The demand for high-quality digital experiences is accelerating, fuelled by the competitive nature of the digital service industry. Potential customers will scrutinize every aspect of your website, application, and service, making their decision based on the fluidity and how intuitive the overall customer experience (CX) is.
According to a leading research and advisory firm, around 80% of business marketing leaders believe that the primary source of competition between businesses will be the overall quality of the customer experience. This represents parity in the quality of underlying services between competitors, meaning the only way to differentiate your business is through intuitive customer experiences.
What Is CX?
The customer experience (CX) envelops the entirety of all interactions made between your service and the end-user. From the first click on your website, right through to the confirmation email they receive after ordering a product—all of it comes under CX.
The following two things generally determine the quality of the CX:
User Experience (UX) – The user experience refers in part to the usability and interface design of your products. Customers want to have their needs met exactly, without jumping through hoops and experiencing difficulty along that journey. As a whole, a good UX is simple, aesthetically pleasing, and easy to navigate for users of all technical abilities.
The user experience comes under the customer experience, forming an integral part of the perceived quality of your service to end-users. While usability and aesthetics are essential, UX also covers how capable your services are in a variety of use cases.
As an example, imagine a music streaming service that has an expansive library of pop music. At the same time, it completely lacks any obscure artists that aren't in the Billboard charts. The user experience for pop music lovers will be great, but fans of other genres will feel left out and have a terrible user experience due to the lack of choice. This basic premise can be applied to any type of service, physical or digital, and illustrates the scope of UX.
Customer Service Quality – Another vital part of the customer experience is the quality of customer service. When end-users encounter problems with your service, they will quickly become frustrated if they cannot get a resolution to their issue. They need to see a level of attentiveness from you to feel valued and assured that you care about them as a customer. Without that, end-users will become disenchanted with your service and look elsewhere, due to the negative customer service experience.
There are many ways to deliver customer service, including social media, live chat, telephone conversation, and self-service portals. By making these widely available and easily accessible, prospective customers will be reassured that they can get support if problems do occur. A wide range of support offerings also helps you cater to a variety of customer types. Some people may prefer live chat to telephone calls as a more passive form of customer service, whereas others may prefer speaking to a company representative over the phone for the personal connection it offers.
Both user experience and customer service intertwine to form the overall customer experience, meaning you need to carefully balance the two to maximize the value your services deliver to end-users.
Improving the CX
To improve the overall CX, you need first to understand what your customers need.
A Clear CX Vision – Before you start delivering your CX, you need to make sure internal stakeholders understand your vision. You can do this by creating guiding principles that illustrate your desired approach to customer experience delivery. These should be communicated continuously, forming a corporate mantra for all employees to abide by. This creates consistency across your business, which end-users will see and appreciate, instilling trust in your services and your brand.
Understanding the Customer – You won't be able to tailor your services to each individual customer, but segmenting end-users into groups and creating personas can help you uncover most of your customers' needs. Tech savvy users will have different requirements to non-tech savvy users, just as someone in the finance industry will have different requirements to someone in the creative arts. Creating these personas will allow you to evaluate the value of your service against different user types, helping you to increase accessibility and widen your potential user base.
Spurring Consumer Motion with Emotion – The psychology of service delivery also deserves attention. When a customer feels genuinely valued by you, it is much more likely that they will remain loyal and become a repeat customer. By evoking positive emotions during the customer experience, you reinforce the benefits of your service in the subconscious minds of end-users, embedding a psychological incentive for them to return.
These are just some parts of the CX you should focus on, to improve customer satisfaction and increase the likelihood of repeat purchases.
Build Your CX Strategy With Trianz
Trianz is a leading customer experience consulting firm, with decades of experience helping our customers to build intuitive digital experiences. The competitive world of digital service delivery means you need every advantage to attract customers and retain them over time. We can assess your existing CX strategy and advise you on the next steps you should take to gain that competitive edge.
Get in touch with our CX consulting team and start delivering better customer experiences with Trianz today.
