Customer Experience Management: 5 Tips to Strengthen Customer Loyalty

According to a 2014 American Express study, more than half of consumers abandon an ongoing purchase due to a bad experience. These disappointed consumers are then twice as likely as their satisfied counterparts to spread the word.

In short, you can lose up to 50% of potential buyers if your services are insufficient or unsuitable. This, depending on the number of potential buyers, can project a very negative image of your company.

To avoid such a scenario, learn to control the shopping experience you deliver. By having a hand in what the customer experiences in your store or on your website – their emotions, thoughts, and needs – you will increase your chances of selling to them and retaining them.

1. Know your target customer, understand their needs and desires:

“How does your target customer perceive the shopping experience?” means: put yourself in your customer’s shoes. They are able to describe all the steps they go through before purchasing, as well as the specific needs of each step. This is why the relationship you have with the customer is crucial: you must gather as much feedback as possible from them and be able to transform their responses into strategy.

Therefore, first and foremost, you need to create the shopping experience for your product. Then, ensure that the customer wants to stay in the purchasing process and moves from one step to the next. To create an effective shopping experience, you need to know your different customers: establish “buyer personas” or customer profiles. Don’t forget that a buyer persona, although as complete as possible, is limited to a typical profile. It primarily serves in the prospecting and lead conversion phase: it’s the key to offering a personalized experience.

As Paul Greenberg relayed on this site, it’s not about exceeding customer expectations, which are largely built by you and your communication; so there’s no need to create overly high expectations. The principle of “Customer Experience Management” is to meet customer needs and satisfy them, not to constantly amaze them. It is more about acting as a consultant or expert in your field to be able to bring the most added value possible to your customer. This also has the benefit of creating a lasting relationship of trust between you and your customers, with a view to loyalty.

2. Facilitate the customer’s purchasing process:

Your goal is to make the purchasing process smooth and engaging.
It is imperative that the steps of the purchasing process are clear, structured, and intuitive. Nowadays, the two prevailing factors for consumers are contact and ergonomics.

In practice, it’s about listening, finding a solution, and implementing it. Based on these three principles, you will be able to improve the customer experience: you can form a team with them to solve their problem and address their challenges. They will then be more inclined to consider you an ally and purchase your product.

Indeed, according to Accenture, here are the top 3 consumer frustrations you can avoid:

• Not resolving a problem quickly
• Being put on hold for too long
• Interacting or being connected with support that cannot provide a solution (think of phone operators)

3. Guide the customer throughout the purchasing process:

Be present where the customer seeks information:
Indeed, the purchasing process consists of steps, the number of which differs depending on the product or sector.

For e-commerce, the steps can be very short and few, whereas for B2B services, such as CRM software for example, the steps can range from 25 to 30. The first step for you is to know your market, your customer, and above all, to be present on the different sales channels. The diagram below offers a global model of the different stages of the purchasing process, where you must be present, each time with specific and adapted content.

Multichannel is now a priority if you want to generate as many leads as possible – for an obviously higher conversion rate.

4. Personalize the consumer’s shopping experience:

Providing appropriate information to each customer is key to personalizing the shopping experience. Each stage of the purchasing process involves different customer expectations. Therefore, the content must be adapted to the stage and the customer to continue to pique their interest and grow their need. It is truly about guiding them in discovering and exploring their desires.

It is also important to understand that the buyer may not complete the purchasing process – or may buy from one of your competitors. This does not mean they didn’t have a shopping experience with you, but rather that it wasn’t strong or suitable enough; hence the importance of analyzing and optimizing the shopping experience you can offer, maintaining a dialogue with the customer, and especially gathering their feedback.

How to bring the customer where you want them to be, how to offer a suitable and effective shopping experience for each type of customer? Thanks to marketing automation. You must be able not only to gather enough information about your customers but also, and especially, to analyze it. The irony of this answer: to deliver a personalized shopping experience, you need to automate your marketing tools!

To measure the effectiveness of such a strategy, you just need to analyze the number of leads generated and their qualification: if the trends are increasing, it means you have effectively targeted your content based on your customers’ profiles and expectations.

5. Feedback and loyalty:

Keep in mind that acquiring a new customer costs 6 to 7 times more than retaining an existing one.

With this figure in mind, you must not neglect the post-purchase stage. This is the major challenge for businesses today and tomorrow. The consumer is an unfaithful customer: do not underestimate their ability to “switch allegiance”. They have the power of information, and the power of competition.

How, under these conditions, can you effectively manage a customer base?
Human connection is the first answer. Indeed, more and more companies are developing much deeper and more extensive relationships with their customers. In addition to delivering a product or service, they provide advice, expertise, and regular support. This is what gives significant added value to their activity and notably allows refocusing the transaction on a human and relational aspect. It is also the ideal opportunity to gather feedback on your activities, which allows you to adapt them to your customers. You thus build the use of your product or service together.

This is also what Steve Cannon, President of Mercedes-Benz USA, understood well when he said “Customer experience is the new marketing tool”.

Customer experience management is a true science that gives both parties involved in business the opportunity to grow together.

It’s the science of turning your existing customers into brand advocates. Are you already a brand advocate? Perhaps without even knowing it? Well, you are in the position you want your customers to be in.

At Incenteev, we are proud to support our clients in managing and energizing their sales forces.