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Customer Experience

These are the Top 5 CX Posts of December 2020

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I have to apologize for the lateness of this post. Suffice it to say that the challenges of a new job impacted my free time for January. However, let us pick from where we left off last; reviewing the top customer experience posts of November 2020. I have picked up the top CX posts of December 2020 for you, but it was quite challenging as I came across a compelling and interesting pool of CX posts. After studying all those posts, I realized that the CX experts out there continue to amaze us even as this unpredictable year wraps up.

Like all the previous posts, I will offer a detailed analysis of the gist of the top five posts and share with you the CX journey of companies worldwide. I will not be following a particular theme, so you can expect to be bedazzled by different stories. But one focal point will be the deliverance of impeccable and unprecedented customer experiences online. I will be attaching the link to each post so you can individually check them out. Let us get started!

Can you measure CX in dollars?

Forrester has been our top consistent partner in these blog posts. I don’t remember a single month where we didn’t quote a remarkable post from this site. This month too, Maxie Schmidt, a Principal Analyst, shared her insights on Forrester’s platform. In this post, she defines the dollar value of improving customer experience.

She reckoned the relationship between business growth and improvement in CX. A numeric value was assigned to this association so the significance of improving CX could be known. 14 industries were studied under the Customer Experience Index Survey.

The condensed version of the results is:

  • The benefits associated with improving CX are massive. It was deduced for mass-market auto manufacturers, that by improving CX by 1 point, more than $1B can be generated in revenue.
  • The advantages of improving CX rise exponentially when happy customers are made happier. So, the focus must be shifted here rather than from making unhappy customers less unhappy.
  • The impact of recommendations on the business upside of CX is small and nearly negligible. Gaining new customers through recommendations makes up for less than 7% of the total business benefit gained from the improved customer experience.

Here is how you can calculate and measure the impact of improving CX and relate it to your company:

  • Assess the business impact of every individual customer’s loyalty. Study the intentions of customers who stay, who buy more, and those who eventually recommend you.
  • Build models that display how CX is stimulating growth. Make sure these models are specific to the market and industry.

Use the model to calculate the benefit of improving CX by 1 point and its consequent impact on business growth.

Is great customer experience your intention?

What’s the secret to a great customer experience? Isn’t that a million-dollar question that we have been looking for the answer to? Anette Franz has made it easier for us to understand how we can nearly perfect the customer experience.

In this post, she talks about the famous quote of Bob Farell, the founder of Farell’s ice cream parlors, “Give em’ a pickle!”. Bob said this after he received a disappointing letter from a customer who complained about his services. Bob makes this golden rule that serving others should be the top priority of businesses.

One must not be opportunistic, rather one should look for delivering a personal and good experience to customers. Business is not all about earning an extra dollar or a few dimes, but it is connecting with customers and fulfilling their needs and wants.

Even in her book, she dedicated a large portion of it to why brands fail to retain customers or keep customers satisfied and happy. One of the major reasons is that shareholders are more focused on filling their pockets rather than nurturing customers and creating customer value. So the magical rule that one shall abide by is: Do what’s right for and by the customer. This is how Anette describes the secret to delivering a memorable customer experience. This is a short and brief post, but it teaches us so much about delivering customer value.

Trends to follow to reshape CX in 2021

We now know that there is no going back to the normal, brands must reshape their vision of how they imagine and execute a strong customer experience. John Aves shares his wisdom in this post and introduces the 6 major trends that will shape the CX redesign in 2021. Let us review them:

  • You must not look back – Companies that believe that everything will return to the old normal will not survive in the coming times. They will collapse and will be unable to thrive. Leaders would have to be bold and daring so they can impose changes required to revitalize the customer experience.
  • You would have to take a stand – Customers will look to side with businesses that care about prevailing issues and take a stand. They will offer their loyalty to businesses who assess their brand purpose and align it with customer values.
  • No more consumerism – Consumers are no longer looking for meaningless connections. After a month of being quarantined, they’ll covet social connection. And businesses should offer meaningful customer experiences.
  • Customers want to be in the driving seat – For far too long, customers have been anxious because they are no longer in control. To make sure that they feel secure, CX leaders should make customers feel in control of their experience.
  • Digital Balance – This is a tough time for all and as we move on next year, CX leaders have to be more empathetic and kinder towards customers. They must take their hand and together travel on key digital journeys.
  • Consistency is the Key – CX consistency is the holy grail. No matter where employees or customers are if the vaccination is introduced or not, a consistent customer experience must be delivered.

How can you improve your companies CX strategies?

The expert panel of Forbes drafted this post and they educate businesses about how they can improve their CX strategies. The top CX leaders at Forbes each shared a piece of advice that will help businesses grow and develop a remarkable customer experience.

  1. Focus more on customer journey mapping: the most crucial source of data is search, as it can help marketers to map their customers’ decision journey. This results in more touchpoints and hence, increased sales.
  2. A well-planned execution process: Incorporate feedback and suggestions from your customer and draft a well written CX plan.
  3. Extend the customer experience and adapt to the changes to reach a wider range of customers.
  4. Build a client-centric culture: be more focused on what your clients want and what their needs are.
  5. Make your customer experience informative and delightful.
  6. Make effective use of key metrics and keep on checking them to assess the growth.
  7. Leverage the surveys conducted and record the reviews and study them meticulously.
  8. Make sure that you respond efficiently and take minimum time.
  9. Make sure you deliver the perfect blend of human expertise and complex technology.
  10. You cannot and must not define customer success on your terms
  11. You must deliver a personal experience by being relatable and human.
  12. Incorporate conversational AI as customers tend to leave the brand after one or two bad customer experiences.
  13. Focus greatly on digital experience and try to perfect it.
  14. A personalized experience is the best one.
  15. Have an effective and strong customer retention program where you can receive customer feedback and reviews.

The year of CX Data

If you enjoy a little bit of wit with tons of resourceful and informative posts, then you are going to love this piece eloquently written by Jim Tincher. In this post, he talks about digital hygiene and how crucial it is for us to clean the bad data.

We can view 2020 as the year of digital transformation. And though for many years, CX leaders were thriving to make customer experiences digital, this year transformed this desire into a need of the time. And we had to amplify our works to make sure that seamless customer experiences are delivered online.

The one limitation that held us back and continues to limit our growth is bad data. It limits the organizations’ abilities to meet customers’ needs and satiate them. The dirty, disconnected, and unmatched data makes it almost impossible for organizations to implement digital transformation and get the operating systems running. Lack of clean and good data results in the wrong and incorrect information being delivered to customers and that can put your whole organization and business in jeopardy.

It is safe to assume that bad data is the underlying cause that triggers bad customer experience. There is no time for organizations to waste. We must make sure that we clean the data often and regularly. So, our predictions for 2020 are, that this year will be the year of empathy, technology, and executive engagement.

Conclusion

This is a wrap for us. As we’ve bid adieu to the year 2020, we hope and pray for positive news in the upcoming year and though the previous year brought a lot of pain, it also showed how resilient and adaptive our companies are.

Let’s hope this global crisis soon ends and we all adjust to the new normal. Comment below and share with us your views and thoughts. If you want to get featured on our blog, share the link of your post in the comment section and we’ll share it with our audience. Will meet you next time with some more new and exciting CX posts!

Customer Experience

Top CX Posts November 2020

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Let’s pick up from where we left off last month in our list of Top CX posts for October.

Over the course of this month, I’ve spent a lot of time reading and compiling a post of top cx blog posts for November 2020 that I wanted to share with you.

I read some very interesting blog posts that showed me how so many companies are thriving even though the COVID-19 has limited them physically.

I am sharing my favorite picks and attaching a link along so that you can explore them further. They do not follow a specific theme, but I believe they merit applaud and acknowledgment. So, let’s get started.

1. Customer Empowerment Amid a Global Pandemic

This post by Blake Morgan was an unusual one and riveted my interest right at the beginning. If you ask yourself which aspect influenced the market dynamics the most. Without hesitation, you will answer the highly feared and prevalent, COVID-19.

NICE inContact CEO Paul Jarman shares his insights in this post and changes our perspective about the outbreak of the global pandemic and its ramifications. He mentioned how the pandemic paved a way for customers where they can share their voices and opinions.

He emphasized the key takeaways that we should learn from to shape our customer experiences in 2021. Because of the democratization of opinion, customers have more power than ever. They are sharing their experiences overtly and are utilizing the online platforms excessively.

The following four major takeaways are discussed explicitly in this post:

  • Shifting to the Cloud – A survey revealed that around 66% of contact decision-makers were moving their data and activities to the cloud. There will be more agility and room for innovation in the cloud. This will ensure seamless and uniform customer service all across.
  • Increased Use of Digital Channels – Since the COVID-19 outbreak, more than 62% of contact centers have gone digital and used online platforms to communicate. Considering the situation doesn’t diffuse, customers will seek a digital customer experience. So, improvements and amendments shall be made accordingly.
  • More Mobile Applications – Companies using mobile apps grew from 8% to 56% since the pandemic. People are relying heavily on apps and so effective mobile apps must be developed to keep up with the demand.
  • Improving Chatbots – Many marketers believe that the future of customer experience relies greatly on the use of chatbots. In a study, it was deduced that around 90% of CX practitioners have claimed that the chatbots need to be more user-friendly and digitally smart. The incorporation of modern features will help enhance its use.

2. Trust is everything

The Senior Analyst at Forrester, Anjali Lai, eloquently describes the unmatched significance of building trust in the relationship with consumers in her post.

She defined consumer trust as “Trust is confidence in the high probability that a person or organization will spark a certain outcome in a relationship.”.

She described how humans are inherently trusting and how we can track the logical and chemical stimulants that trigger trust and similar feelings. She also explains a few key points that are:

  • Trust is Confidence – The trust you pour in your kids that they will clean up after you is solely based on hope and optimism. Just like that, you have to instill this level of trust in consumers so that they become your loyal customers.
  • Trust is About a Particular Outcome – Marketers are always scratching their heads because they are in the race of earning the “most-trusted brand” title. The ranking is not a defining determinant for the consumers. They constantly assess the outcomes in relation to their expectation.
  • A Relationship is Structured on Trust – Like every other relationship in this world, a relationship between an employee and consumer is also based on trust. If consumers fail to trust these services, products, and the company, you will not be able to achieve customer value or deliver an exceptional customer experience.

3. How to Make Fans for Your Business?

If you think that tons of customers will get out of their way to engage in a business with you just because you are delivering exceptional customer service, then you are mistaken. The price of earning true customer loyalty goes beyond fashioning just an experience.

Jim Tincher makes a point in his post that just creating an effortless experience for the customers wouldn’t suffice to make them your loyal and most valued customers. He is also aware that his stance is wildly unpopular, but he supports his reasoning with compelling arguments.

He perfectly encapsulates his theory that loyalty can’t be built by resolving issues, rather it just prevents disloyalty. Loyalty is when customers are swimming in a pool of options, but they willingly choose you. And the culminating point is when the customers have a cheaper and more convenient alternative, yet they continue to choose you; that is the real determinant of loyalty.

So, this proves that it’s not the ease of engaging in business but the emotional connection that compels customers to stay connected with you. That is what customer experience is all about; building emotional and meaningful relationships with the customers.

Though this is a short piece of writing, it caught my eye because it was eccentric and was centered around an unpopular opinion. This post overtly talks about the fallacy that customers need to be wowed. However, they just want to be done.

4. Efficiency and Empathy in Harmony

The aftermath of the pandemic is still unknown and inexplicable. The prevailing uncertainty has put the analysts and company leaders in a conundrum as they cannot assess which strategy, they must opt for to survive in the post-pandemic world. We all are suffering through the adverse effects of COVID-19 and these times have not just been challenging for the companies but also for customers.

Blair Pleasant talks openly in this post about how we have to cope up with the long-term changes of the pandemic and make our place in the virtual world. She capitalized on how the increasing dependence on online working or work from home has led people to come up with creative and innovative solutions to deliver exceptional customer service. She also mentions the new strategies that companies have come up with to meet the growing customer demands and expectations.

The best thing to come out of the lockdown is the newfound respect for the concept of empathy. People locked up at home and having the crippling fear of the pandemic has made everyone empathetic and consequently humanized customer experiences. People are more invested in offering a personal experience to the customers.

Agents are trained to listen to the issues of customers and address them willingly, with utmost concern. It is now a challenge for companies to find the right balance between efficiency and empathy because, in these tough times, businesses should prioritize solving customer complaints rather than generating profits.

She also laid great emphasis on how video interactions and visual connections can add a personalized touch and help in creating a stronger employee-customer relationship.

5. Timeless Customer Experience Trends

The fast-changing environment of the world always keeps us in uncertainty. There are many obvious challenges and very few opportunities that await us. But after decades of learning the trends and patterns, analysts have deduced a set of standard rules that significantly affect the customer experience.

Though COVID-19 has greatly changed the market dynamics, there is a set of trends that remains timeless and is even applicable in these unprecedented times. Michael Hinshaw discusses these trends in this post and guides companies about the direction they shall pursue to deliver impeccable customer service.

  • Advancement in Digital Transformation – With the outbreak of a global pandemic, the shift to digital platforms and media has been at its peak. And from here the curve will rise as dependence on digital channels is increasing substantially.
  • Determining the ROI of CX – More accurate and precise metric modes, analytical tools, and decision frameworks are employed so that customers’ experiences could be understood better. These tools are constantly improving as they help in delivering a memorable customer experience.
  • Customer Understanding – It is always important to know how customers truly feel and what do they genuinely desire. Without understanding the underlying needs of customers, it becomes nearly impossible to deliver a great customer experience.
  • An Adaptive and Agile Approach – Linear approaches become redundant quickly and do not match the changing market flow. However, a more agile approach helps the companies to resonate with the changing trends. With better data and customer understanding attained via an adaptive approach, customer value is achieved.
  • Prioritizing Employee Experience – A great customer experience cannot be delivered without creating a good employee experience. The workplace environment and relationship between the company and employees are improving greatly. Leaders are bridging the professional gap, refining systems, and are encouraging collaboration. Companies are redefining the employee experience as the organization’s success depends greatly on it.

Conclusion

It was quite difficult to find my picks for this month. All articles I came across were so fascinating and riveting. Isn’t it amazing to see how businesses are not just surviving but flourishing in these times?

Though the initial months of the pandemic outbreak were challenging but just as the companies have adapted to the new conditions, they are coming up with innovative ways to avail opportunities and perform optimally.

Comment below and share your thoughts and reviews. If you want to share your posts with us, you can share the link in the comments, and we will feature your post in the next session. This was all for November 2020!