If I had a dollar for every client who has told me that their business provides a ‘great’ customer experience, I would be a great deal wealthier than I am ever likely to be. If I had a dollar for every time either protestation was true, I would be extremely poor. While most businesses believe […]

If I had a dollar for every client who has told me that their business provides a ‘great’ customer experience, I would be a great deal wealthier than I am ever likely to be. If I had a dollar for every time either protestation was true, I would be extremely poor. While most businesses believe they offer a ‘great’ customer experience – the majority of them are wrong.

Offering a ‘great’ experience is important, with  80% of consumers saying the customer experience is as important as the item being purchased.

The mistake these businesses are making, in my view, is that they erroneously believe that the business, or more specifically its directors and management, are the arbiters of what is and is not ‘great’ when the truth is – the target market and only the target market defines ‘great.’ This is an important distinction, given that it is the target market that delivers sales. It is also important to understand this because markets are getting more demanding. Research suggests that:

• 82% of consumers expect an immediate response to sales and marketing questions
• 32% of social media users expect a brand to respond to their questions within 30 min.

While customers have been becoming more demanding for years, this process has been exacerbated by COVID. Research suggests that:

• 93% of customer service teams say customers have higher expectations than ever before. 
• 75% of consumers say the pandemic will drive long-term changes in their behaviour.

And the quality of the customer experience matters more than ever, with 93% of customers having a bad experience never complaining and 91% simply don’t come back. Further to this, 84% of customers actively share a negative experience.

• So, how does a business develop a ‘great’ customer experience? Well, you can start by:
• Appreciating that a ‘great’ customer experience is important.
• Recognising that the customer, not you, defines ‘great.’

Getting as close as possible to the customer and co-creating the optimum experience.

In addressing these three points, you might also like to:

• Get digital – with research showing that 55% of customer service teams report an increased customer preference for interacting over digital channels.
• Be consistent across channels – with research suggesting 75% of customers desire a consistent experience across all channels.
• Be responsive – with research suggesting that 64% of customers want to shop with companies that can meet their needs in real time.
• Empower the customer – with research showing that 67% of consumers prefer self-service over speaking to a company representative.

 Your customer defines great. The closer a business is to its target market and the more responsive it is, the better able it is to create a ‘great’ customer experience and, in so doing, maximise the likelihood of maximising customer lifetime value.

D. John Carlson – Consultant Perth.

www.djohncarlsonesq.com