GIVE A GOOD EXPERIENCE- GET LOYALTY
GIVE A GREAT EXPERIENCE- GET AN ADVOCATE
Successful Companies have realised that while the attention spans have gone down for people with their employers and suppliers due to the multiplicity of options competing for their attention, it is the quality of the engagement you do with these important stake holders in the business that differentiates great performance from the poor.
Engagement and Positive Experience are the new mantras of success in the 21st century...
HAPPY EMPLOYEES + DELIGHTED CUSTOMERS = EXPLOSIVE BUSINESS GROWTH
A Positive Experience will provide not only a reason to repeat the experience but also leads to a viral effect of recommending to the friends, relatives and social circles thus leading to an increased equity and more business.
Citibank,one of the finest global banks that has survived many ups and downs through its life of over 200 years,is a great example of what a positive customer experience can do to an organization. Customers who have used the credit cards of Citibank for over 20 years have found the experience to be consistently excellent and recommendation worthy.
Apple Computer achieved great strides as a global Technology company with the innovative features of its operating system and cutting edge products that consistently provided superior customer experience which were copied by their competitors.
Google surged far ahead of its older rivals and astonished their competition with their motto of providing best possible user experience. By providing a 'Search' facility that was faster, reliable and more relevant to the needs of its users, Google consistently increased its lead over some of its finest competitors like Yahoo and Microsoft to unassailable levels.
1% die
3% move away
68% quit because of an attitude of indifference towards the customer by the staff.
14 % are dissatisfied with the product.
9% leave because of competitive reasons.
It is important to see the importance of 'ENGAGEMENT' with the customers that will help in retaining over 60% of the business effectively giving a potential to double the business with minimum effort.
Customer loyalty is, in most cases worth 10 times the price of a single purchase. Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner
With the advent of Social Media on the internet and the empowerment of the individual consumers to influence large circles of potential consumers with viral effect through blogs, reviews, facebook,twitter and corporate sites apart from the traditional channels which are generally non viral and limited, in reach, organizations that have effectively provided enhanced experience and get a net positive word of mouth ( reflected by a Net Promoter Score) creates a platform for success in today's competitive market scenario. This catapults great organizations to leadership and helps them thrive in today's networked economy.
How do we define Customer Experience?
Customer experience (CX) is the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of goods or services, over the duration of their relationship with that supplier. From awareness, discovery, attraction, interaction, purchase, use, cultivation and advocacy. It can also be used to mean an individual experience over one transaction; the distinction is usually clear in context.- Wikipedia
A customer or an user interacts with a company, its products and services at various 'Touch-points' through personal visits to stores- online and offline, chatting on the web, interacting through queries and complaints on the phone, apart from other one to one interactions with various employees/ parties partnering the companies in their delivery.Stores are increasingly becoming a touch-point for a discussion about the evolution of marketing from traditional, one-way communications to building great brand experiences that people can immerse themselves in and share and live in. A great brand experience is direct and transformative. It’s not a fantasy. It’s not the idea of something. It is something, something worth writing home about – or at least texting a friend.
By delighting the customers through the life-cycle of the relationship and by providing excellent service making periodic contacts through courtesy calls, wishes, incentives, schemes etc.,companies aim to convert the customers from being loyal to advocates thus increase the life time value of the customers to the company.
Swarovski, one of the greatest brands and the leader in the business of cut crystals and luxury products, uses experiential marketing techniques to promote its products through its premium retail chain of stores. A study of Swarovski's strategy reveals the following action plan for promoting exclusive products to premium clients:
"80% of complaints received by an organisation are likely to have poor communication as their root cause, either with the customer or within the organisation itself. Source: Unknown"
iv) Take action consistently to reinforce positive experience through rewards and rout out negative experience through remedial measures.
Once the feedback is received, positive feedback could be used as reference to promote to new customers and reinforced to build better bridge with such customers providing positive feedback while negative feedback should be immediately acted upon and the remedial measures undertaken.
GIVE A GREAT EXPERIENCE- GET AN ADVOCATE
Successful Companies have realised that while the attention spans have gone down for people with their employers and suppliers due to the multiplicity of options competing for their attention, it is the quality of the engagement you do with these important stake holders in the business that differentiates great performance from the poor.
Engagement and Positive Experience are the new mantras of success in the 21st century...
HAPPY EMPLOYEES + DELIGHTED CUSTOMERS = EXPLOSIVE BUSINESS GROWTH
A Positive Experience will provide not only a reason to repeat the experience but also leads to a viral effect of recommending to the friends, relatives and social circles thus leading to an increased equity and more business.
Citibank,one of the finest global banks that has survived many ups and downs through its life of over 200 years,is a great example of what a positive customer experience can do to an organization. Customers who have used the credit cards of Citibank for over 20 years have found the experience to be consistently excellent and recommendation worthy.
Apple Computer achieved great strides as a global Technology company with the innovative features of its operating system and cutting edge products that consistently provided superior customer experience which were copied by their competitors.
Google surged far ahead of its older rivals and astonished their competition with their motto of providing best possible user experience. By providing a 'Search' facility that was faster, reliable and more relevant to the needs of its users, Google consistently increased its lead over some of its finest competitors like Yahoo and Microsoft to unassailable levels.
Happy customers who have their problems resolved will tell 4-6 people about their positive experience. Source: the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC.
In his book 'How to win customers and keep them for life', Michael Leboeuf has stated some interesting facts as a finding from his research:1% die
3% move away
68% quit because of an attitude of indifference towards the customer by the staff.
14 % are dissatisfied with the product.
9% leave because of competitive reasons.
It is important to see the importance of 'ENGAGEMENT' with the customers that will help in retaining over 60% of the business effectively giving a potential to double the business with minimum effort.
Customer loyalty is, in most cases worth 10 times the price of a single purchase. Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner
With the advent of Social Media on the internet and the empowerment of the individual consumers to influence large circles of potential consumers with viral effect through blogs, reviews, facebook,twitter and corporate sites apart from the traditional channels which are generally non viral and limited, in reach, organizations that have effectively provided enhanced experience and get a net positive word of mouth ( reflected by a Net Promoter Score) creates a platform for success in today's competitive market scenario. This catapults great organizations to leadership and helps them thrive in today's networked economy.
How do we define Customer Experience?
Customer experience (CX) is the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of goods or services, over the duration of their relationship with that supplier. From awareness, discovery, attraction, interaction, purchase, use, cultivation and advocacy. It can also be used to mean an individual experience over one transaction; the distinction is usually clear in context.- Wikipedia
A customer or an user interacts with a company, its products and services at various 'Touch-points' through personal visits to stores- online and offline, chatting on the web, interacting through queries and complaints on the phone, apart from other one to one interactions with various employees/ parties partnering the companies in their delivery.Stores are increasingly becoming a touch-point for a discussion about the evolution of marketing from traditional, one-way communications to building great brand experiences that people can immerse themselves in and share and live in. A great brand experience is direct and transformative. It’s not a fantasy. It’s not the idea of something. It is something, something worth writing home about – or at least texting a friend.
By delighting the customers through the life-cycle of the relationship and by providing excellent service making periodic contacts through courtesy calls, wishes, incentives, schemes etc.,companies aim to convert the customers from being loyal to advocates thus increase the life time value of the customers to the company.
Swarovski, one of the greatest brands and the leader in the business of cut crystals and luxury products, uses experiential marketing techniques to promote its products through its premium retail chain of stores. A study of Swarovski's strategy reveals the following action plan for promoting exclusive products to premium clients:
1. A
great brand experience begins where the story telling script ends, because it’s
not the brand’s story. Experience
is user’s story. The brand is only the stage manager. The most
potent experiences are open-ended. They are worlds that people can explore at
will, and that permit many outcomes. The outcomes belong to the user, not the
brand and are called memories.
Swarovski, infact launched a range of products called Crystal Memories
depicting various memories like annual occasions like birthdays, once in a
while occasions like vacations etc.
2. Create
an adventure. Great
brand experiences are exceptional. They occur when the brand and its user are
both participants in a new adventure.
3.
Make the user count, Don’t just count users. People want to be recognized. They want to
be the heroes of their own lives and to connect with others and have an effect
on their world. A great brand experience is one that is not only personal, but
that makes people individually indispensable to the result.
4. Brands
are bonds. Traditional
marketers think of the brand as the destination in every story. An experience
that makes your brand be the change in people’s lives can create ties that last
a lifetime. What aspirations can you and your users share? Big ideas come from
big ideals. Ideas only give you share of mind. Ideals give you
share of culture. A great brand experience can put ideals into action.
5. Live
the moment. The
moments that truly rock our world are more precise. People measure the potency
of events by memory: by where we were when (we bought a Swarovski). Experiences
that are anchored to a place and time carry a greater emotional charge
6.
There is no long term..
There is only now. Most engagement strategies end up guiding people along to a
sale. A great brand experience doesn’t happen somewhere. A great brand
experience is not a promise. It is its own proof – on the spot – and its
own reward.
7. Use
the touch points that matter most. The most powerful media channels in existence
are sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. Every sense you can
engage doubles the number of consumer brain cells that register your brand
experience. This is why a great lover will send you roses or chocolates instead
of emoticons!!
8.
Refresh,Renew,Repeat Every
marketer knows the importance of that last word, “repeat.” The most valuable
brand experiences are those, which the consumer can repeat with equal delight,
or that inspire continued exploration, connection and sharing with the brand.
Otherwise, what you have is simply a transient stunt. The trick we strive for
is to create an experience that has a surprise that lives – and grows – forever
To summarise, the
ultimate brand experience is a continuing story and experience and like a long
term marriage and not a one night stand!!
Today's customer focussed organizations have a clear-cut strategy and a number of tools to pro-actively manage their customer relationships and enhance the user experience.
The tools encompass some of the following activities:
i) Define the parameters that reflect the customer experience. For example, the ratings of the customers on the services provided by the company across the touch points.
One such parameter is the Net Promoter Score that is defined by the net of the positive opinions to the negative opinions expressed on the web.
ii) Consciously strive to provide excellent quality of interactions with low tolerance to failure across the spectrum of interactions.
High Quality Retail Ambience and Accessible locations for offline companies and user friendly interfaces provide the hard elements of the experience for customers while the competence, behaviour, responsiveness and the sensitivity of the employees handling the customers providers provides the softer elements.
iii) Measure the various parameters continuously to keep track of the improvement or deterioration of the company across all these parameters.
This involves listening to the customers intensively and extensively and asking for feedback on regular basis.
"80% of complaints received by an organisation are likely to have poor communication as their root cause, either with the customer or within the organisation itself. Source: Unknown"
iv) Take action consistently to reinforce positive experience through rewards and rout out negative experience through remedial measures.
Once the feedback is received, positive feedback could be used as reference to promote to new customers and reinforced to build better bridge with such customers providing positive feedback while negative feedback should be immediately acted upon and the remedial measures undertaken.
"56%-70% of the customers who complain to you will do business with you again if you resolve their problem. If they feel you acted quickly and to their satisfaction, up to 96% will do business with you again, and they will probably refer other people to you. Source: the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, Washington, DC".
While Loyalty cards and special offers are repeatedly used by companies to get the customers to do repeat business, companies who work on delighting their customers by working on the Quality of products and services, Value for Money and in providing excellent support to their customers get not only repeated customers but also a positive viral buzz that widens their gap with the competition.
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