Every company strives to give customers a great experience but when it comes to customer service, the majority are still getting it wrong. 80% of employees say they give superior service, yet only 8% of their customers agree. So, what's behind the disconnect?
Customer service is about more than adding shiny new features and upgrades to products and services. Building brand loyalty starts with investing in one of the most essential parts of your business—your people.
The Power of Reputation
The truth is it’s harder to please customers these days. Loyalty seems to be harder and harder to secure. It’s not 'if they’ll switch', it’s when. In the social proof age, where one dissatisfied social post or online review can make or break your reputation, the focus on elevating customer experience is essential for survival.
Up to 93% of Americans say a company’s reputation is an important factor in whether they’ll do business with them. Sometimes cost is given as the reason for organisations not investing in customer service improvements, but not prioritising customer service can have an even bigger price tag.
Retention = Revenue
It’s always exciting to bring in new customers, but there’s money to be made in keeping existing customers happy. It costs 6-7 times more to acquire new customers compared to retaining existing ones. Research shows investing in customer retention can result in more revenue than spending money on sales and marketing for new prospects.
MindGym’s model of customer centricity
What we’ve found makes the most difference to achieving excellent customer experiences is focusing on the customer experience versus just service: i.e. the relationships we build with customers over time, and the ways we can deliver on their needs at an emotional as well as a rational or practical level.
Connection
It starts with an emotional connection. Increasingly, customers who are emotionally connected to brands are by far the most valuable. So how do we connect with our customers?
We first need to ensure our own people care about our brand – in this way, they’ll express it authentically, which matters to customers. Employees also need to be able to connect on an interpersonal level with customers, through generosity of attention and building a relationship.
Experiential intelligence/’Capability’
In recognition of the fact that different skills are required to create experiences for customers (versus just keeping them satisfied or serving them) these three elements are what researchers have identified as being necessary.
This goes beyond emotional intelligence: it’s about understanding the real psychological needs of the customer, acting on these creatively, and having ownership over the experience, not just your individual part of the process.
Climate
And, to ensure customer experiences can be delivered sustainably and consistently, a customer climate needs to be created. This is made up of three things too: environment and rituals within an organization around the customer; the standards and incentives that are in place to support the creation of excellent customer experiences; and the way managers and peers influence behaviour through their daily actions as role models.
Customers that are fully ‘emotionally connected’ are 52% more valuable than those who are ‘highly satisfied’ across a wide range of customer value metrics, such as number of purchases and frequency of use. As well, moving customers from highly satisfied to fully connected can have 3x the return of moving them from ‘unconnected’ to ‘highly satisfied’.
Consistency is Key
Part of what makes an experience compelling is consistency across touchpoints – meaning that your brand looks and feels the same, no matter where people find it. Not only do we enjoy experiences more, we spend more, and like brands more. For brands, this means that all your touchpoints, including the human ones, need to be consistent. This also means looking beyond your service delivery to think about its contribution to the entire customer experience.
If consistency is king then authenticity is king. The human connection between your employees and your customers is the ultimate goal. Being able to relate to customers in a way that they feel listened to, respected, and understood helps to build those valuable emotional bonds to the brand to keep customers coming back.
