Today’s customers have so many choices, so if you want to be the one they decide to do business with, you need to offer outstanding customer experience.
Why is customer experience so important?
According to research, more than 85% of customers said they will pay more for better CX. To be more precise, people are willing to spend about 13% more with brands they believe provide superior customer experience.
But the benefits of good customer experience go beyond first customers. A study by AmEx found that satisfied customers will tell an average of 9 other people about their positive experience.
In other words, customer satisfaction is key to setting yourself apart from the competition,
adding real value to your offering, and encouraging customers to come back over and over again.
So, how can you provide an excellent experience to your customers? Here are 5 ideas.
1. Put Mobile First
When it comes to impressions, the first one is what matters! And in today’s fast-paced world, mobile is usually the first impression.
After all, more than 70% of the overall web traffic comes from mobile devices, 95% of Facebook users are accessing the platform on their phones, and about 60% of people read emails on their smartphones.
That’s why you need to focus on improving your CX across where it is most likely to begin – on smartphones and other mobile devices.
This means that, whether it is your app, website, search ads, or social media posts, you need to provide outstanding mobile experience because that’s where your customers will be discovering, making purchases, and engaging with your company.
2. Rely on Email
Email remains one of the most effective channels for marketing, with more than 80% of marketers viewing it as the best way to get new customers and retain existing ones.
In terms of return on investment, email marketing is also at the top, bringing an average of $38 for every $1 spent.
Probably one of the reasons why email is so popular is its versatility. Companies can (and should) use email to support their customers and provide great online customer service.
Email is the perfect means to create a positive customer experience for your subscribers, as well as gauge your brand sentiment.
With email, you can develop an ongoing conversation instead of creating a strictly transactional relationship. Email allows you to create a constant flow of communication that doesn’t just serve the brand’s goals but addresses the customer’s needs as well.
This will help you stay relevant in your customers’ minds and keep them engaged with your brand.
However, if you decide to rely on email, you need to be prepared.
Having a good automation tool will make the process much easier by helping you send emails to hundreds of email addresses in a bulk, allowing you to mail merge with data from Google Sheets, personalize emails based on name and email address, track clicks and opens, etc.
3. Give KMS a Try
A functional and comprehensive KMS (knowledge management system) is crucial to your efforts to improve customer experience.
A company’s overall knowledge management system can include a knowledge base, on-site FAQ pages, CRM databases, webinars, training programs, white papers, case studies, and other informational content.
In some cases, the knowledge presented within a knowledge management system is meant to directly provide value to the customer.
In other cases, this information is to be used by employees in ways that indirectly contribute value to the CX. In both instances, the final goal is to improve CX through the use of relevant information and knowledge.
If you’re interested in giving KMS a try, check out this list of best knowledge management systems.
4. Personalization is Key
When it comes to customer satisfaction, every aspect of your business that interacts with customers matters. But, simply making sure that your brand and services are customer-friendly isn’t enough – you need to make your customers feel appreciated and important.
Here are some ideas to help you improve CX through personalization:
- Send appreciation emails thanking your customers for a specific action such as making the first purchase or being a loyal customer. However, make sure that your email doesn’t come across as a standard mass marketing practice because that would ruin the whole purpose of it.
- Sending vouchers or gift cards on specific occasions is a great way to hold customers to your brand and show them that you appreciate their loyalty.
You can also reward customers after they’ve taken a survey to encourage them to take surveys in the future.
5. Leverage the Power of AI
According to Gartner, this year, virtual agents such as chatbots should be managing more than 80% of customer interactions. If you haven’t already started using chatbots, you should seriously consider doing so, as they can transform CX in a number of ways:
- Chatbots are available 24/7 and can serve multiple customers without getting tired or distracted.
- They aren’t driven by emotions, so customers will always get a measured and polite response.
- Chatbots can deal with a great number of queries in a short amount of time and provide quick responses, which is a crucial part of good CX.
- Chatbots can help customers learn more about your products or services, as they pull information directly from the related product page.
- They can help minimize the effort it takes for a customer to resolve an issue.
Regardless of your niche, CX is the critical factor that will distinguish your brand from the competitors. No matter how great your products are, if the overall CX is poor, your customers will leave and won’t come back.
Always remember that your customer is king and do everything you can to offer superior CX in order to make them come back and turn them into brand advocates.