In this article we look at customer experience what it is and why it can ensure your company’s success.
If you are deciding whether or not to invest, five minutes of your time… I urge you not to delay. Read!!!
Simply because you can find out how to naturally increase your turnover without investing a penny in Marketing consulting.
If you find this article interesting and useful and you have a restaurant, you can always invite me over for dinner to try your dishes 😜😘
Jokes aside, one of the most common requests we receive at Factory Communication is, “I would like to increase turnover. Can you find me new clients?“
Certainly a company’s growth also comes from acquiring new customers.
Personally, I think it is more effective and performant, to increase turnover per Customer. He already knows us, knows that we are reliable and accurate. He will surely be happy to buy new products and/or services from our company.
But now let’s abandon all delay and see, together, how to improve our companies/businesses.
Today there is nothing but talk about anything else:
- Customer Satisfaction
- Customer care (customer service)
- Customer Journey (daily activities dedicated to the customer)
- Customer Retention (ability to retain, keep a customer)
In short, we have realized that the Customer, that is, the customer, must be the focus if we want our companies to continue to grow.
We can say that “the customer at the center,” besides being an excellent philosophical cue, is the mantra of a real business strategy.
Customer Experience definition
The definition of customer experience, also abbreviated CX, is simply:
“the sum total of all the emotions and experiences experienced by customers during their interactions with a company.”
It is important, therefore, to start thinking as if we were ourselves, a customer of our brand.
Not for nothing, the great Paul Gillin states , “Think as if you were the consumer.”
Which is simple because, after all, all of us are customers and live from positive and negative experiences.
Let’s try to think, for example, what we do when we buy a product.
We felt we were considered and maybe the staff followed up with us by advising us the best way to solve our problem. Wow great!
Most likely we will return to that company, store, business, restaurant.
And who knows, we might even talk about our positive experience with some friends or relatives.
Not only that. We will probably have an extra need when we return, with the expectation that the staff will behave “as usual” and solve our problem.
And if they are wrong for once, it won’t matter. We will surely find a justification for what happened. This is the real goal of building a strong, sincere and respectful relationship with our clients.
This is why Customer Experience is so important to our business and why it continues to capture the attention of discerning entrepreneurs.
If you are still not convinced I will try to provide one more piece of data.
Acquiring a new customer turns out to be 5 times more expensive than retaining an existing customer.
As we said, the customer already knows our business, our products, our store.
We will not need to focus on wasteful advertising campaigns or exorbitant discounting to lure him back to us.
A positive customer experience already plays a key role.
In addition, the client himself, given his previous positive experience, may return with a friend, or several friends.
Let’s try to imagine the scene in a restaurant:
a regular customer, when he enters the restaurant, is called by name. The waiter asks him how he is, not only that, he tries to reserve his favorite table for him (which, mind you, may not necessarily be the best table in the restaurant, but we will talk about that at another time) even if he has not made a reservation.
Cool right!!!
The customer in this case did not receive discounts or gift certificates, but the Customer Experience will definitely be positive because empathy and well-being prevailed.
Therefore, it is also important to emphasize that the customer experience, is not to be regarded exclusively as customer satisfaction on a material level; rather, the human side prevails in most cases.
What will happen?
The customer will be incentivized to return to our venue by bringing other friends: first, because he or she will feel proud to be treated as “an important customer” in front of others.
Second, he will be assured that his guests will also have a positive Customer Experience, obviously making a good impression himself.
As you can clearly see, to get a happy table at the restaurant, not a single penny was spent on advertising campaigns, just a few smiles, education and empathy.
This is what is meant by customer experience.
And now let’s see what the negative customer experience is
We went to a store exposing a problem and the staff shows little interest in our requests.
Attempt to foist on us a “top of the line” product, perhaps super high-tech, following the fashion of the moment.
Well, it just so happens that we are not at all interested in fashion, and our priority right now is to solve that problem that plagues us.
Definitely the staff who welcomed us are knowledgeable about the products in the store. Knowledgeable in terms of technology and fashion.
Maybe he has also taken some refresher courses and the product he has offered us is really top of the line, a must-have offer.
But our experience will still turn out to be negative because we did not feel considered.
Here is one of the key points of the Customer Experience: making the customer feel considered, the center of attention precisely.
What are the chances that this company will still be chosen by us, as customers, in case another problem arises? None.
“They were unable to provide me with a wheel, let alone a bicycle.”
Here is the collapse of the customer experience.
The main goal is to get the customer to come back to us, to speak well of our brand to friends and acquaintances, to want to spend more, because by turning to us they can solve more than one problem at a time.
By offering a positive Customer Experience, in addition to free advertising (ever heard of WOM), we have the opportunity to increase revenue per customer, as well as receive new ones.
Of course, it is implied that at the base, there must be good quality of the product or service you offer.
We can be kind, empathetic and helpful to our customers, which will definitely make a good first impression.
However, if a T-shirt rips the next day, we bring the pasta to the table uncooked, the pizza is burnt, or the new lawnmower is missing its wheels–we will always have little chance of seeing them again in our store.
It is different, however, if a negative episode should happen after a series of positive experiences.
Let’s think about it: if we are die-hard fans of a certain pizzeria, we feel considered, the staff seems to know us as well as we know the company, plus the product they offer is of excellent quality, there is no doubt, we will definitely return to that pizzeria.
But one day a strange thing happens. The staff is more serious than usual, our favorite waiter is not of many words, or the pizza doesn’t seem to taste the same as other times.
Customer Experience comes into play, injecting this phrase into our brains, “Surely something has happened.”
We do not immediately think: “I’m never coming back here again” but, rather, we will tend to somehow justify the negative experience of that moment.
It has happened even to emblazoned companies such as Apple, to churn out a product or service that is not top notch and yet…
In fact, past positive experiences tend to overpower the one negative experience we have had, because, conscious or not, we have established in our client the habit of being comfortable with us, by us.
Therefore, the customer will return, even after a negative experience.
Because the “it can happen to anyone, everyone can have a bad day” prevails.
For this reason, every effort must be focused on the end Customer in order to improve the buying experience and the memory they have of our Brand.
A beautiful quote from Philip Kotler
“We live in a Customer Economy where the Customer is king.
This is the result of overcapacity in production. It is Customers, not goods, that are in short supply.
Businesses must shift their focus from product creation to customer retention.”
Moment of truth, the importance of the first contact between Company and Customer
The first contact between Company and Customer translates as the moment of truth. This is precisely the moment when the Customer has his first impression of the intercepted Brand.
Considering that we are in the world of Web 2.0, we know perfectly well that there are so many touch points today.
Reason why it is most important for every Company to take care of not only its image but also and especially all the communication channels, offline but especially online, that it uses to relate to its market.
It is, perhaps, better to preside over one less communication channel but with a high quality standard and a coordinated image and services.
The right strategy for a positive customer experience cx
Once we have captured our Customer’s attention, it is important to turn it into curiosity and eventually into loyalty.
How?
By understanding and analyzing the behavior of leads, their feelings and their degree of satisfaction we will be able to respond with a highly profiled and personalized business strategy.
CRMs, for example, can give us practical help.
Many people confuse C.R.M. Customer Relationship Management software with the strategy behind its use.
But as we know, technology has to be framed, educated, directed.
Customer Relationship Management Strategy is, first and foremost, a Business philosophy. It is a way of understanding the relationship with one’s Customers and, if desired, suppliers.
Can we talk about improving the digital customer experience today?
Absolutely. The user’s shopping experience is increasingly shifting from the point of sale, the classic store, to online.
Recent statistics also show that in Italy, where e-commerce has entered far behind most European states, it is proving to be a steadily growing sector.
There are about 38 million online consumers, or 62 percent of the total population, and this number is expected to grow further, reaching an incredible 41 million by 2023.
Smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and PCs today make it possible to make quick purchases directly from home, not only on sites but also directly on social networks-just think of Facebook’s marketplace.
A Company, today, to be innovative and competitive must evolve and keep up with the times to ensure customer care worthy of success With a mobile website, a dedicated application or with an ad hoc social media strategy.
Declining its business strategy for the digital world as well demonstrates flexibility on the part of a company that can offer its audience an even more complete, immersive and satisfying personalized experience.
In conclusion, the right strategy for a company is to offer an integrated customer experience across all channels, offline and online.
If you made it to the end of this article I congratulate you. I know it is long and takes you some time in reading.
I sincerely hope it helps you. That it has sparked that spark in you, that desire to analyze how customers are managed in your Company and business.
Clearly, the entrepreneur’s point of view is likely to be less than objective.
The ideal solution?
Ask our clients where and how we can help them, how we can make a difference for them.
Did you find this article interesting? You can explore further by reading these articles.
- Ideas for attracting customers to a restaurant
- Why create a business page on Facebook
- Customer experience strategy improves companies’ business
- Customer experience and customer satisfaction! What does the Customer think about you?
- Do you want to grow the Business? Check out the Customer Experience!
- Customer Experience and 5 Effective Techniques to Build Customer Loyalty
- 9 metrics to check the effectiveness of email marketing strategy