Are you looking after your Customer Experience?
What is customer experience (CX) and is it the same as Customer Service?
The two terms are often used interchangeably but they are not the same. In the past few years, the focus for those involved in sales and customer service has shifted from the limits of customer service to embracing customer experience and this is where the profit sits.
CX is the total package the customer receives before, during, and after their purchase or use of a service. It is a journey and is determined by a number of markers, one important being customer service.
When the product is the same, what happens?
There is a plethora of the same products on the market right now. This means that the quality of the product is no longer enough to determine whether or not the customer buys from you.
The determining factor has now moved in favour of the customer experience which you are relying on your team to deliver. The customer wants to feel connected and respected. They want personalised service and a reason for choosing you over another business. It is easy to go elsewhere and therefore unless they feel engaged in their journey with your company they will seek another.
PwC carried out research recently which found one in three customers will walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience. That’s a very quick existence and potentially a huge loss of revenue for any business.
Customer experience the emotion
Customers have feelings (emotions) so when interacting with your team their perception is key to having those feelings respected. While marketing, digital access, after-sales service, and other elements feed into the customer experience, the main driver of customer experience is your team, your people!
Your team’s interaction at each touch point with the skillset is vital. It is your people who will primarily keep or lose customers on their journey with your company. And remember customers create revenue.
All About Sales carried out research in late October asking consumers if they had received excellent customer service in the previous week. 69% said they had. That’s interesting when PwC reported 54% of consumers in the US reported ‘needed improvement’. Are we being polite in Ireland? Even at 69%, there is definite room for improvement and for increasing revenue.
The European Predictions 2023 Customer Experience by Martin Gill writes that some 80% of organisations don’t value customer experience (CX) as a fundamental part of their proposition. Now that is worrying and something that urgently needs to be overturned.
How to improve CX
Invest in your team, your people especially those on the frontline talking to your customers. All About Sales delivers customer experience training, sometimes after carrying out a mystery shopping experience which measures the level of service being delivered before training. Want to hear more? Email us at hello@allaboutsales.ie for more information.
