The Ledger No. 23: Customer Experience

Welcome to The Ledger where we sum up the latest finance and accounting news and trends for you. On this week’s entry, we’re diving into the topic of customer experience and how customer experience should be at the forefront of every company’s business evolution strategy. Read on to learn why customer experience will matter in this new year, the role of customer experience in driving business results, how customer experience makes a difference and how to improve your customer experience.

Why Customer Experience Will Matter In the New Year

The world is changing rapidly; businesses are changing radically. What worked two years ago, won’t work now. In fact, the pandemic completely altered the way companies conducted their day-to-day operations as well as their business strategies. Furthermore, having a good customer experience is not enough to survive in today’s economy. And with customer experience mattering more than ever before, organizations need to shift their focus to reflect a customer-first approach. If we’ve learned anything from the past year or two, its that digitalization has become the norm for both consumers and brands.

Recent research showed that there is no one preferred channel for brand communication. Not surprisingly, the same research found that almost a third of consumers will not spend with a business that provided a poor service during lockdown again. The only way for businesses to rise to the occasion is by harnessing technology – brands need to be able to monitor the customer journey from start to finish. The aftermath of 2020 has left companies scrambling to stay relevant in a market where customers have the upper hand, and businesses need to realize the value of investing in customer experience.

To explore why customer experience matters for next year, read the full article on TheDrum.com.

The Role of Customer Care in Driving Business Results

The evolution of customer experience has become a buzz phrase these past couple of years. And thanks to the pandemic, great customer experience has become a necessity to stay competitive in today’s market. Research conducted by Watermark Consulting showed a common theme – a great customer experience helps build business value, while a poor one erodes it. Jon Picoult, founder of Watermark Consulting, touches on this topic, “Over the long-term, beloved businesses are seeing returns that average 3.4 times greater than their less customer-centric competitors.” Picoult also emphasizes that customer loyalty isn’t a coincidence – “The businesses that do well do it with great intentionality – relying on proven techniques to infuse their customer experience with simplicity, advocacy, emotional resonance, and other appealing qualities.”

To learn more about the results of this study and to understand why customer experience can increase a business’s bottom line, head over to prnewswire.com to read the full article.

How Customer Experience Makes a Difference

We’ve known for a while that fostering a customer-centric business strategy drives new growth opportunities and retains current customers. But now we have the data to back up the claim. This past year has seen survey after survey, report after report assert the same thing – customer experience is a worthwhile investment. Zendesk and Enterprise Strategy Group released the results of a survey that gauged more than 3,000 executives and the results are conclusive – companies who made substantial investments in their CX over the past year are found to be more resilient in growing their customer base. But what defines a business as a CX leader? Here are a few characteristics found in the survey:

• “Service teams get the appropriate amount of training to do their jobs.”

• "The organization maintains staffing levels to ensure teams are rarely or never overwhelmed.”

• "The organization effectively uses learnings from service interactions to evolve business processes.”

To explore how more and more companies are pivoting towards a better customer experience approach, read the full article on Forbes.com.

Improving Your Customer Service With These Top Strategies

Customers are the foundation for a business. If they’ve had a bad experience with your company, your brand’s reputation could be in jeopardy. Adopting a superior and successful customer experience approach begins with these strategies:

• Experience it for yourself. Ask yourself, ‘Would I buy this product or service from this company?’ or ‘Was my experience simple and without roadblocks?’ Once you answer these questions, take action (whether yes or no).

• Treat customers like celebrities. We all know celebrities are celebrated and gushed over in ways average people will never understand. However, instilling this approach with your customers is an effective way to build rapport and gain lifelong customers in the process.

• Make sure to listen. If you want to know how well your company is performing (and we mean really performing), ask your customers.

• Go digital. Chances are, your customers prefer to have a digital experience – whether that’s online shopping, mobile banking, etc.

• Thank them for their business. Like we previously mentioned, your customers are the cornerstone of your business. By thanking them, you’re telling them that you appreciate their loyalty when they could have gone somewhere else.

… and more.

To see what the other strategies are, more on the customer experience evolution, and to discover how to implement an effortless customer care approach, take a look at the full article on NewsWeek.com.