumes care about customer experience in contact with the company at every stage of mutual relations. The key issue is to constantly examine and take into account the perception of people from outside, and to treat even potential customers as a resource that can decrease or increase, and, what is important, one that should be constantly taken care of.
Customer Experience is not a fully defined concept. It can be qualified more as a kind of business approach, not a methodology of actions. CX is mainly based on observation, as well as effective reaction to various experiences.
10 Facts about Customer Experience
Customer Persona
One of the most common strategic mistakes companies make is not having a defined audience. Many stores are already well aware that their products are never for everyone – but that’s still not enough. Brands stop at defining an audience. A deeper analysis of the persona can help increase company profits. Anyone who offers their products to others needs to know who they want to target. By targeting ads to a broad audience, we may end up reaching people who are not interested in our product. This can cause them to have bad opinions that will affect their opinion of the brand in the future.
When creating a persona for your brand, you need to answer questions such as:
- Who is the customer?
- What are his needs?
- What challenges does he face?
- What does he want to gain?
NPS and CSAT indicators
NPS is an indicator to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction. CSAT is the Customer Satisfaction Score – an indicator measuring customer satisfaction with the purchased product or provided service.
Regular measurement of these indicators and analysis of the results will allow you to take care of even better customer experience. NPS is an indicator thanks to which you can check how many of your customers recommend your products to their friends, how many of them will come back and how many of them will decide to buy other products from your offer. CSAT shows what influence this decision. It will help you determine which areas of customer service are working well and which should be improved to enhance customer experience.
There are many models of questions that can be included in the survey. It is a part of brand communication, so its language should be tailored to the customer and consistent with the other parts of the communication.
Customer service
An effective Customer Experience strategy is based on people. They are largely the ones who determine whether a customer will return to the store and repeat a purchase. Despite the fact that sales have largely moved to the online zone, consumers still want expert advice. An answer from an expert in a particular industry can also help them make a purchasing decision.
The team on which the Customer Experience will depend should therefore be customer-centric. To this end, the team that is to be the point of contact with the customer should include people who can easily and quickly relate to others and who value teamwork.
An important trait for someone to have when interacting with customers is the ability to handle high-stress situations. An upset customer, dissatisfied with the product/service requires a special approach. It will be necessary in this case to have a frank conversation and joint search for a solution.
An important feature that a person in contact with the customer should have is the ability to deal with high tension situations. An upset customer, dissatisfied with the product/service requires a special approach. It will be necessary in this case to have a frank conversation and joint search for a solution.
It is also important to monitor employee engagement. Even the best specialist can have weak moments. So if you notice that the engagement of your employees is decreasing – react immediately. Remember that a satisfied employee is a satisfied customer.
Consistent communication
Having defined personae, you need to know what language they speak and learn to speak it. In practice, this means nothing more than adapting the brand’s communication to the needs of its audience – customers. Importantly, the brand message should be consistent at every stage of communication. This will help build customer trust and, ultimately, generate positive feedback.
Choose the language in which the brand will communicate with potential customers. Any discrepancies can shake the credibility of the brand. So if you already know that your target audience is people under 20, don’t create serious blog posts that they will definitely not read. Opt for clear, light messages in a relaxed form. This way of communication will make your customers feel that you are talking to them.
Relationship with the customer
Until recently, the main features that were the subject of competition were mainly price, product availability and range of services. In the era of highly developed technology and a variety of opportunities, most vendors can offer the same goods at a similar price. So how do you stand out from the competition? Your weapon is the relationship with the customer, caregiver, identification with a particular company.
It is the customer service that helps to maintain permanent relations and make new ones. Guarantee of quick problem solving, hotline or chat support, even on weekends – these are the elements that attract customers the most and determine the success of the company.
Communication should be built in such a way that every customer, regardless of whether regular or new, feels equally valued. Personalized emails, special birthday/name day discount codes, free shipping or other activities are sure to evoke positive emotions.
Website and analytical tools
The most important thing that customers pay attention to is the website design. A clear interface and appropriate layout of tabs also affect positive customer experience. When deciding to sell online and have your own website, you should prepare for it properly. Before outsourcing the creation of a website to developers, check out the websites of your competitors and seek the expertise of professionals, which will allow you to create a customer-friendly website.
Also, remember to analyze the website traffic and behavior in detail using special analytical tools.
They will allow you to find any errors on the website that hinder or discourage people from shopping in your store. Do many people abandon purchases at a given stage of shopping? This is a strong signal to work on it. Finding errors without analytics tools is much more difficult.
Google Analytics
This is one of the basic tools you should equip your website with if you want to analyze your customers’ data and measure the number and value of purchases. Installation via GTM is extremely easy, and you’ll be guided through all the steps nimbly by a Google tutorial. Importantly, this way of implementation is recommended by Google. Thanks to GA, you’ll find out, among other things, which addresses your users visit most often, you’ll get to know their demographic data, as well as check how much time they spend on the website and from what source they got there.
Google Search Console
Google Search Console, formerly Google Webmaster Tools is often overlooked by site owners who end up configuring GA. This is a big mistake and a loss for your site – as GSC is the best source of knowledge about organic traffic, i.e. users who will find their way to the store thanks to SEO activities.
Google Tag Manager
This tool allows you to manage tracking scripts on your website. It used to be that every change and addition of a new script could only be made by a developer. With Google Tag Manager, you can make the changes yourself.
Customer service
A customer often requires an answer immediately. Not every website can afford it. This is because such actions require a person who will be available and who has extensive knowledge about products.
Don’t you have enough resources to guarantee such exclusive solutions? Bet on automatic replies. Deciding on such a solution, you do not leave the customer without an answer. This minimizes customer frustration and negative feelings.
Loyalty program
People by nature like to be part of a community. By choosing to create a loyalty system, you give the customer a sense of belonging to a group. The issue here is not only material benefits, such as personalized discounts or free delivery on birthdays. By inviting customers to join your loyalty program, you give them the feeling that they are important, which in turn has a positive impact on their customer experience.
Feedback
None of us likes to buy something that we are not sure about. Before buying, many of us look for product reviews to reassure ourselves that this is the best solution for us. It is extremely important to collect and publish the opinions of other users. It is worth finding a visible place for them on the website.
Reaction
It is extremely important to react, especially to negative feedback. Don’t hide them and don’t delete them – this is what irritates users the most. The reason for a negative review is a bad customer experience. If he additionally notices that his review has been deleted – customer experience will only get worse.
Negative reviews can be a great tool for business development. Thanks to them you can check at the source what is wrong and which issues need to be improved. By improving these areas, you will not only eliminate mistakes, but above all, you will contribute to maximizing profits.
Summary
It is extremely important to regularly examine customer experience and implement changes according to the results. Customer experience consists of all interactions between the company and the customer. The solution may be to create a separate position and appoint a person who will deal only with this area, significantly increasing positive customer experience. Try to look at the customer experience in a slightly broader perspective, taking into account the above-mentioned facts and put our advice into practice, and you will see how much customer experience can contribute to maximizing profits in your company.
