Are your employees disengaged? Are you suffering from high employee turnover? Imagine a workplace where…
Why it is Critical to Focus on the Customer Experience.
There is a lot of noise today about the customer experience – but it is not something that is truly understood.
Too often the focus is far too narrow, focusing on customer service. That is just one part of the customer experience.
What is the Customer Experience?
The customer experience is the experience the customer has with your business, from before they make contact, through to post purchase.
Every way the customer comes into contact with your business is a “moment of truth” which creates an impression and influences whether:
While some “moments of truth” in the customer journey are clearly more important than others, they all influence how the customer perceives your business.
Why Focusing on the Customer Experience is Important.
Focusing on delivering a quality customer experience makes good business sense.
Some statistics from a recent HubSpot post:
What this means, is that to reduce costs, customer churn, and improve profitability, it pays to focus on delivering a quality customer experience.
Valued Customer? The Customer Perspective.
Customers are not numbers – they are human beings, with needs and emotions. Yet far too often the human element of the customer engagement process is given lip service.
Most customers do not feel truly valued by the businesses they buy from. The relationship is often transactional and ends with the sale.
For many years I running workshops I would ask participants – “Who dealt with a business where they felt truly valued?”
Consistently, only 20% of the participants raised their hand! This means 80% had limited loyalty to business they were buying from. If better deal was found elsewhere, they are gone!
Great Customer Experience – It’s Not Magic.
When I asked those who raised their hand why they felt valued, the answers were consistent, they felt:
It is interesting to observe, none of the participants spoke about the product, but how they were treated.
Like everyone, when we decide to purchase a quality product is our minimum expectation, and right.
Summary.
There is a huge difference between what a business does, and how the customer perceives the experience.
Focusing just on customer service and the sale transaction is a huge mistake! The customer experience is begins well before they make contact with your business and after purchase.
Research bears out that for most businesses, the term valued customer is a myth. The cost of this in terms of customer churn, and profitability, is massive.
If you are interested in learning more about how to improve the experience you provide to your customers, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Bruce Hall.
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