Businesses lose customers everyday. In fact, upwards of 91% of customers leave without providing any explicit warning. To be successful, businesses now more than ever must not only know how to attract customers but understand how to keep them. Successful online business like The Yankee Candle Company demonstrate the value of developing efficient, meaningful, and...
Businesses lose customers everyday. In fact, upwards of 91% of customers leave without providing any explicit warning. To be successful, businesses now more than ever must not only know how to attract customers but understand how to keep them.
Successful online business like The Yankee Candle Company demonstrate the value of developing efficient, meaningful, and ongoing ways to engage customers in order to know if they are delivering an experience that is worth the time and money. They know that if they aren’t gathering regular and ongoing feedback from customers, they will never know what is working and what isn’t, and will likely suffer from mass customer churn. Customers expect to be treated well and won’t think twice about defecting to a company who can provide exactly what they are looking for.
There’s no question about it: you must regularly check in with your customers to see how you are doing. Chances are, if you aren’t regularly soliciting customer feedback to gauge your performance, you are making at least one of the following customer experience mistakes.
1) You aren’t tailoring products and services to meet your customers’ specific requirements
Tracking each customer’s transaction history – what they purchase from you, when, and how often – helps you know which products and services to offer them in the future. Amazon has mastered this powerful marketing practice, automatically delivering personalized product recommendations based on past purchases.
Anticipating needs to deliver a tailored, relevant experience is at the heart of today’s most successful businesses. If you do not have access to updated customer information which helps you predict your customers needs, customers will leave you for a business that does. In a recent Infosys study, 86% of customers openly acknowledged that businesses can influence their buying habits by anticipating and meeting their needs. And Digital Trends reports that 73% of consumers said they would have no problem providing a business with updated personal information if it meant a business could deliver a more relevant shopping experience, considered by most to be among the most important factors when deciding to do business with a company.
2) Your customers are unable to find answers or resolve problems quickly
70% of customers say they expect a company website to include self-service options, with 40% admitting they prefer self-service over human contact when interacting with a company. Moreover, customers don’t want to waste time finding the right information or resolving problems: 45% of consumers will abandon their online purchase if they cannot find a quick answer to their question. According to the American Express Customer Service Barometer, 99% of consumers surveyed say that receiving a quick, satisfactory answer is the most important prerequisites to a great customer experience.
It only takes a minute to ask your customers for feedback about their experience – did they find what they were looking for? do they have suggestions for improvements? – which will make it easier for you to identify and fix areas of friction. The benefits of providing immediate and relevant information are especially great when it comes to customer service. Of course, if you never ask your customers what they need, it’s unlikely you will be able to provide this level of service.
3) You are ignoring the importance of mobile in customer experience
Customers are spending 3.3 hours a day on their smartphones and 85% of consumers say mobile devices are a central part of everyday life, especially for online search, email, and messaging. Additionally, 73% of mobile searches trigger some sort of action, whether it’s visiting a retailer’s site, connecting with a business directly, or making a purchase.
Mobile is very likely your customer’s first interaction with your business and, increasingly, their preferred medium for content consumption and communication. Therefore, failing to develop a seamless customer experience with a mobile-first mindset is no longer an option. In today’s mobile-first world, no company can afford to run the risk of seeming indifferent or careless with its mobile experience. Paying attention to what your customers think about it is the most efficient way to optimize your mobile platform for the best possible user experience, a top priority for any business.
Creating the Perfect Customer Experience is Hard…But Possible!
According to research from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 68% of customers leave because they are upset with the treatment they’ve received from companies who seem indifferent to their wants and needs. One way companies can make sure they are meeting those wants and needs is to ask, over time, for consistent feedback.
Regular, up-to-date customer feedback will improve the overall quality and efficiency of your customer experience. The more insights your customers provide, the more likely you are to develop and deliver an experience which strengthens their satisfaction, trust, and loyalty.
