It’s possible to pack a whole lot of meaning into two simple words. While “customer experience” means exactly what it says, it has multiple implications for your business and its wellbeing, and should be managed carefully. If that sounds like a tall order, do remember that tech tools are there to help you. ServiceNow Customer Experience is a good example of this.
In this article, we’ll provide you with a brief introduction to a topic on which entire books have been written. Use it to gain an understanding of the factors that contribute to customer experience and its management.
Customer Journeys Shape Customer Experience
Where do customer journeys begin and end? You may be surprised to find that they start as soon as people become aware of the existence of your company. As for their ending, that only occurs when they stop using your product and no longer support your business.
Customer experience follows this timeline, and your aim in managing it is to ensure that the entire experience is positive. Niggles like difficulty at the checkout are enough to run a sterling track record, so every little detail matters.
To understand customer experience, track the journey your customers follow from discovery onward, evaluating every detail of what they experience.
Why Great Customer Experiences are Like Money in the Bank
One of the most important things to remember when managing customer experiences is that getting it right isn’t just a matter of pleasing customers – it’s an investment that puts money in your pocket. Here’s why.
The first benefit comes when you make a sale. To do so, your customer has to feel happy with everything they’ve experienced so far, but that’s not where the benefits end. A very satisfied customer will recommend your business to others, and that brings you even more customers. Besides that, your happy customer will remember you when it’s time to replace what they bought or when they want to buy something similar.
Getting new customers is time-consuming and expensive. Simply consider the time and cost involved in executing a simple social media marketing strategy. So, once you have them, it makes sense to keep clients and to ensure that they become advocates for your business. In a nutshell, positive customer experiences help you with customer retention and the acquisition of new customers. If your new customers also have a positive experience, the results can be exponential.
What Customers Want for a Positive Experience
Let’s use a simple example to understand some of the factors that shape customer experience. Have you ever discovered a product and felt excited about the find? You haven’t even dealt with the company yet, but already, it has positive associations for you. The marketing message and the promises implied in it resonate with you! Once you know about the product and are eager to get it, you begin to interact with the business. You want it to be easy to find and get what you want, and if you have questions, you want prompt and accurate answers.
Having selected and paid for a product or service, it is then “delivered” or handed over to you. This process should be easy too. Now for the acid test: you use the product. You want it to achieve the promised results, and once again, you don’t want to struggle in order to get the benefits it confers. If you do experience some kind of hitch, you want efficient and helpful support to get you on track.
Finally, you expect what you purchased to be useful over a certain period of time, and if you’re happy with everything up to the end of that time, you’re likely to support the same brand again since it saves you having to search for alternatives that may not be as satisfying.
Do You Really Know How Customers Experience Your Business?
Most businesspeople think they know their customers and understand their experiences, but do they really? Can you improve the customer experience in your business? You can try to evaluate it for yourself, but finding out from the customers themselves is the best way to know for sure!
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