Secure Your Brand's Future By Investing In Customer Experience Companies delivering quality customer experiences are rewarded in the long-term.

Customers are often considered the heart and soul of a business. It is crucial to business growth that you make every effort to ensure customers remain committed to your business

Good customer experience means good business

In a report by Watermark Consulting on Customer Experience ROI in 2015, it showed that over an eight year period, companies that excelled in customer experience bypassed the laggards by 80% in terms of market value. Thus, painting a colourful picture for the value of customer experience: companies delivering quality customer experiences are rewarded in the long-term.

Leveraging the power of customer experience

A strong customer experience can help you reduce customer acquisition costs by allowing you to focus on existing customers to keep them happy and increase share-of-wallet while at the same time helping you acquire new customers.

One of the most effective ways to display your customer experience is through customer referrals. But your customer experience must make your existing customers want to refer you. One simple way to achieve this is by encouraging customer referrals through an easy, engaging and fun experience. According to the American Express's 2014 Global Customer Service Barometer survey, happy customers tell nine people about their experience.

Companies succeeding at customer experience also gain referrals through Word of Mouth, as family and friends encourage one another to try new things. According to the same American Express report, Word of Mouth surpasses all other mediums such as sales/marketing materials, reviews and advertisements in driving customers to try a new product or service.

Harvard Business Review's research titled "The Value of Customer Experience, Quantified" summarizes that customers who had good customer experiences spend 140% more compared to customers who had poor customer experiences.

But of course, there are challenges that exist preventing companies from achieving this level of customer experience, thus limiting the benefit customer referrals can bring to their business.

The challenge

Companies must lay focus on enhancing customer experience with commitment from management. Yet, many organizations still don't see customer experience as critical to the core business. To put focus on customer experience consider starting with these five pointers to prove its value, get buy in from your management team and put customer experience at the top of the priority list:

• Trace your customer journey to get an integrated customer view across all touch points. This understanding is crucial as it provides a baseline to work from.
• Conduct a data audit for insights; learn about the likes and dislikes of your customers. Data drives personalization. Use the power of data to really know your customer.
• Devise a personalization strategy. Achieving this requires technology and services – they go hand in hand.
• Listen to what the customer has to say via new and advanced channels. Customers are looking to build relationships with brands beyond the transaction.
• Make utmost use of your website. There are multiple touch points for consumer interaction however, the website serves as a 24/7 storefront. A positive experience on the website can have a lasting effect.

The time is now. Companies must make a conscious effort to enhance customer experience. Customers now expect more from brands, and non-action is a risky business. The added advantage for companies is that there is an abundance of data, technology and proven methodologies that will enable you to achieve customer experience goals.