What is Customer Experience?
There are many terms and buzzwords around customer experience (also know as CX), but what exactly does it mean?
To keep it simple – CX is the impression you leave with your customer after interacting with your brand. Even if you think your brand and customer experience is one thing, if the customer perceives it as something different, that is what the actual CX is.
Why is it so Important?
If you had to think about the last time you had a great shopping experience as a customer, it probably wouldn’t take you long to remember who the company was and how you felt – happy? Put a smile on your face?
What about poor customer experience? You can probably think of an example quicker and how you felt about the company and how you feel about the company now – angry? Frustrated? Annoyed? And how many people have you told not to buy from this company because of your experience?
It’s so important to constantly review our customer experiences and improve on them continuously. A positive customer experience not only results in making your customers happy, but it can also lead to additional revenue. Happy customers build brand loyalty, promote your product or service and refer their friends or colleagues – all free of charge!
If customers feel they have a good relationship with your brand, they’ll keep coming back. Satisfied customers don’t look elsewhere for services or products.
Customers are your best resource for growing positive brand awareness because their recommendations, reviews and referrals are far more reliable to new customers than any marketing campaign you do.
So remember, everything a company does contributes to the overall customer experience – which is why managing the customer experience should be a top priority and is the responsibility of every single person within the company.
A Good Customer Experience Can Be Achieved By:
Listening to your customers feedback and continuously upgrading your services to create a better experience.
By understanding who your target audience is and what their motivations are.
Focusing on the customer journey to uncover any pain points or gaps for the customer.
Being proactive and delivering timely updates to your customers before they have to pick up the phone and ask you themselves.
Provide personalised experiences, make the customer feel as if the company knows them and can anticipate their needs.
In Summary
As customers, we have endless options. If a company isn’t meeting our needs, it’s pretty easy to find an alternative. It only takes 2 seconds to open a new tab in your browser and search for an alternative company.
For companies, that means there’s more opportunity than ever to gain and lose customers. These days it’s not so much about price or product. Customers are shopping for better experiences—for companies that understand their needs, make their lives easier, and provide a personalised experience. When companies prioritise the experiences they’re delivering, they’re already leagues ahead of their competitors.