A research conducted by the Walker Information suggests that customer experience will overshadow price and product as the primary brand differentiator by the year 2020.
Most businesses today get away with just being average but an average business produces average-like results too. Only those companies that invest a little extra effort to exceed customer expectations are able to create returning customers who come back more often and share their experience with others. More and more customers nowadays expect user-friendly, informed service from their service providers and that is why customer experience has become a strong differentiator among businesses of any type and size.
Delivering a delightful experience
Customer service is not only about supporting customers and providing bare minimum and we all know that it is so much easier to lose a customer than to gain one. According to the common definition, customer expectations refer to what your customers want in regard to products and services when they turn to your company. So, how companies actually figure out customers’ needs, fulfill their expectations, and deliver a delightful experience? A couple of ways to determine what your customers are looking for is to conduct surveys and focus on feedback, using a Net Promoter Score or some other model. An important step to consider undertaking is monitoring other companies in the market i.e. your competition to see what your target customers are responding to, both positive and negative.
Based on the research conducted by the Institute of Customer Service, nearly a 10% increase in a company’s customer satisfaction score leads to a 12% increase in trust from customers. According to Temkin Group study, loyal customers are 5x as likely to repurchase, 5x as likely to forgive, 4x as likely to refer, and 7x as likely to try a new offering.
When failing to meet expectations
Obviously, a failure to meet customer expectations can have a catastrophic impact on your business. Whether your customer is dissatisfied with the result of a service they recently received, your customer is confused about what product or service to purchase or he or she is angered by a recent customer service experience – your solutions should be executed in a way that makes customers believe that their happiness is your priority.
Creating and maintaining a high level of customer service and exceeding customer experiences is key for any business that wants to succeed in its industry and gain competitive advantage.