2016 was a year of big change for marketers. Technologies like chat bots and virtual reality finally made their way into mainstream acceptance and made big waves in the world of marketing. While customer experience has been a hot topic for the past couple years, it looks like 2017 will be the year that most businesses start taking it seriously.
In studies, customer experience has overtaken product and price as the key differentiator to customers. More and more, consumers demand rewarding experiences that meet their needs. Regardless of what medium consumers engage with businesses, they expect a rewarding experience. Because of this, many businesses are contacting web and mobile app developers about improving their digital experiences.
On the other side of the coin, businesses that ignore customer experience will put themselves at a disadvantage when compared to competitors who prioritize it.
Successful companies are right now focusing on customer experience | Photo: Jorge Franganillo (Flikr)
Successful companies are right now focusing on customer experience. Research has found that highly engaged consumers will spend 300 percent more than less engaged consumers and savvy businesses are working to improve their level of engagement with customers.
User experience leaders are using customer data to personalize experiences. From the items a consumer browses for to their past purchases, this information can be used to make their customer experience better. Nearly 60% of marketers in the US plan on increasing their focus on customer retention and loyalty in the upcoming year, will your business be keeping up?
If you are looking to improve your businesses customer experience here are three tips to help you.
Take a customer-first approach
Improving your business’s customer experience requires that you put the customer first. You will want to stop thinking in terms of individual campaigns and start thinking in a customer-first mindset. A customer-first mindset will help you be able to align marketing, product, and service to meet your consumer’s needs.
Regardless of which touchpoint that a customer chooses to interact with your business, the experience should be seamless and focused on meeting their needs. Remember, if you are not meeting their needs they will just choose to go somewhere else. This extends beyond the user experience of your mobile app or website, you will want to change the culture of your organization and put the customer first.
Leverage data
In 2017, brands must be able to deliver contextually relevant content to consumers. No longer will consumers accept one-size-fits-all approaches to digital media. They expect you to know what they are interested in and not to waste their time promoting products or service outside of their preferences. This isn’t difficult to do with the enormous opportunities available with data these days.
You will want to know what a customer may want or need based on past behavior. It also means being able to apply intelligence to their current customer journey to help improve it. By anticipating customer needs you can improve their experience and build strong relationships with customers.
An example of this would be websites and apps that let customers know about other items they will need when making a purchase. If a customer is buying a toy for a child’s birthday, the website or app should suggest any other items that are necessary such as batteries. You can also suggest product re-orders or upgrades at the appropriate times or make product recommendations for appropriate products at just the right time.
Be forward thinking
Not only do you need to think about the customer experiences you are creating right now but you need to think about the customer experiences you will be creating in the future. Are you considering emerging technologies already? Chat bots? Artificial intelligence? Virtual reality? All of these present opportunities for businesses and can help you improve customer experiences.
