Customer experience, or commonly known as CX, is the customer’s overall sentiment of every interaction they have with a certain company. This evaluation runs parallel to the inbound marketing approach, beginning with the first point of contact with the customer and ending with the designated feedback outlets.
A positive customer experience can be the catalyst for a loyal customer base. On the other hand, a negative experience can influence potential prospects even before they interact with the company. The solution should not be solving tricky customer situations but it should be creating a long-term game plan for problems that may occur down the road.
If you want to build a better experience for your customers, here are some of the tips you can put into work to get started.
1. Illustrate the Customer Journey
Before implementing an initiative, it is wise to create a strong game plan. This means creating a customer journey map as a starting point.
A customer journey map is an outline of every step your customers go through when they interact with the company. It includes engagements that extend beyond purchasing the product, like social media engagements, online advertising, and case studies.
When creating your map, make sure to consider a range of perspectives from your internal stakeholders. It is also essential to account for both the pre-and post-sale aspects of the customer experience. You need to remember that post-sale is equally vital to building a complete customer experience and should not be neglected.
2. Equip and Uplift Your Employees
Customer experience also includes the people whom they interact with during their buyer journey. If the employees think that they don’t have the necessary tools to do their job efficiently, or feel underappreciated, it can affect their ability to perform.
Identify common employee pain points through employee feedback tools and set realistic goals for them. Continuously evaluate if your upper management, managers, and employees understand the values and tone expected of the company culture, and most importantly, adhere to it for each customer.
3. Personalize Interactions with Customers
Personalizing experiences for your customer can help you create a bond between your brand and your buyer. You can do this by providing vouchers to the customer after their first purchase, to make them loyal over your competitors.
Although giving discounts may be an effective tool, it doesn’t have to be just a discount. You can insert thank you letters or emails to customers after a purchase, follow-up customers with feedback forms or surveys, or create a dynamic website that creates offers based on user preference.
Bottom line, you need to make the customer feel valued even after the sale is made because it can be a great way to boost the overall customer experience. Word-of-mouth is still one of the best marketing strategies out there, and you should take advantage of it.