The digital marketplace brings the world closer together. In many ways, this is a good thing, as horizons expand and ideas are shared, mutual understanding flourishes. At the same time, this nearness makes standing out from your competitors more important than ever. Your options to differentiate yourself from the competition may seem nearly as limitless as the online world, itself. However, the vast majority of creative ways to woo customers are as readily available to your competitors as they are to you. You are likely wondering what you can do to set yourself apart from the rest of the pack so that you gain and retain customers. The short answer is by giving them something no one else can or will. We are referring to amazing customer experience.  

What is the Customer Experience?

The Customer Experience (CX) is the accumulation of a customer’s opinions and feelings about all of their interactions with your company and your brand. This includes face to face communications, as well as telephone, email, texts, chats, and automated exchanges:

• Customer service representatives
• Delivery people
• Office staff
• Automated customer interfaces
• Goods and services, you provide

 

How is the Customer Experience Different From Customer Service?

On the surface, CX and customer service sound like different terms for the same exchange. However, customer service is one of many components of the overall CX. Customer service tends to be more reactive than proactive. Overall a good amount of time spent engaging in customer service involves problem resolution. Customer service also takes on transactions with a customer on an individual basis. CX is the sum of all dealings with a customer, including customer service.  

Why is It So Vital to My Business?

Like many of the changes that technology brings to the business world, it is easy to underestimate the importance of CX. Here are some eye-opening statistics that should highlight how important excellent CX is to your company.  

The Arena of Competition is Changing, Quickly

While many strategies for business success will remain tried and true, as ever, several important factors are new.    

• 88% of businesses stress the fact that CX is of primary importance to their customer contact staff
• 62% of companies routinely invest in improving or maintaining their CX
• Nearly 70% of businesses feel they compete on the basis of CX this contrasts the 2010 report that showed 36% of organisations felt CX to be their main area of competition

 

Mobile Experiences Are a Key to Positive Customer Experiences

The growth of mobile searches is a well-documented game changer. It is also a huge factor in the CX of businesses. These stats call attention to the importance of giving your customers an excellent mobile experience.

• 52% of all online business transactions come from mobile
• 84% of businesses who refer to themselves as customer-centric focus on mobile
• If a webpage does not have a good mobile site, 50% of visitors will not return
• 57% of customers will not recommend a business with a mobile page that functions poorly

   

Frustrations Because of Poor Webpage Service Often Results in Customer Churn

One vital fact about this point business owners must not underestimate is that in this instance, the poor service that causes customer churn can happen one time in ten visits and still drive the customer away. That highlights the fact that every interaction every time needs to be as close to flawless as humanly possible. Here are a few statistics regarding customer churn:

• 92% of consumers report leaving a brand or company they love after two or three bad experiences
• One-third of customers will walk away from a favourite brand after a single bad experience
• An unhappy customer usually tells approximately 15 other people. A happy customer shares the experience with around six people.

 

What Frustrates or Annoys My Customers?

The high customer churn statistics beg the question, what will drive my clients away? The answer is surprisingly simple. Think about your last negative online experience. The things that annoyed you will create the same reaction from your customers. Here are a few of the top customer frustrations:

• Difficult or time-consuming checkout processes
• Finding themselves on irrelevant landing pages
• Cluttered web pages that make navigation difficult
• Ads, especially large ads, or ads that are difficult to dismiss
• Customer service associates who do not provide help

   

Should I Go All Out to Find New Customers for My Improved Customer Experience?

While finding new customers is always essential to any business, retaining existing customers is massively important and often overlooked. Keeping your clients for the long-term is a smart way of doing business, and in our digital age, it is a great deal more challenging to achieve. Existing customers provide firms with an attribute known as Customer Lifetime Value or LTV. A customer’s LTV matters for several reasons, including:

1. Customer LTV is an accurate analytics measure. This is because seasonal purchasing or one-time special deals do not cause much change in long-term metrics. LTV illuminates all aspects of your business. For a small to a medium-sized e-commerce store, this information is priceless.
2. LTV equals higher profits for your business. When you get the attention of a new customer, the chance of selling to them is between 5% and 20%. However, you have a 60% to 70% chance of selling to an existent customer.
3. Focus on customer retention. Creating a business environment that encourages customer retention is easier and more cost-effective than starting from scratch.

 

How Can I Make My Company’s Customer Experience Better?

There are a number of long-term and short-term ways to improve your CX. Here are several that you can work on implementing.

Communication Improvements

Customers prefer a simple, streamlined route of communication. Make sure to follow up with your customers and avoid any short cuts that may mar the experience. Implementing email autoresponders on your website is a great way to improve this, and you can set them up in a matter of minutes. Brad shows you how to do this in the following video:

Satisfy Customer’s Needs

Determining customer needs is often dubbed an elusive endeavour. One of the most effective ways to find out what your customer needs or what they thought of their experience is by asking for feedback.  

Put Artificial Intelligence to Work for You

As e-commerce shrinks the world, the business day is 24/7. Employing effective AI can help lighten the load of individual employees while keeping you in touch with customers whenever they need your assistance.  

Don’t Ignore CX Any Longer

The ever-expanding importance of the customer experience is a fact that your company cannot afford to ignore. If optimising your CX sounds daunting, consider employing professionals who are skilled to help set you on the proper track.   About the author: Based in Perth, Digital Hitmen is a leading Australian digital marketing agency whose mission is to provide brands with impeccable digital execution and guaranteed results. Our team of experts will expand your brand’s digital footprint, increase traffic, and convert that traffic into sales. We work tirelessly to remain the most innovative and results driven digital marketing agency in Australia.