If you really want to stay ahead of competitors, creating an incredible customer experience (CX) is crucial. It’s important to note this is different from providing good customer service.
While that is also important, CX is defined by interactions between the consumer and company throughout the entire business relationship. This requires you to invest in their journey — from the second they see your logo or hear your name to the weeks or years after making a purchase.
Here are just a few ways you can create a better customer experience.
1. Map out the customer journey
Before embarking on a company-wide initiative to improve customer experience, you must first create a feasible plan. One way to do this is by illustrating each step a customer takes interacting with your company. This may include social media engagement, online advertising, how often they visit your website, or communications with customer service.
When building your map, it is important to consider both pre- and post-sale aspects of the customer experience. It may be tempting to solely focus on one or the other, but both are essential. Creating a linear map of each potential interaction will help you and your digital marketing team better understand the customer’s needs and desires.
Then, you can determine which areas need improvement. With this understanding, you can tailor your campaign to better influence the consumer to make a purchase, which can result in increased sales at the end of the day.
2. Create quality content
Content marketing is quickly becoming the most effective way to build relationships with customers and increase sales. Quality content has the power to move buyers to become loyal customers along their journey. Once you understand your target audience and current customer base, you can begin creating content that is relevant to them and compelling enough to incite action.
Consider each point in the customer’s journey and figure out what information they might be searching for then. For example, if someone is just beginning to look into hiring an online marketing agency, they may want to know more about how SEO and PPC affect sales.
Therefore, you should create content that addresses these topics. Likewise, if they later decide to hire an agency, they may wonder how to pick one. You can offer insight by creating content tailored to this subject.
Creating content that resonates with the consumer builds a foundation of trust throughout their journey. By the time they are ready to make a purchase, chances are they’ll choose you because you’ve already provided a great experience.
3. Hire a stellar customer service team
Employees are key to creating a remarkable customer experience. By forming a knowledgeable, well-equipped customer service team, you make the consumer your priority — and they will definitely notice.
This also allows you to create a unified team specifically dedicated to handling feedback and customer reviews. Every stage in the journey should have a support team behind it, ready to answer any questions or concerns.
The customer service team is also extremely valuable because they receive all types of feedback, which you can then use to improve both products and services. You may even use this information to create new items better tailored to consumers’ needs. This results in both loyal customers and boosted revenue.
4. Streamline communication
Customers love a simple, straightforward experience, and your company must provide them with nothing less. The goal of every communication should be to reach the right people at the right time with the right message. Streamlining your entire communication process is the perfect way to accomplish this goal and improve the customer journey.
One way to simplify their experience could be to allow social sign-ons to your website, instead of making a user fill out an entire registration form. You might also consider surveying customers to gain insight into which types of communication work best.
For example, teenagers and young adults might prefer texts, while the older generation may rather receive only emails. Pinpoint what is working and what isn’t, removing any communication customers don’t pay attention to.
5. Give away free stuff
Who doesn’t like freebies? They make you happy, and they’re sure to do the same for customers. Consider providing free information and helpful tips or a free item to anyone using your services.
For example, Spotify recently gave all Premium users a free Google Home Mini, no strings attached. Now people can hear music with their new device, which promotes loyalty to both Spotify and Google. It may have even encouraged Spotify users who listen for free to upgrade to Premium, giving Spotify even more business.
Why Customer Experience Matters
Creating a better customer experience is paramount to your company’s success. Improving the journey results in an influx of new clients, as well as a higher retention rate. It also generates your most powerful form of advertising — word-of-mouth.
Customers who have a great experience can’t help but tell others about it, which sparks an interest in people who may never have heard of your company otherwise. This may eventually translate into increased sales. In the end, happy consumers will make yours a better company.
