In a recent survey conducted by Super Office, a total of 1,920 professionals were asked what their top business priority was for the next five years.
While 21% answered ‘pricing’, and 34% answered ‘product’, the most popular answer by far was ‘customer experience’ (also known as CX), which 46% of respondents listed as their top business priority for the foreseeable future.
To see CX overtake pricing and product as a long-term business focus is significant.
But there are still thousands of other organisations who are behind the curve, and yet to realise the importance of customer experience.
Even more are yet to be investing as much time, energy and focus into customer experience strategy as they should be in order to set themselves up for success in the long run.
Whether you are unsure what customer experience is, or why CX strategy should matter to you, read on for the answer to your questions.
What does customer experience mean?
Customer experience refers to a customer’s overall perception of a company or brand – it spans all the interactions a customer has with a company over the course of their relationship, and beyond – from what they may have heard about your business before interacting with you, to all the points of contact leading up to a purchase, and those that follow as a long-term customer.
So, to prioritise your customer experience strategy means working to ensure your operations are geared around positively influencing how customers perceive you, and of course, the ongoing experience they have when they interact with your business.
The benefits of focusing on customer experience strategy
Focusing your resources on customer experience strategy is a sure way to future-proof your business.
When executed well, customer experience will make a direct and positive impact on customer satisfaction, customer retention and customer loyalty , and above all, profit.
And the data supporting these points is very hard to argue against.
Businesses that focus their resources and efforts on strategic customer experience improvement are proving themselves time and again to be more profitable and successful than their competitors, with happier customers that come back to them for more.
Here are just a few facts and figures to show you the power of customer experience strategy, and why more businesses would do well to prioritise it...
CX makes you more profitable
Data from Deloitte and Touche suggests that companies with a more customer-centric model are 60% more profitable than their competitors.
Other research from Deloitte also found that a high-calibre customer experience can lower the cost of serving your customers by up to 33%.
CX expands your reach
According to Drift, 23% of customers who have a positive brand experience will tell at least 10 other people about it, and 92% of consumers are more likely to believe suggestions from friends and family than ads.
Happy customers are loyal customers
Research from Gartner found that more than 66% of customer loyalty is driven by strategic customer experience efforts, outperforming the impact of brand and price put together!
Existing customers also present highly cost-effective returns from cross-selling and upselling opportunities.
According to Super Office, the sales success rate for existing customers is between 60-70%, compared to just 5-20% for new customers and prospects.
Why the right technology is key to nailing your CX strategy
CX strategy is all about effectively positioning your business, so that as much of your activities and resources are geared towards delivering to (or even exceeding) the expectations of your customers.
An optimised customer experience strategy is built on a detailed knowledge of customers and should aim to make their experience with you as swift, smooth and seamless as possible.
Ideally, they should also be able to interact with you on their preferred platform or channel of communication, whether that’s a web chat function, on the phone, or via social media.
Taking your CX to this high level of modern customer expectation requires you to have the right systems and technology in place.
How contact centre software can boost your customer experience strategy
Contact centre software can empower organisations and busy customer service teams to strategically enhance their customer experience.
The right system will allow your business to:
- Manage higher workloads and call volumes
- Deliver a higher level of service more consistently and efficiently
- Provide a smooth and seamless experience that is tailored to suit the individual preferences of your customers.
Ncontactcenter from NFON, is a flexible, feature-rich contact centre solution that empowers your team to do all of the above and more.
