The customer experience, or Customer Experience (CX), has been increasingly prioritized by businesses from all sectors. Proof of this is the Brazilian Customer Experience survey, developed in 2019, which shows that 49% of companies increased their investments in customer service and relationship management.
Among the main reasons for this is the change in consumer behavior, which today is not just looking for a quality product or service, but rather a complete and satisfying experience at all points of contact with a brand. At the same time, the competition has been investing in the most diverse methods to provoke a positive perception in potential customers, whether in relation to face-to-face or online relationships.
This makes it even more essential that organizations are aware of the way they are interacting with the public and work to continuously optimize this process, in order to be able to stand out in a highly competitive scenario.
Sumário
Why has Customer Experience become a trend?
As mentioned, the change in the consumer profile was one of the main drivers for prioritizing CX in companies. In turn, the digital transformation has boosted new habits, based on information, connection and relationships.
For example, before the existence of social networks and complaint sites, customers of a brand could only make negative ratings about it by phone or in person. Nowadays, it is possible to access different service channels offered by organizations, as well as go through the entire purchase journey in an easy way and without leaving home.
In fact, the path taken by the customer until the completion of a business today involves several paths, which include search engines, e-mails, advertisements on external sites, filling out forms on landing pages, among others. In other words, it is no longer a linear path as it was a few years ago, which was limited to face-to-face contacts and call center services.
In this context, companies that offer memorable experiences to consumers at all points of contact and stages of the funnel are those that understand that the Customer Experience must be a priority in all actions developed.
This not only ensures customer satisfactionbut also raises their level of loyalty to the company. In practice, this means loyalty and recommendation of products and services offered to other people, generating new chances for relationships, sales and profitability.
How to create a CX strategy in practice?
Implementing a customer-oriented organizational culture involves a change that impacts the entire structure of a company and its teams. In other words, this is not something sporadic, but a strategy that must be built through different processes. Among the main ones are:
Planning
The first step for a business that intends to adopt the concept of customer experience in its operation is to plan how this will be done in practice. This involves an internal survey of current processes and the creation of a set of instructions that act as guiding principles for the teams.
In addition, it is essential to analyze the customer journey and its different phases, in order to build an action plan based on the behavior of the public, their needs and the way they relate to the brand.
Meet the customer
In addition to making a strategic plan based on how potential and current customers relate to the brand, it is necessary to know their characteristics, pains and needs so that Customer Experience strategies are really efficient.
With the digital transformation, several ways of carrying out this study emerged, which involves the use of CRM tools, the study of interactions in different channels, the development of satisfaction surveys, among others.
Today, it is possible to access data on the public, previously unthinkable by companies, which guide the creation of actions that are increasingly efficient and consistent with what the public expects.
Create emotional connection
The consumer’s emotions during the shopping journey are what induce them to complete a purchase or give up on it. Therefore, it is essential to understand the customer’s journey from their perspective, in order to detect the moments when they feel satisfied, indecisive or uncomfortable, for example.
Thus, it is possible to work continuously to highlight the positive points and establish a healthy and promising connection for both sides.
These are just some of the key factors for a quality Customer Experience strategy. However, new technologies and innovations emerge quickly, and it takes dedication and commitment to keep up with market movements, consumer behavior and competition.
How to optimize the customer experience?
In addition to the aforementioned practices, in order to put into practice the prioritization of the customer experience in the company, a tip is to use three pillars: effort (effort), emotional (emotion) and success (success). See what each of them means:
- Effort: concerns the minimization of customer efforts throughout the interaction process with the company, involving aspects such as agility, transparency and simplicity;
- Emotional: putting the customer first, making them feel valued and listened to;
- Success: pillar of CX that is focused on doing everything for the customer to have their goals met during all interactions with a brand.
Case Slack
To make it clearer how the customer experience can optimize company results, let’s take the example of Slack: founded in 2009, the company, which launched its corporate communication platform in 2014, has always had a philosophy of humanization in service.
So its purpose is that every customer deserves to have a conversation with someone real. As a result, it invested in support systems that were integrated into the platform, facilitating interactions. In addition, in 2017 the platform received live chat and support via email 24 hours a day.
As a result, the company currently has a monthly average of 25,000 tickets, 6 million active users per day, a 100% service CSAT and an optimized response time of up to one hour. In practice, these numbers mean loyalty, sales and increased profits.
Customers’ expectations regarding the service of their preferred brands are greater every day. Therefore, adopting a Customer Experience strategy is more than an option. Trata-se de uma questão de sobrevivência em um mercado mutável, concorrido e cada vez mais exigente.
Has your company invested in customer experience?
Now that you know why customer experience has become so important in companies, we’d like to know: has your company been looking at CX? How about more tips on this subject? Keep browsing our blog and check it out!
