5 mins read
How does one company stand out in today’s highly competitive world, where there are alternatives to almost every brand?
Some say a solid business plan, some emphasize a well-defined pricing strategy, and some still swear by a talented employee pool.
But there’s one most important aspect: Enhanced and personalized customer experience.
According to Gartner, the modern customer wants to be satisfied. 78% of customers would back out of a purchase after a poor customer experience. This whopping number is enough to convince business owners to ramp up efforts in the CX domain. However, many often treat it as an 11th-hour task.
CX Expert Jim Bass sits down with Acefone to discuss why this shouldn’t happen. Bass has been in the industry “before it was even called CX,” a certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP), a CX-Pro, and the VOC manager at Verizon’s SaaS division.
What’s the most crucial part of building a CX plan?
It’s empathy. Demonstrating true customer empathy requires us to be empathetic to everyone we encounter, both personally and professionally.
You cannot turn empathy on and off for specific people or segments. To be good at empathy, we have to practice it with our family, friends, team members, bosses, and peers, as well as with people who serve us in restaurants, retail stores, and the person in line with us at the subway.
To truly understand empathy, one must know how it differs from sympathy. We consistently demonstrate this and walk the talk for our children, team members, spouses, friends, and strangers.
How does one optimize the customer’s online journey?
Listen to the customer. Don’t assume you know what’s best for your customer. Instead, find out what they are currently experiencing. Deeply understand the ‘what, how, and why’ of their experience expectations and how they impact them or their business. Once you know this, design an improvement model and ask the customer to validate it before, during, and after the launch. The goal is to keep listening.
How important is it to build personal and deep connections with customers?
This is a part of the equation but does not tell the entire story.
What if the employees with whom deep relationships are built leave the company? What if the customer contacts with whom deep relationships are built leave their company?
Culture drives much of this. Businesses must develop a culture of closing the loop with customers and employees in every interaction (not just survey responses).
This type of focus generates a culture of advocacy, empathy, and listening. Focus on this first; deep relationships will become sustainable during employee and leadership turnover.
What is the impact of digitalization in the world of CX?
This can be either awesome or disastrous. Many businesses are ‘transforming’ digitally to reduce costs. When cost reduction is the driver, CX suffers further.
However, when the experience of the customers and employees is the driver of digitalization, the result can reap great rewards. Remember, technology should add value to the experience rather than replace it.
Can you suggest ways businesses can use customer data and insights to increase engagement and drive revenue?
One of the best ways to create better engagement using customer data and insights is to share what you’ve learned from the data with your customers.
- Let your customers know what they are telling you in aggregate
- Tell them you want to take action and have a sincere desire to improve
- Ask them to help you validate/prioritize the improvements
- Close the loop with their feedback when you’ve delivered.
- These four items are the path to improving and cultivating engagement and driving revenue through re-purchases, renewals, and add-on products and services.
What are your thoughts on the rise of chatbots?
My thoughts on this are to tread carefully when it comes to chatbots. The chatbots and other digital interfaces must add value to the experience.
My experiences with chatbots as a consumer have not been good. Initially, it felt like they could help me, but they could not. They waste my time and frustrate me. They don’t understand my problem or question and then provide incorrect information. Or they direct me to a phone number, which I was looking for when the chatbot popped up and enticed me to interact with them.
Remember that chatbots interact with humans of all different perspectives, needs, cultures, and education levels. Invest heavily in their design and put them through many test scenarios. Design, design, design! The chatbot’s purpose cannot be to reduce costs for the business—the purpose must first be to add value to the experience or don’t do it.
Can you share some tips for newcomers on successfully delivering a personalized experience to their customers?
Active listening. Don’t assume anything. When you think and act with empathy, you will understand what the customer needs and wants. When businesses think about delivering a personalized experience, they must first consider ‘why’ they want to provide one.
Is it more important than delivering a low-effort experience? If the effort in the experience has not been significantly reduced, then no amount of personalization will matter.
Before you go
While he provided many insights into achieving specific objectives, his overall message can be summarised in one word—listening. Business owners should not assume they know their customers’ preferences and experiences.
Establishing a two-way communication stream with your customers is critical in building a successful CX plan. Bass says this is one of the most credible methods for designing and measuring a CX strategy’s success.
Acefone’s cloud phone system automation and features help your clients listen more. Once set up, your agents can save time on dialing, filtering, and gathering caller information. All they are left with is communicating with customers and helping them solve their problems.
