As Hana Dickinson, MD of The Bridge, explains, effective marketing is a sure fire way to bring customers to your door, but once they’re through the door… that’s when the real work begins.
So you’ve done your marketing right, and everyone is taking notice of you. You’ve seen a spike in website visits, those enquiries are flowing in, and you’re about to open your doors to a long queue of people… now all you have to do is live up to the hype. Which is where getting your CX on point becomes key.
What is CX?
Customer experience, or CX for short, is what the name for your customers’ overall perception of their experience with your company or brand. Every visit to your website, each call to your customer service team, and any time someone uses your products or services, is an opportunity for them to form an opinion of your company.
You don’t need us to tell you that the better the experience, the greater chance they will come back for more. But according to research by EstebanKolsy, it goes deeper than that:
- 72% of customers will share a positive experience with six or more people.
However, of customers who have an unhappy experience:
- 13% report sharing this with 15 people or more.
So whilst happy customers will likely spread the word, those who were unhappy are likely to tell even more people.
In terms of customer retention, a survey of 15,000 consumers by business consultancy PwC found that:
- 1 in 3 customers will leave a brand, even if they previously loved them, after just one bad experience.
- 92% of customers say they would completely abandon a company after two or three negative interactions.
And a business might never even know about these bad experiences, because further research suggests that:
- Only 1 in 26 unhappy customers take the time to complain. The rest simply leave.
These figures paint a clear picture: customer loyalty might help get you through a few bad customer engagements, but after that they’ll walk away, tell people why they weren’t happy, and probably won’t even bother to give you a chance to put things right. Which means your most effective line of defence is to focus hard on giving them a great experience, at every point of contact, every time.
How to sharpen your CX
- Empower your staff. Customers respond well to happy staff, so ensuring your staff feel positive is a great way to encourage better CX. And further, ensure there aren’t any barriers to them giving your customers a better service. Help your staff to feel valued and engaged through surveys and 1-2-1 meetings, to understand how they feel, and what they want. And, you never know, they might be able to teach you a thing or two. After all, frontline staff will often have a good understanding of what your customers want.
- Remember the mobile. The majority of web traffic comes from mobile devices these days, having surpassed the desktop in 2016. So always build your website and online portals with a mobile first mentality to ensure a smooth online experience.
- Look for feedback. Whilst you can’t get feedback from every customer, you can ensure that those that do take the time to fill in your surveys have the freedom to say what they want. Make sure you include open-text boxes in your forms, and when you get enough feedback, take the time to analyse their responses to identify any recurring themes. This will be a goldmine for spotting where you can improve your CX.
- See through your customer’s eyes. Famously, Walt Disney used to walk through Disneyland and looked for ways to fine tune things. If you want to really understand the world through your customer’s eyes, then find ways to experience your business from their point of view.
There are many more ways to improve your CX, and having a customer focussed approach to your business is an ongoing process. However, the rewards are great, because strong CX has been proven time and time again to increase retention, satisfaction and revenue. What more could an ambitious SME ask for?