If brands don’t invest in Customer Experience they will soon be disrupted by other companies that will
Did you know that Amazon invested 100 times more into customer experience than on advertising their first year? It’s clear that a happy customer is good for your business. A study recently made by Forrester shows that companies investing in the user experience see a lower cost of customer acquisition, increased customer retention and increased market share.
So why should top management prioritize customer experience?
The more accurate question you need to ask yourself is rather; why shouldn’t top management prioritize customer experience? In a survey from Gartner, it shows that within two years, 81% of the companies expect to be competing mostly, or completely, on the basis of CX. Perceived customer experience is quickly becoming a brand’s most important competitive advantage, and you are not only competing within your own industry. If your customers are receiving outstanding experiences from Amazon and other companies, why should they settle for less with you? Their expectation level is already so high that you soon risk losing your business to a disruptive company.
Today the battle of consumers attention is fierce and the stakes are too high to get away with delivering a mediocre experience. Every interaction contributes to the overall perception of your company, which is why customer experience needs to be prioritised when creating your strategy.
5 keys to turn your CX strategy to a competitive advantage:
- Evaluate the entire customer journey.
- Assess which departments interact with your customers and how.
- Involve your key leaders and build a culture based on putting people first.
- Get to know your customers. To deliver smooth experiences you need to predict customers’ behaviour.
- Be relevant in customer interactions! Creating a dialogue with your customers on their terms is everything.
Uber and Google are all great examples of companies who used customer experience as a competitive advantage. Even better, by improving their customer experience, they created a business of a product that actually already existed. Google was not the first search engine but they made it easy to find most relevant information. Uber improved CX by simplifying the process of ordering a taxi. Instead of hailing a ride on the freezing streets it could easily be done through an app in a warm and comfortable home.
”We start with what the customer needs and we work backwards”
– Jeff Bezoz, CEO, Amazon.
It is all about the customer. By prioritising customer experience and creating a competitive CX strategy, you could possibly be the new success story around the corner. Top management just needs to get their priority straight.
