Your business will benefit from placing customer experience at the forefront of its business goals both internally and externally. It is important to take an integrated approach to customer experience management (CEM) by implementing an omni-channel application platform that keeps every piece of information your team needs to provide outstanding service available in a single place.
Despite knowing that attracting new customers is five times more expensive than retaining existing customers, business leaders may not know how to guarantee a positive experience for their buyers.
Many sales and marketing professionals prioritize building lead generation programs, creating demand for new target markets and buyers, and increasing website traffic in order to achieve these goals. When executives and business professionals discuss annual business plans, retention strategies and ways to grow existing relationships are usually absent.
In spite of the rise of SaaS-based offerings and the competition of e-commerce sales, however, businesses should not disregard the importance of retaining previous and existing customers. Customer experience management tactics can increase brand loyalty and profitability, so it’s important to explore the advantages of these tactics.
It is not just about how customers react to a brand or the actions a company takes; it is also about how the customer feels when interacting with it. Whenever a customer visits a company’s website, calls customer service, or sees an online advertisement, their perception of the brand changes — hopefully for the better. The best way for companies to manage that is to identify customer experience metrics and to implement customer experience management plans with an increase in customer loyalty.
Investing in customer experience management offers a tangible return of investment (ROI) for customer experience (CX) leaders when assessing which areas of the business to invest in.
Let’s consider some of the benefits of implementing a customer experience management program –
A Higher Lifetime Value for the Customer
It is the amount of money a customer spends with a business over a lifetime on its products or services. Customer experience management allows brands to determine how much investment to make in retaining customers versus acquiring new ones, but the real benefit comes from ensuring that number increases.
Customer loyalty to a brand is reflected in repeat business. It also emphasizes a company’s product quality and is most likely influenced by a person’s various interactions with the company. In order to increase customer conversions, businesses implement rewards programs, communicate with customers frequently, and invest in customer service and support. The higher the profits, the more money a customer spends.
Lower Customer Churn
Reduced churn or customer turnover is likely to benefit businesses that benefit from a customer experience management program that increases customer lifetime value. Keeping customers happy is more expensive than acquiring new ones, so businesses will benefit from longer engagement by putting resources toward customer satisfaction.
A brand can stay at the top of a customer’s mind by providing regular touchpoints like periodic phone calls, email updates, or sales and events that express appreciation. Customers who have experienced attentive customer service throughout the years are more likely to make an informed decision when it comes time to make another purchase or renew a contract.
Enhances Brand Equity
A brand’s equity is a marketing term that indicates its perceived value among consumers. In contrast, brand equity is more associated with the emotion consumers experience when they think of a brand. Building positive brand equity requires delivering on promises, providing high-quality products and services, and responding effectively. Negative brand equity can be created by under-delivery, disappointing interactions, and public statements to avoid the brand.
Brand equity is a key determinant of brand loyalty. Customer reviews, peer referrals, and loyalty programs are all ways customers can share their positive experiences. Positive brand equity and the prevention of negative reviews are both possible through a customer experience management program.
Loyalty Among Customers is Higher
When a brand is strong and churn is low, customers will remain loyal. Customers’ loyalty is closely linked to retention. Customer loyalty is crucial for a company, even if a customer buys from them only once every few years. Positive perceptions are strengthened by companies that resolve customer issues promptly, reward loyal customers, stay in continuous contact with their customers, and praise their efforts. In addition to increasing revenue, customer retention can boost ROI and increase the value of the initial conversion.
Resolves Crisis Management
Businesses may end in some unwanted crisis; customers will be having negative impressions of that particular brand. It can cause bad publicity, product recalls, and a lack of providing customer service requests. But businesses can still be aware of these potential crises and can be prepared with the implementation of effective customer experience management (CEM) programs.
It is in the nature of the customers to have more association with the brand on the basis of constant customer service which leads to trust in the brand. CEM programs protect businesses from customer fallouts and inconsistency among the customer journeys. Businesses who understand their shortcoming and try to work and improve their customer service will have more chances to sustain their position in the market.
Lower Service and Marketing Costs
When businesses use a customer-centric marketing approach, they eliminate a lot of the guesswork associated with what customers want. Customer experience management necessitates CX teams viewing customers through their own eyes, determining what products they purchased and what they will purchase next, learning lessons from the sales process, and understanding why customers are reaching out. Teams can use this data to be more proactive and potentially anticipate customer needs.
Improved Customer Interaction
An omnichannel approach to customer engagement is required for a successful customer experience management program. Customers interact in a variety of ways, so CX teams should figure out where they interact the most, whether it’s through social media, email, or phone. Companies should check in frequently, understand needs, and reward loyalty to be responsive and proactive. Customers will interact with you again as a result of this.
