Tags

,

Unified Customer Experience

Why does the customer experience matter?

Let’s first look at why customer experience matters. We all know the obvious answers as they get repeated time and again. This isn’t difficult and much research has been devoted to it. 10 years ago it was somewhat novel. Now it is not.

So here is the obvious:

  • Customer expectations have increased,
  • People have more channels to voice their opinions,
  • Failing to deliver upon customer expectations, makes people change vendors, especially in specific industries
  • Etc.

In fact, customer experience is at the top of the corporate agenda. The C-Suite gets it and is paying attention to it more and more. It can be ignored but that will be to your peril.

Customer experience is contextual

Not all individual experiences have the same impact on everyone: people are different. That is a huge challenge. Because of the challenge this presents, it is easy to make half hearted efforts in this strategy. The problem is that employees and customers will know it is half hearted.

Will they find someone else who cares? Possibly. Probably. Definately

This doesn’t mean that a few bad experiences by definition are disastrous. There are even numerous examples where customers don’t change vendors, even if they have bad customer experience upon bad customer experience. I stick with my bank. The experience isn’t great but the pain of moving accounts is high.

This has to do with many factors, ranging from a de facto exclusivity of a company within its niche, the difficulty of switching vendors and the ‘positivity’ of the overall customer experience, to very human factors such as the need for comfort (and thus no change) or even the affinity with a brand.

Furthermore, there are differences – regional, regarding industry, etc. – that make the impact of the customer experience less or more important. It might seem counterintuitive but it’s a fact: some companies suffer far more from poor customer experiences than others.

The other way around, one bad experience can ruin it all as well. Let’s face it: loyalty is becoming a thing of the past. It is easier and easier to move on. That is the beauty of the digital business.

In fact, a great strategy is to focus on the ease of “moving on” as a differentiator in the marketplace.