Conquer the customer experience battleground

This week, we are focusing on the new battleground for B2C and B2B – Customer Experience. We are now in an era where customer expectations are rising. No longer is it enough to provide a solid product or competitive price point. In today’s competitive marketplace, an organisation’s brand is built – or broken – on its customer experience.

It is widely known in the CX world that by 2020 customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. The study, published in 2013, found that changes such as the explosion of digital, the empowered customer, and the acceleration of innovation are having a profound impact on customer expectations. From then till now, CX is still on track to become the leading differentiator.

As a result, today’s customers – and those of the future – expect more. The study also found that, in the coming years, customers will expect companies to know their individual needs and to personalise the experience to meet those needs. Tellingly, the study showed that 86 percent of consumers are prepared to pay more for better customer experience.

To conquer the Customer Experience battleground, each experience must be personalised. Here are our top 3 tips to ensure your organisation delivers personalisation:

Content must be designed and worded in a way that will appeal to each individual consumer. Generic emails and automated voices miss that true interaction between a customer and an organisation. Always include names, that is, the customer’s name but also your name. Would you rather receive an email from ‘Ann’ or from ‘the customer care team’?

Communicate the importance of CX to customer service agents for more one to one experiences. This strategy includes taking time to talk to customers; they want to feel they are talking to a human and not a robot and be transparent – this builds trust with customers, makes them feel valued and reduces customer churn.

Invest in the right CX technology. The latest developments in intelligent customer intelligence software allow for the creation of this highly personalised content, as well as ensuring it can be delivered across multiple platforms. Armed with this technology, organisations can move from personalised emails and targeted offers to offer an improved experience, based on rich customer feedback.

The new battleground highlights the significance of really understanding the importance of Customer Experience – it does not matter if you are an airline or a pharmaceutical company – the product or service is no longer your number 1 differentiator – Customer Experience is!

First published: https://www.marusyngro.com/conquer-customer-experience-battleground/