Not so
long ago, every business assumed that the keys to success were the highest
quality product, the best value for the buck, and the best customer service.
Now all we hear about is providing the best “customer experience.” Exactly what
is that customer experience that every modern marketer is talking about, and
how do you measure it
A recent article in the Harvard Business Review “The Truth About Customer
Experience” defines it as your customer’s end-to-end journey with
you, not just the key touchpoints or critical moments when customers interact
with your organization.?
Customer experience is the cumulative impact of
multiple touchpoints over time, which result in a real relationship feeling, or
lack of it.
The advent of social media and real-time
interactive feedback via the Internet allows every customer to build and expect
a relationship with your business, rather than just touchpoints. Yet we are all
still learning what that means, in terms of hard business practices.
I like the insights outlined in the new book “Summit,” by F. Scott Addis, who is an experienced business executive and
recent Inc. “Entrepreneur of the Year” finalist. He ties business success and
your personal summit to elevating your customers’ experience with the following
specific recommendations and key differentiators:
Listen to the individual customer. Every relationship requires listening, as well
as talking. You have to hear your customer’s dreams, goals, passions, and
aspirations. That opportunity for your customers to talk and be heard is
pleasurable and memorable, and defines their customer experience, more so than
just satisfying business touchpoints.
Exploit your product and service differences. A memorable experience has to have something
different from the norm. You must be able to highlight these differences
between your products and services, and those of your competitors. If not, you
are part of the crowd, and no relationship can be built.
Demonstrate the value of your offering. The first step in being able to demonstrate your
value is being willing to find out what your customers want or need. This will
create a connection with them, which demonstrates more value than price or
quality. You create a loyal customer that wants to buy from you, and will
recommend you to others.
Show your passion and creativity in every solution. This active discovery mindset searching for new
questions drives real innovators away from more of the same. They fundamentally
become value seekers; they look for value in every experience, in every
conversation. They don’t seek prescriptions, they seek possibilities.
Demonstrate your personal commitment. When in contact with customers, focus 100
percent on them, and do all you can to determine and meet their needs.
Remember, customers are the reason you do what you do. Give them the respect
and results they deserve and they will tell others about your good work and
your business.
Shoot for the customers’ hearts. Engagement and an emotional connection will make
a customer relationship the driving force for loyalty and differentiation. Move
from customer friendliness to customer charisma. A business with charisma gives
the customer something very special, and they want to tell others about it.
Once you know how to improve your customers’ experience, you need
to also know how to benchmark it. Remember the old adage, “If you can’t measure
it, you can’t manage it.” So how do you measure customer loyalty and
relationships? One new metric now commonly used is called the Net Promoter Score (NPS).
This works by asking your customers for
feedback, and dividing them into three categories:
·
Promoters. Loyal enthusiasts who keep buying from you
and urge their friends to do the same.
·
Passive. Satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who
can be easily wooed by the competition.
·
Detractors. Unhappy customers who feel trapped in a
bad relationship.
The formula for the Net Promoter® Score is the
percentage of customers who are detractors, subtracted from the percentage who
are promoters (NPS=P-D). Legendary companies like Amazon and Costco operate
with an NPS between 50 to 80 percent. But the average venture sputters along at
an NPS of only 5 percent to 10 percent, or even negative.
Maybe it time for all of us to focus more on the customer
experience. There is other
evidence that companies with
the highest customer experience typically grow at more than double the rate of
their competitors. The inverse case is that you can lose you competitive lead
very quickly by focusing on the wrong things. Have you checked your customers’
experience lately?
Credit: www.forbes.com
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