Why customer experience matters for entrepreneurs and small companies. |
The term "customer experience" has been relegated to one of marketing's hottest buzzwords. Discover about what CX is really about and why it's so important.
"Customer experience" has become one of the most talked about buzzwords in marketing and for good reason.
Customer experience (CX) should be top-of-mind every person, no matter if you're just a new business owner or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.
But a lot of times, CX seems more like something that is more abstract than it actually is something that can be implemented in the running of an enterprise.
In this post, we'll define what the term "customer experience" really means, and share six compelling reasons for entrepreneurs and creators should consider a CX plan a top priority immediately.
What is customer experience?
The customer experience (CX) is the interaction between an organization and its customers.
Each interaction that a consumer has with your brand can impact how they feel about it. They are also called "touchpoints" with customers .
If you are interacting with them at all or not, every touchpoint will impact your customer's experience.
For example, if the customer is happy and reading the posts you make on social media, it can contribute to a pleasant user experience even if you didn't speak with them directly.
There's an abundance of touchpoints that could be involved in the customer journey, from user experience to brand loyalty initiatives. Let's focus upon one of most important pieces of a good customer experience - customer service.
Excellent customer service starts with a great customer service team.
When you're a solopreneur, you are the team that provides customer service. You don't have a call center, or even a group of live chat operators. And offering great customer support as a unit of just one person can be a challenge particularly when your customers are able to have such high expectations.
In fact, 51% of clients say that companies fall in the gap of customer service requirements, and 54% don't believe that companies have their interests foremost in mind.
The good news is that you can meet (and maybe even exceed) customer expectations as a solopreneur without needing to be online 24 hours a day in order to answer customer inquiries and issues.
When it comes to the customer experience, clients value speed, convenience, helpful employees and a warm welcome the most.
Customers will noticeThey'll experience a improved customer service as a result.
We've now covered what it means, let's explore five (data-backed) reasons why customer service is essential for any business, no matter if you're only one person or 1,000.
Five reasons why you should prioritize your customer service ASAP
1. It increases the customer's loyalty
"It's easier to love an item when it has a relationship with you." -- Seth Godin
An excellent customer experience will boost customer loyalty. This makes sense: customers who have a great experiences are most likely to buy from your company again, so that they will be able to maintain that amazing satisfaction.
Plus, it costs more to acquire a new customer than to keep an old one. And those who are loyal to customers pay more for the entire lifecycle of a customer.
Here's how it shakes out by the figures:
It may cost up to seven times more to acquire a brand new client than it would for keeping one you already have.
52% customers will go the extra mile to buy from companies they're loyal to.
Return customers tend to be 9 times greater likely purchase than a first-time shopper.
Maybe most importantly, loyal customers will help shape your brand and improve the quality of your services. 95% of customers have a more favorable view of businesses that give customers the chance to give customer feedback.
Customers who are most active want to share their feedback with you, and when you take note of their comments Your brand and product will improve for the better.
Take Tiffany Williams, founder of Rich Girl Collective For instance. Tiffany was able to determine what the audience would like by directly asking them.
"I just ask my audience the questions they have, the things they would like to know, and if it matches what I've done which I've succeeded with, I impart it to them."
In the end the idea is that asking for feedback leads to an improved customer experience. It also will make customers more likely to stay loyal to your brand . And, these satisfied customers are more likely to give you actionable feedback. It's a win-win and a great incentive to invest in customer experience.
Customer loyalty is all about retention. We'll now discuss how the customer experience impacts the ultimate enemy of customer retention... the churn of customers.
2. This reduces the rate of the churn of customers.
When we speak of customer churn, usually we're referring to when customers stop purchasing services that they purchase on a monthly basis such as a monthly membership or subscription plans.
76% of customers claim it's now simpler than ever before to move their firm elsewhere.
Three out of three customers ( 32% ) claim they'll leave a company they love after just one negative experience.
If you have a bad experience 58 percent of customers have decided to not buy from you. 52% may switch to a different company 48% of them will never purchase from you again.
Each online company experiences churn, but it's possible to lower your chances of experiencing churn through the best customer experience. Churning of customers is the opposite of customer retention, so every action you do to increase customer loyalty and retention also help you reduce the churn.
Tips for delivering an improved experience for customers and decreasing customer turnover:
Create a more personalized customer experience. Your customers want to feel that you are familiar with you personally. We'll cover this more later however, customers want pertinent content.
Let your clients to connect with your company. A whopping 95 percent of customers believe that customer service affects the loyalty of a brand. If customers encounter problems, be sure they have a way to contact your company to resolve the issue -- then make sure you follow up.
As we move forward we'll discuss the importance of focusing on customer experience to help to leverage the most effective marketing technique of allWord-of-mouth.
3. It can help you increase the power of word-of mouth
"One customer who is well treated, can be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertisements." -- Jim Rohn, business philosopher
They tell their family and friends networks about customer experiences that make an impression -- good or bad. Word-of-mouth is incredibly powerful, and your customers' experience will determine whether that ability is good for you or bad for you.
This is a particular case with the advent that social media has taken over. Your customers have broader platforms than they ever have to share their opinions -- whether positive or negative regarding your business. If you focus on customer service, you'll convert happy customers into brand fans.
As Dharmesh Shah the founder of HubSpot in the past, stated "The more people you have as advocates, the fewer advertisements you need to purchase."
This is what makes word-of mouth so potent:
65% of new business typically comes from referrals.
60% of users are willing to share their negative experiences with other customers. Conversely 72% of the customers report sharing positive experiences with others.
79% of people believe in online reviews more than personal advice.
45 percent of customers say they first heard about the most recent retailer they purchased from through recommendation (compared to just 16% of shoppers who found the retailer through Google).
People trust the recommendations of others more than they do brands. That's why many companies use Net Promoter Score (NPS) to determine customer satisfaction.
NPS helps you quantify the customers' experience by asking customers "On an scale of one to ten How likely are you to recommend the brandor brand to a friend or acquaintance?"
Respondents are classified into three categories:
Promoter (score 9-10) Affiliates who are loyal and will keep buying and refer others.
Passives (score between 7-8): Satisfied customers who do not seem to be enthusiastic.
Detractors (score 0-6) Customers who are unhappy could cause negative word-of-mouth.
Of course, a high NPS doesn't necessarily mean all customers are singing your praises to anyone who will listen. It does mean that you're on the right path.
Another way to leverage the power of word-of-mouth to boost your marketing strategies is to use user-generated material (UGC) like reviews and testimonials. Across industries, potential clients who read UGC convert at a sixteen percent higher rate over those who do not.
As an example, the entrepreneur coach Shalena D.I.V.A. has testimonials from her clients that highlight her clients' experiences on her website:
When you provide an excellent customer experience, you're more likely to be able to get reviews and far less likely to have to contend with a slew of mean tweets.
OK, now that you know how effective CX and word-of-mouth marketing can be, you're now ready to dive into another potent mix: the Customer experience, trust building, and personalization.
4. It helps build trust and help in personalizing the experience for customers.
Like customer experience information privacy and security is a hot topic these days.
Customers today expect a customized experience on every interaction however, they're wary about how businesses collect and use customer data. In the case of individualization it's important to distinguish between being attentive and intrusive.
If you find the right combination of personalization and trust, though, it's the perfect process. When you give your customers the best customer experience you'll be more inclined to believe your company with their information and information, which will help you to personalize your experience to make it even better.
What do customers think about personalization, data as well as the overall satisfaction
71% of U.S. consumers worry about how brands are collecting and using the personal data of their customers.
56% of marketers say that personalization has an impact on building relationships with customers with 88% of respondents saying that prospects and customers are looking for personalization.
A majority of consumers will share the details of their private lives with businesses as long as they provide the perception of value.
86% of consumers tend to believe in companies that have pertinent information when they describe why they provide more value, and 78% of customers will believe that if businesses make use of their data to personalize the customer experience.
When you build trust with your clients, you'll be able to create a individual experience, without breaking the trust of your customers.
My favorite example of a personalized, customer-centric interaction includes Spotify . Spotify gathers pertinent data on my favorite music and podcasts to listen to and fully personalizes my experience using the information.
Spotify gives me curated playlists, podcast recommendations and playlists and even shows me new music that its all-knowing algorithm thinks I'll like.
I believe in Spotify for my data on listening habits and, in return, I receive a user experience customized to my tastes. (As as a plus that I'm not judged for my weird taste in music, and that's a win in my book.)
There is no need to be a giant streaming platform like Spotify for personalization to be a part of your marketing strategy.
Through the course of her the Clean Eating Way 3-Month Coaching program , Christa Lyons creates "6 personalized meal plans with shopping lists, prep guides and grocery lists" for her customers.
The personalized meal plans are far better than a standard plan. More value implies that Christa can charge more for or earn profit from the program.
If you're thinking of earning more Let's look at how providing a superior customer experience will boost your bottom line.
5. It improves your bottom line, and puts you ahead of your competitors
Investing in customer experience pays dividends. Literally.
They are willing to spend more for a better customer experience:
U.S. businesses miss out almost $62 billion every year because of poor customer experience.
86% consumers will spend more money for a greater customer satisfaction.
1 in 5 shoppers will pay a 20% premium for personalized services and goods.
Customers are willing to pay up to a 16% price premium on services and products as well as a greater loyalty.
Consider Reuven Lerner , for example. Reuven is a software engineer who transformed his training company that was based in the offline world into online training courses. Reuven offers the "Intro Python" students a fantastic course, and makes them want to take his more advanced courses as well.
"If there are a lot of courses -- intro intermediate, advanced, or even advancedYou have an chance to sell an additional course since if they really enjoy your introduction course They'll beg for more advanced courses... They'll be like"You are right? I'm just going to buy all of it.'"
Want to sell online courses as Reuven? Take a look at . has everything you need to promote online courses, webinars subscriptions, downloads, but most importantly, you can create an excellent customer experience. Give a try for free now.
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In 2013 the Walker study predicted that, by 2020, customer experience will outshine price and product as the primary brand differentiation. In 2020, the end of the year has already surpassed us- and their prediction is confirmed.
Gartner discovered that that more than two-thirds businesses compete primarily on the basis of customer experience, which is up from 36% in the 2010. And 57% of consumers had stopped purchasing from a business because they found a competitor to provide an improved experience.
The online marketplace is more competitive than ever before. However, investing in the customer experience could aid you in beating competitors and improve the bottom line.
By now, hopefully I've convinced you that customer satisfaction is the key to success for businesses of all sizes. Let's recap the top five reasons, so you can get on the market and begin delighting your customers with every interaction.
It's the right time to make a commitment in the customer experience
If you're still not using an approach to customer service for your business, now's the perfect time to develop one. Here's why:
This increases the loyalty of customers. Customers who have a great encounter with your business will be more likely to buy from them again... and again... again and more.
It lowers customer retention. When customers are happy that they're more likely to leave a club and more likely to sign up for a renewal.
It helps you tap into the power of word-of mouth. Customers trust each other more than they trust companies. Customers who are satisfied with your service tend to recommend your business to friends or write a review that is positive.
It builds trust and helps improve the experience for customers. People want personalized customer experiences however, they are sceptical about how firms use data from their customers. A valuable customer experience helps to ease those concerns.
It improves the profitability of your business and allows you to compete in a crowded market. Many businesses are making their experiences with their customers a competitive advantage by delighting their customers. can help your business be noticed.
Keep in mind that it doesn't require the size of a Fortune 500 company to invest in the customer experience. It's enough to demonstrate your clients that you are aware and value them- - and they'll love your company right back.