Did you know that two-thirds of a business’ competitive edge comes from its customer experience (outstripping product and pricing as principle differentiators)? Or that less than one-third of businesses are currently customer-experience led?
So what exactly is customer experience?
Well, it’s not customer service or individual touchpoints as many people may think; it’s the total sum of a customer’s interactions with, and perceptions of, your brand and it involves:
- A goal of adding value for the customer and customer loyalty
- Implementation internally by the whole organisation
- End-to-end customer orientation, from innovation through to service
- Proactive development around customer needs
The path to business growth
Embraced correctly, it’s positive impact on business growth is virtually guaranteed. Furthermore, with increasingly disruptive competitors in today’s digitally-transforming world, it is becoming a strategic imperative.
Peter Drucker stated long ago: “The purpose of business is to create a customer, so a business enterprise has two – and only two – basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”
Marketing by its very nature is customer-centric (evidenced by the definitions below), so marketing orientation/customer-centricity and a culture of innovation are at the heart of improving customer experience.
- Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. – Chartered Institute of Marketing
- Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. – American Marketing Association
- Marketing is profitably using the results of studying short term and long term needs of those who can pay for a one-time, or in most cases, a steady flow of service or product placement. – Wikipedia
Top 6 outcomes for customer-experience led companies
Making the transition to being customer-experience led doesn’t happen overnight, but for those companies on the path to – or already – achieving it, the future is brighter:
- Increase pricing – Over two-thirds of B2B and B2C customers will pay more for a better experience
- Increase average order value – Experience-led companies have 1.9x higher average order values
- Increase customer purchase frequency – Loyal customers are 5x more likely to buy again
- Increase number of customers – Loyal customers are 4x more likely to refer the brand to their family and friends
- Increase profits – Experience-led companies see revenues increase as much as 10-15% while also seeing costs to serve lower by 15-20%
- Increase employee engagement – Heightened sense of ownership, increased efficiencies and satisfaction levels improve employee engagement by 20%
Do you want to embed customer experience as part of your long-term growth strategy? Are your innovation and marketing measures currently viewed as costs rather than investments? Are you struggling to juggle cost-savings at the same time as stimulating business growth? Do you want to understand your customers’ journeys better?
Accalia can help you grow your business by becoming customer-experience led; helping you: Unlock Insights, Create Value, Master Marketing and Accelerate Sales.
Acknowledgements: Deloitte. Forrester. McKinsey. Salesforce. Temkin Group. Image: Doran Erickson.