Customer Experience Drives Profitability

The customer experience has grown into an all-encompassing vision for businesses. Where once it was the responsibility of a single department, it now comprises all functions and levels within an organization—from marketing to IT to operations to sales.

Before the Digital Age, customers interacted with companies at their brick-and-mortar stores, by postal mail and through their call centers. This often meant that customer service took a backseat to growing profits. This sometimes worked out OK for businesses because the customer was fairly removed from product design, had few alternatives, and had a limited ability to spread any negative feedback.

Now that society is more connected, and the flow of information has intensified, companies have been compelled to rethink their Customer Care strategies. As far back as 2013, CMO reported that 76 percent of retail customer touches take place through websites, followed by 73 percent through email messages, 50 percent with in-person store visits and 43 percent through mobile. Now, growing profits means providing an experience that meets or exceeds customer expectations. Otherwise, you may be called out on social media platforms or be replaced by a competitor.

Opportunities in a connected world

The digital expansion of customer touch points adds complexity to the customer experience, but it also offers a variety of channels for reaching your key targets. Through social media, your website blog, forums, YouTube and many other channels, you can engage with customers and immerse them in your brand. With interesting, relevant and informative content, you develop trust and then loyalty.

What’s important is that you don’t let content about your brand move beyond your control. Consumers are constantly exposed to information that may make them reassess their choices—don’t let your brand take the fall. We are in an era of non-stop evaluation. Companies must use advanced analytical capabilities to follow and guide customers through the journey.

Accenture research shows that two factors are key to the customer experience: 1) trustability, and 2) continuous, complete and fast service. The consulting firm also found that a good experience with one company drives customer expectations for all other companies. This means that businesses should take note of best practices and deploy them in their operations.

Overall, a customer-centric organization will adopt customer experience management as a formal business process that is focused on developing deep, broad, long-term customer relationships.

Impact of improved customer experience

After implementing a differentiated customer experience strategy, you can expect significant positive results, per Accenture, such as:

• New customer acquisition: Better customer management can lead to a 10 to 12 percent improvement in customer acquisition.
• Customer retention: Higher customer satisfaction results in a 10 to 15 percent increase in retention.
• More purchases: Nine out of 10 customers experiencing increased satisfaction would buy 8 to 10 percent more products from a company.
• Lower costs: Organizations that manage the customer experience well can expect the costs of acquisitions and service to decline by 5 to 8 percent.

Expect these sorts of successes if your company has evolved to the point where all stakeholders across the organization are aligned to deliver a stellar customer experience.