The change in times - Consider what the traditional customer journey used to be until fairly recently:
Exposure to a product or service, and consequent awareness, happened largely through traditional media channels. You would see a billboard, watch a ad break during your favourite show or hear a radio ad on your way in to work. Maybe you picked up a printed publication containing sponsored ads. Next thing to do would be to call a number or visit a physical store where the sales team member would hold all of the product knowledge and be the expert on the product of interest to you.
The rise of digital marketing and ecommerce was quickly followed by a new breed of customer. One technology-savvy, who begins their customer journey online, researching products and services digitally and one who prefers to send emails to calling on the phone. The balance of power has shifted from the seller to the buyer - the New Customer.
Differentiate and survive
A popular statistic lets us know that 86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience. The New Customer wants to be informed, not least by their peers via online reviews such as Google My Business, Facebook, online directories etc. The New Customer also wants to have a great Customer Experience. By that we don’t only mean the tone of voice they get on the phone when they call you, but many areas such as availability of information, the speed of enquiry reply, going above and beyond, the feeling of being important to the business and much more.
According to Gartner, 2017 saw around 50% of product investments redirected to customer experience innovations. Steve Cannon, the Mercedes Benz USA president and CEO sums it up very well explaining that “Customer Experience is the new marketing”.
What can you do?
Start by putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. Consider the customer journey your clients face every time they do business with you, from the discovery and awareness stage all the way past the points of purchase. Ask yourself - are there any bottlenecks? Do you get a reply to support email enquiries? Have the terms and conditions been easily available and understandable? Go through every scenario that your customers may go through and iron out any kinks in their journey.
Do you know what your customers are telling you about their experiences? Collecting feedback can be instrumental in informing your business from the outside in and resolving potential issues before they creep into public review platforms. Here, consider both NPS and eNPS. eNPS being particularly important because unhappy, disengaged employees will never deliver a great customer experience, so collecting internal feedback data is as important as listening to customer feedback. NPS grades and real time feedback can be tremendous source of innovation.
Serve up personalised experiences. Let your customers know that you know them, and that your offering is perfect for them at the perfect time. This can be done through adopting technology such as CRM software (Customer Relationship Management). Any CRM worth its salt will enable you to communicate with your customers when they need you and offer them a product or service when they are ready to buy. With a CRM, your conversations with the customer are tracked through any number of communication channels, giving your entire company the detailed information. You can address them by their name when they call and know what the issue at hand is before they have to repeat themselves to tell you about it.
Enable your team to provide a great customer experience every time. This means being polite but also being knowledgeable and competent in their field. As we’ve already mentioned, customers are prepared to pay more for good service over a rushed or otherwise bad service. Make sure that there is someone accountable for answering customer support coms. Whether you are using a CRM or someone is simply looking after your business Facebook messenger. Your responses need to be quick, if not immediate, because delayed responses do not work in the New Customer’s age of short attention focus. Not responded to, they will likely leave you. According to Esteban Kolsky, CEO of Thinkjar "67% of customers mention bad experience as a reason for leaving. 91% will go without letting you know why."
Aligning with, and surviving in the age of the New Customer begins with understanding the fundamental difference in how people buy today. This means giving the customer a lot more attention than before. And doing business with them on their own terms. Start by listening to your customers and gathering actionable Net Promoter Score data with the Customer Radar software.
