That’s why you should invest in Customer Experience Management

Customer Experience Management is the art of providing your customers with positive customer experiences throughout the entire purchasing process. Customers who have only positive experiences with your products and services have no reason to leave! 

More and more companies are placing value on Customer Experience Management

While today's markets are increasingly customer-focused, quite a few companies still have difficulty recognizing the value of Customer Experience Management. The attempt to constantly satisfy every single customer is met with rejection by critics of Customer Experience Management. Because of different reasons. Customer experience programs are too expensive, too complex and can hardly be implemented consistently.

The concept of a consistently positive customer experience throughout the entire buying process seems to be overly romanticized from the critics' perspective. For some reason, we've all been led to believe that the customer is always right; which means that the focus should be on always meeting or exceeding customer expectations, no matter what it takes to stand out from the competition. Of course, it is an undeniable truth that building and maintaining Customer Experience Management programs costs money and involves effort. But the question is, what do companies that invest in Customer Experience Management get in return?

Why should companies invest in Customer Experience Management at all?

The answer to the question is clear: companies that do not invest in Customer Experience Management will fail sooner or later. Because companies that recognize the value of Customer Experience Management and invest accordingly have a very big advantage over companies that neglect the topic: They create positive customer experiences and these positive customer experiences have an effect on sales and the loyalty of their customers.

1. Positive customer experiences turn customers into repeat customers

Contrary to popular belief, most customers are generally pretty easy to please. Best-in-class Customer Experience Management strategies should aim to do more than simply satisfy customers. It is common knowledge that customers are even willing to pay a correspondingly higher price for better customer experiences. So it's in your best interest to provide your customers with consistently positive customer experiences. Customers quickly become true fans of your company and your products, making it increasingly difficult for your competitors to lure them away from you. In addition, there is plenty of potential for customer recommendations, free PR and therefore a better online reputation, rave reviews on review portals and social networks, and free community marketing in exchange for truly positive customer experiences. The opportunity to turn customers into advocates and even brand ambassadors is too big to miss!

2. Customer Experience Management increases your sales

Companies rely on Customer Experience Management programs to differentiate themselves as clearly as possible from competitors and to build customer loyalty, while resulting in higher customer satisfaction, which in turn keeps sales at least stable and in most likely even increases! Customers with high Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and higher levels of loyalty lead to long-term financial gains for the company. Investing in building and strengthening the relationship between your customers and your company – with the help of smart Customer Experience Management programs – is the key to business success. Companies with world-class customer satisfaction have a 17% higher chance of consistently growing year after year than those with a poor or no Customer Experience Management strategy. Customer experience management is a sales-relevant topic, no question about it! However, many managers seem to think that it is difficult to make the direct connection between CX and revenue growth. This is where metrics like customer lifetime value (CLV), churn rate, support costs, and average transaction size come into play. These metrics provide insight into how valuable a smart Customer Experience Management program is to any business.

3. Improve and maintain your brand image with Customer Experience Management

Companies with very high customer satisfaction have a 68% chance of significantly improving their online reputation within a maximum period of five years. Great and consistent customer experiences make customers more inclined to recommend your company, brands, products and services. This positive word of mouth and brand advocacy is invaluable when it comes to increasing brand equity. Investing in Customer Experience Management not only ensures consistent or increasing sales, but also increases your brand. If you would like to know how willing your customers are to recommend you, use the Net Promoter Score (NPS). You will see your Net Promoter Score increase when you focus your attention on creating and maintaining positive customer experiences.

4. Happier and more productive employees

Companies that have a smart Customer Experience Management strategy have 1,5 times more engaged employees than companies that don't. And there is a reason for that! Anyone who values ​​positive customer experiences must empower their employees to satisfy customers. And that only works if employees themselves are satisfied. Therefore, in addition to Customer Experience Management programs, progressive companies also have clever employee experience management, regularly conduct employee surveys and value high employee engagement.

Customer experience management and employee experience management are inextricably linked. Highly committed employees have a positive impact on the customer experience through motivation, commitment and the will to make the company they work for successful in the long term. And high customer satisfaction in turn radiates through to the workforce. Where would you rather work? In a company that always receives the best reviews and has a good reputation? Or a company that regularly receives criticism, for example regarding customer service, pricing policy or the quality of the products.

5. Customer experience management secures your sales and market shares

The better you know your customers and understand their expectations, wishes and customer needs. The more precisely you can tailor your offer and target it to your target group. Customer experience management helps you get to know your customers better and is also crucial for predicting future sales, margins, cash flow, market share or stock returns. A 5% increase in customer retention rate increases profits by more than 25% on average. These are numbers that you shouldn't ignore. You can even rely on predictive forecasts based on historical data to understand what is driving sales growth and identify expected issues and their impact on sales.

Face the challenges of implementing Customer Experience Management programs

Many companies only half-heartedly implement Customer Experience Management programs or even forego them entirely because they find the effort too high. If you want to create consistently positive customer experiences, you also have to track customer experiences, for example by means of regular touchpoint analyses and customer satisfaction surveys at the contact points between customers and the company, its products, brands, services and services. Collecting customer satisfaction and experience data is key to the success of any Customer Experience Management program. Only using data obtained through direct customer feedback can you monitor and continually optimize the success of your efforts to create and maintain positive customer experiences.

In order to obtain data on customer experiences, you first need to know what contact points there are between your company and your customers. These contact points, also known as customer touchpoints, need to be identified. The sum of all contact points is called the customer journey.  You can find a very good overview of how you can trace contact points along the customer journey in this blog article on the topic of customer journey mapping.

So if you know which contact points exist between your customers and your company and check these contact points for the level of customer satisfaction and customer experience, you have already overcome the biggest challenges. Now you need creative minds who can design these contact points in a way that creates positive customer experiences.

There are many examples of positive customer experiences. Implementing this can be very easy. For example, you can ensure shortened waiting times at the checkouts in your shops or ensure a simple and smooth online ordering process. For example, you can simplify complaint processes, ensure free complaint returns or offer first-class product support with quick and secure accessibility. Simply finding information about products on your website and navigating them easily is perceived as a positive customer experience. There are endless examples of how you can create positive customer experiences using simple means and methods and thus significantly increase the satisfaction of your customers!

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