“We are moving toward an experience economy and that's where the growth will come from,” Joe Pine and James Gilmore in the article “Welcome to the Experience Economy.”
As the two economists remind us, the customer experience is absolutely essential for your brand. But how can you successfully differentiate yourself from the competition in this area?
The Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) defines it as: “the perception that customers have of an organization – a perception that is formed based on interactions across all touchpoints, people, and technology over time.”
Why is customer experience so important?
The main goal when you create outstanding customer experiences is not only to satisfy your customers and therefore create value for them, but also to build your customer loyalty, so they come back to buy from you! Then on a larger scale, your customers can become ambassadors of your brand to their friends and family, especially when you offer them an experience that exceeds all their expectations.
The consequences of a successful customer experience:
Now that you know all the benefits you can get from a successful customer experience, the Pimster team presents 7 tips to make your customer experience unbeatable. 👉
We can't say it enough: knowing your customers is fundamental for a successful marketing strategy, and even more so to create an outstanding customer experience. This will ensure that you don't miss out on opportunities to satisfy your customers!
For example, Nike, a brand that is very well known for its customer experiences, noticed that its customers were very connected and also always in a hurry. In 2018, Nike decided to implement a speed shop in its flagship store in New York City for customers in a hurry. The Speed Shop allows customers to order shoes online and try them on in the store. Customers use a special entrance to find their shoe locker, which they unlock with their smartphone. After trying on the shoes, they can pay directly on their phone without having to interact with a salesperson.
Once you have a good understanding of who your customers are and who you want to attract, you need to look at personalizing your interactions.
Customization means tailoring your product or service to the individual customer based on all the information you have about them.KPMG published in 2021 its study Customer experience Excellence, which ranks the customer experience of French companies. In this study, it is underlined that customization is the first lever of customer loyalty! The challenge is therefore to innovate in this area, to move towards a more advanced customer experience.
A good example of this is the coffee brand Nespresso, which was ranked 3rd best customer experience in France in 2021 in the KPMG study. Indeed, the brand seeks to build customer loyalty by creating a high-end spirit with the Nespresso Club. The emails are personalized and the exclusive offers and limited series give the impression of a tailor-made luxury service. The brand is much more than a simple coffee distributor, it is a true-closed club, which personalizes each customer interaction, in its promotional campaigns as well as in its boutiques.
Companies with the strongest omnichannel experiences retain 89% of their customers on average, compared to 33% retention for companies with weak omnichannel customer experiences. (Forbes, 2019)An omnichannel strategy allows you:
Customers can be value creators, independently or in conjunction with companies. Consider situations where customers use products in ways not intended by the company. The “IKEA hackers” is an example: in this case, customers post the innovative ways they have reused, or “hacked”, IKEA products.
Another example is product instructional videos on YouTube. Over 100 million hours of such videos have been viewed in North America alone: many of these videos were uploaded by consumers, not companies.
By engaging your customers, you are more likely to leave a lasting impression on them and create positive memories that will lead to greater brand loyalty.
To make your customer experience incredible, it's important that you know how to measure your company's progress in this area. And for that, nothing like the Net Promoter Score to help you! Our article on this subject will make you become professionals in measuring customer satisfaction.By measuring your customers' satisfaction, you will be able to improve the experience you offer accordingly.
For your customers' touchpoints with your brand's universe, there are two categories:
It is crucial to care for these touchpoints, because in fine, they concentrate the image you can give off and can make your consumer switch to the side of the ambassadors or on the contrary to your detractors.
92% of customers are satisfied with using live chat services, making it the support channel that leads to the highest customer satisfaction. (Forbes, 2019)Indeed, touchpoints with your brand are not only important before your product is sold, but also (and more importantly) after the purchase. It is therefore essential that your company has a quality after-sales phone service, but also a live chat service, and offers the possibility to contact you directly on your website.
Moreover, more and more consumers want to be independent and autonomous in their post-purchase journey. So make sure your content is available via tutorials, for example.
By digitizing all your product knowledge! We propose you to create custom and interactive user guides that are out of the ordinary, that become the first points of contact of your brand with your customers and offer personalized services for your customers even after the purchase.
Indeed, KMPG's 2021 study shows that strengthening self-service customer support, as well as maintenance and repair, is ensuring a successful customer relationship and also convincing that your brand is making every effort in terms of product sustainability. This last point is a crucial sales and loyalty argument!
You want to revolutionize the experience you offer to your customers? Request a demo.