Why Customer Experience Matters

An intro on customer experience and it's importance

Experience shapes how we think and also shapes our perception of events and life. First bike, first car, first job, first kiss, and even first love; Good or bad, the experience stays with us and the same applies to customer experience. Customer experience and customer support are two terms that are used loosely and interchangeably, they do have different meanings albeit a common goal, the success of the business.

Customer experience is a sum of the conscious and unconscious perception that a customer has towards a brand and this is shaped by their interaction with the brand. It is more than just rendering help or support to the customer. Customer experience encompasses the whole journey of the customer with your brand right from the point of initial contact to their interaction with your products, services, staff, sale, and after-sales interaction. The concept of customer experience is more encompassing. This goes as far as you being able to harness data to create a personal experience for each customer. Efforts like this are what converts them from being just customers to “loyal customers”.

The success of any business is deeply linked with customer experience as this determines whether or not the customer is going to come back or refer people to your business. Creating an amazing customer experience for each customer requires in-depth knowledge of the “Ws” from every member of the team. These are the “What”, “Who” and “Why”. What are you building? Who are you building for? Why are you building this?

We mentioned that customer experience is the heart of any business and the factors that determine customer services can be directly or indirectly influenced by the brand. While you can make inferences on customer behavior from available data, you should not neglect the importance of speaking to actual customers. Take out time to ask questions and find out the specific needs of the customers instead of always trying to assume.

One of the goals of good customer experience is making sure customers’ journey with your brand from start to finish ignites loyalty. No step in this journey is less important than the other.

Here’s how to make it happen:

● Create a brand that caters to the needs and wants of your customers.
● Ensure that your customers’ experience with your brand is consistent across all platforms.
● Treat every single piece of data about your customers like it's gold because it is!
● Take your customers’ feedback seriously, review and then implement and modify where necessary.
● Personalize each customer's experience. Remember, you will not always get a second opportunity to create a first impression so give them a great first impression they will all remember.

Welcome to Customer Experience the CXpert way!