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Customer Experience Evolution

by | Aug 14, 2019 | Blog

a woman sitting at a counter in a building
Having an excellent product is an important aspect of a successful business, of course. But what happens when a company focuses all of their time on perfecting their product, and not enough time on their customer experience? Sure, the experience directly with the product may be good. However, is it enough that this is the only positive experience in the relationship between the customer and the company?  Customer Experience is #trending, and for a good reason. A CX survey done by Gartner found:
81% of companies expect to compete mostly or completely on the basis of CX in 2019
It is becoming increasingly important to focus on the unique relationship with the customer.  Customer experience starts with understand your customers and their needs, beyond that which is fulfilled by the product offering. Adding or improving products may seem like an easy way to increase profitability, but this may cause an ultimate loss if a similar effort isn’t put into the customer experience.  The longer a company waits to make the transition from a product-driven approach to a customer-centric approach, the more challenging it will be to catch up with the competition who have already made moves to improve. 

 Understanding the Changing Needs of Customers:

It is generally understood that it’s important to understand the initial needs of customers. It is even more important to understand that these needs are going to be changing, always. This is why it is crucial to have systems in place to make a priority of keeping up with the ever-changing needs of  customers. Make sure that your front of the line staff is asking lots of questions, and the right questions! A study that ath Power conducted in the past found that businesses are much more successful when they take time to ask their customers questions before recommending products. Not only does asking questions to get information about the customer’s needs, but it also creates a dialogue and strengthens the relationship between the customer and the company. Customers seek to be understood and it makes them feel important. Fewer issues will likely surface in the future if the customer’s needs are understood clearly.  As simple as this might sound, it’s surprising how many companies are not asking the right questions. Question-based relationship building should be something that goes beyond the surface. Rather than having generic questions to ask, create a goal of what you want to find out about the customer, and create unique questions on a case-by-case basis. 

 Don’t sell products, sell excellent customer experience

In a time of abundant substitute products, not all products are as unique as they used to be. This is why is it has become increasingly important to focus on selling the customer experience. The best customers are loyal customers. Excellent customer experience is key to creating strong relationships and ultimately loyal customers. This important for long term business success.  In addition to strong relationships, customers want to be advised by someone they trust. Trust is debatably one of the most important aspects of business. Often trust comes from having a good relationship and being transparent with the customer.  Friendly employees can make a customer feel happy about their decisions, but trusted employees will make customers feel confident about their decisions
Remember that in this day-of-age, no one really wants to be sold to. So make the experience delightful and memorable.
Have you already started to make this transition? Awesome. Have you not? It is TIME! Regardless of your situation, having excellent customer experience is an ongoing process of understanding your customer’s ever-changing needs and adapting to them. Like what you read here? Check out our other Blog Posts for more ath Power Insights. 

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