As a result of the digital era, customer behavior has changed significantly, including how they purchase, interact, and most crucially, what they expect from companies. We can say that, in general, people value memorable experiences. Those days are gone when a company's primary goal was only to “sell a product”. Companies that want to remain in this highly competitive market should put their focus on Customer Experience (CX).
It's important to keep in mind that nowadays’ hybrid approaches will have an influence on your company as well. That implies businesses will not have to only react to customer changes, but also rethink the way Customer Experience (CX) strategy works.
Mistakes may occur. Companies, on the other hand, may take actions to prevent the worst of them. When planning the Customer Experience route, make sure to avoid these three worst mistakes.
1. Assuming that all customers have the same preferences
A great CX program will engage people via phone, email, SMS, live chat, social media, or in person. As a result, your company must know how and where your customers prefer to contact you. Patterns from a year or a few months ago that existed, may not be applicable now.
Offering an omni channel Customer Experience involves allowing people to interact with a company via their PC or mobile device. The product is present anywhere a customer may wish to discover, as opposed to traditional retail. Customers will become loyal if you assure them that your support does not end once they acquire the goods.
According to an Invesp research, businesses with strong omni channel keep 89 percent of their customers, whereas bad omnichannel customer engagement retains 33 percent.
With an omnichannel messaging platform like Zendesk, your team can easily transfer the conversation from a chat app to a web chat, from an email to SMS, from social media to the phone—or any other combination that makes sense. Businesses can also provide customers with a set of choices for where they would like to continue the conversation or how they would like to get notified of a reply later on.
2. Not recognizing that employees are also clients
High-performing companies attract and retain the best personnels. Businesses need to provide the employees with quick access to the CX platform, communication and collaboration tools, employee benefits portals, and other aspects of their experience with your company.
There is a clear relationship between employee happiness and customer satisfaction. Flexibility is essential; chat may be most efficient for certain brief encounters, while others may want to talk live with one or more coworkers. Being able to simply plan or start a call frees up their time and mental resources. Employees will be more engaged and happy if companies acknowledge and meet these expectations. This makes customers happier.
3. Believing your companies has enough CX capabilities
Excellent customer support is a must. It's more important than ever.
According to Accenture, 80% of products believe they provide excellent customer service, while just 8% of customers agree.
A lot is expected from customers. Accenture also reports 44% of B2B buyers switched sellers in the last year. With this fierce competition, the company that satisfies its customers in every aspect will win. Be deliberate, and pay close attention to data trends and feedback. Most importantly, be agile and course-correct as needed.
So, What to Do to Help You Improve Customer Experience?
1. Customized experiences
With so much material available online, businesses are realizing that the only way to stand out is to provide their customer a customized experience. What's the difference between the two? If you want to give your customers last-minute offers suited to their purchasing behavior and experiences or propose goods of their interest; you use the detailed data about them instead of merely addressing them by name in every correspondence.
75 percent of customers prefer to buy from a business that knows their name and suggests items based on past purchases. And 69 percent of customers expect a personalized experience, but less than half of the business delivers.
2. Be Customer-Centric
As previously said, product-focused businesses are a thing of the past. It's no secret that most of us enjoy being special and despise being left out or ignored. If it was with friends, we'd tell them why our opinion wasn't taken into account.
Products are no different. Personalized experiences are expected by today's customer. This must be at the top of your priority list. As customer data is acquired across numerous channels, the choices for creating tailored experiences are expanding. Knowing a customer's preferences by hearing them from every support channel makes it easier to automate and offer a customized experience.
Customers' expectations of the CX you provide them are continuously changing. Customers that are emotionally engaged are at least three times more likely to recommend a product or service; three times more likely to re-purchase; and much less price sensitive.
Understanding current Customer Experience trends can help your company stand out from the competition. Zendesk not only makes things easy on your customers, but sets your teams up for success, and keeps your business in sync. It’s everything you need, in one powerful package.
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