Customer Experience: What It Is and Why It Matters
Let’s preface this blog by clarifying that customer service is not customer experience.
While customer service is an important part of the customer experience, it is only one aspect of the entire customer experience.
This blog post explores the importance of a successful customer experience and the myriad of benefits for your business.
The Customer Experience Journey
Customer experience is the holistic perception of the experience that customers have with your business. Part of the larger buyer’s journey, the customer experience is the result of every touchpoint between the customer and you.
Think of it this way, you’ve invited your partner’s parents around for their first dinner at your home. You bring out the good glasses, prepare your signature dish, de-fur the couch and ensure an all-round pleasing aesthetic to ensure they have a great experience.
Everything your business does impacts your customers’ perception and influences whether they keep coming back or not. A great customer experience is key to the success of your business.
Why Customer Experience is So Darn Important
The customer experience encompasses everything from the quality of your product, the cleanliness of your premises, and even ease of navigating your website. Here are just a few reasons to focus on creating an unforgettable customer experience.
Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer.
Increasing customer retention by 5% can increase profits by 25-95%
The success rate of selling to a customer you already have is 60-70%, while the success rate of selling to a new customer is between 5-20%.
Customer Experience Gone Wrong
Knowing just how important a positive customer experience can be, what about a negative one? Have you done any of these things to draw the ire of your customers?
Putting customers on hold for too long.
Bad after-sales service.
Ignoring customer feedback.
Unsatisfactory customer support.
Not showing empathy to clients.
A website that is difficult to navigate.
Related: Customer-Centricity and How It Drives Customer Advocacy
Tips to Create a Positive, Customer-Centric Business Strategy
So, it’s cheaper to keep a customer. It’s expensive to lose one. What should you be doing to keep customers happy (and spending money)?
Learn about your customers’ experiences and what they want them to be like, customer feedback should lead the way.
Create a clear customer experience vision for your business.
Encourage a customer-orientated culture amongst your employees, to help build trust and quality relationships with your customers.
Aim to create a harmonious experience across all the touchpoints in your customers' journey.
Gather the right data, analyze your findings, and execute policies in accordance with your customers' needs and wishes.
Fundamental Building Blocks of Customer Experience
After conducting intensive research involving a million customers across three continents KPMG Nunwood concluded that the following key principles are the fundamental building blocks for a successful customer experience:
Personalization
Integrity
Expectations
Resolution
Time and effort
Empathy
How Sepire Enhances the Customer Experience
As industry specialists, we believe it is important to be selective in who we partner with. We therefore only work with customers who have a specific need for our specialized capabilities.
We start out with a comprehensive consultative process in which we establish the client’s strategy and goals before we continue to develop a customized solution. To further add value to the customer experience, each client is appointed a dedicated relationship manager.
Related: How Sepire Puts Customer Experience above All Else
Our approach has always been 100% customer-centric. Part of our customized solutions include personalized direct mail campaigns that help to build trust between our clients and their customers. We live by that promise and help our customers do as well. After all, 86% of consumers say personalization plays a role in their purchasing decisions.
Customer loyalty is no longer based on price or product. And at Sepire, we are confident and happy to say that our clients remain loyal due to the experience they receive.