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High satisfaction does not equate to high loyalty. A customer could be highly
satisfied with a company’s products and services, but that doesn’t mean they are
also loyal as a competitor could lure them away with a more attractive customer
value proposition. Conversely, a customer may not be satisfied with a company’s
offering but could display loyalty simply due to the barriers of inertia or the difficulties
in switching brands.
Integral to both satisfaction and loyalty is the customer experience. We have entered
the age of the experience economy where customers expect more than ever before.
Brands are at battle to outperform on experience such as making the customer
journey easier and delivering faster. The more powerful brands connect more on an
emotional level with their customers by invoking feelings such as pride and
accomplishment, thus challenging the value paradigm in that customers are often
seeking more than functional and rational benefits.
The requirements of customers transcend far beyond functional needs like quality
and value for money. Customers are individuals and have emotions and attitudes.
It is therefore important that companies not only understand their customers’
needs and behaviors, but display empathy, especially when customers report
issues. This is where segmentation can help. A UK mortgage company, for
example, teaches its reps how to identify and allocate a customer into one of its
personality segments. This enables the rep to quickly determine whether they are
interacting with a “controller,” a “thinker,” a “feeler,” or an “entertainer,” and to tailor
their responses accordingly. The segmentation strategy improved the customer
experience and decreased costs by reducing repeat calls by an impressive 40%.
B2b audiences increasingly value suppliers that help them differentiate and better
serve their customers. Innovation and partnership are key to delivering against the
needs of customers’ customers, but these requirements are often insufficiently
met. Most b2b companies have a parochial view of the customer being the direct
consumer of their product or service, and so the best-in-class b2b companies are
those who understand the full value chain and positively impact their customers’
customers.
Customer satisfaction surveys often assess the amount of effort the customer has
to put into the relationship with the provider through the Customer Effort Score.
Feedback on poor performance on this metric indicates how improvements to
seamlessness can be made. By way of example, customers resent providers that
consume more time than they deem necessary as their time is precious and bears
a cost. Complaints on this issue include time spent on hold on a phone call,
wasted time repeating the same information, and lost time in having to deal with
incompetent systems, people and processes. It is clear that reducing customer
effort is pivotal to delivering a more seamless and therefore more superior
customer experience.
Proactivity needn’t require new product or service offerings. For example, the
lighting company Osram Sylvania identified that a simple change in language
could make a big difference to the customer. Words like “can’t,” “won’t,” and “don’t”
naturally invoke feelings of disappointment and dissatisfaction as they imply an
inability to deliver against customer needs. The company therefore trained its reps
on alternative phrasing with a positive spin, such as indicating when an item would
be in stock, as opposed to the disappointing alternative of stating that the item is
currently unavailable.
Examining root cause can provide insights on where proactive measures need
taking. For example, Bell Canada recognized that a high percentage of customers
were calling back requesting usage instructions relating to a particular feature. As
a forward resolution to the issue, reps now provide a quick tutorial on the feature
over the phone, resulting in fewer call-backs and a drop in customer churn by 6%.
For more complex issues, the company sends follow-up e-mails which are easier
than lengthy instructions via telephone. This proactive approach means less effort
for the customer and a more seamless and hassle-free customer journey.
6. EVOLUTION: Customer needs, behaviors and attitudes can change any time, as
can competitive threats and influences such as technology and legislation. Thus
companies that already perform well on delivering an excellent customer
experience cannot be complacent. The totally customer centric firm acknowledges
that improvements must be made on an ongoing basis.
The more receptive companies to evolution are those that are agile and open to
applying design thinking to the customer experience. This entails reinventing how
customers interact with the company to reengineer and transform the customer
journey. The Netherlands-based bank ING, for example, created a solution for its
retail and corporate clients that enables them to access real-time account
overviews and customized reporting, along with the ability to process various
transactions from any location. This required the bank to conduct a major overhaul
of its systems and processes involving Omni channel automatic integration of
customer data. After just one year, ING had grown profits by 23% and increased
its share price by 15%.
Customer journeys are more complex than ever before as the average b2b
customer uses six different channels (such as in-person reps and ecommerce
sites) over the course of their decision-making journey. This can make it
challenging to deliver a seamless experience, yet b2b buyers who interact with
multiple channels spend more than those who only purchase from a single
channel. The more profitable customer experiences, therefore, are those that
comprise Omni channel marketing and sales strategies. They are also typically
delivered by companies that are more agile.