Businesses were once able to win customers over simply by providing quality products or services. But this is no longer enough. There’s been a paradigm shift, and providing the best customer experience is now a critical success factor for businesses of all sizes.
Research conducted by CX consulting firm Temkin Group has indicated that a commitment to providing exceptional customer experience can boost profits significantly.
Small businesses can take advantage of this approach too and improve customer experience by applying relevant emerging trends. Feefo has compiled a list of the most important customer experience trends to expect in 2022.
What is customer experience? Essentially it’s every interaction a customer has with a business that shapes their perception of it. Good customer experience can have a significant effect on building loyalty.
Recent events have demonstrated how important it is for businesses to be flexible and creative. Many businesses that survived or even thrived during the pandemic were those which quickly stepped up their game and improved customer experience.
In 2022, any business can improve its customer experience by identifying weaknesses and strengths, looking at what customers want and expect, and developing a strategy that incorporates improving performance with measurable goals.
There are a number of areas businesses can examine to improve customer experience.
Action list
1. Data: This is fundamental. For any company to make a difference in customer experience, it needs to collect data and analyse it for insights that can inform decision-making. For example, if your website has an unacceptably high bounce rate, the data will tell you. Data will tell you a lot about who your customers are and what they want.
2. Channels of communication: Multiple lines of communication should be established to meet customers’ needs. Whether you use email, phone, social media, or chatbots, communication should be personalised, consistent, and express the company’s values. Staff may need training in dealing with customers, particularly those who are upset. Companies such as IKEA and Amazon have put resources into improving communications with customers to great effect.
3. Digitisation: Even if your business is tiny, you can take it online. It doesn’t take a large budget to set up a basic website, social media accounts and start building an email list. Customers today expect rapid service and rapid responses. Going online helps you do that while building your online presence.
4. Brand values: Customers have become increasingly aware of how brands conduct themselves. Feefo research has found that 74% of customers are unwilling to patronise a business with social or political views customers disagree with. More than half of customers surveyed said businesses should be socially responsible.
5. Reviews: These are also playing a larger role in shaping customer perceptions, often before making a purchase. Customers want to know more about businesses and not just the quality of their goods, but how they treat customers. Many negative reviews can be based on poor customer service even if the product is satisfactory.
6. Employee experience: Unhappy employees can contribute to negative perceptions of a business and the service they deliver. Improving customer experience may mean improving employee experience too.
7. Video: This is another channel of communication small businesses can use to connect with customers. With a video camera in every phone, producing videos for your website, social media accounts or YouTube channel can be an effective way to build engagement and ultimately sales.
8. Self-service help: Help customers to help themselves by giving them the tools to develop their own solutions. You can do this on your website, or through blogs, with FAQs, or by presenting information that has helped other customers resolve issues.
A small business that can successfully implement strategies to improve customer experience will gain loyal customers. Getting to know your customers will be crucial to success. This will also be vital in personalising communications. Building a comprehensive profile of all your customer base can help you give customers what they want and measure performance across different channels.
Giving your customers seamless and consistent interactions that generate brand loyalty won’t happen overnight. It will take time and effort, but it is a vital element in the battle to win over customers and build your business.
I agree that businesses nowadays should go online. And make use of digital tools to help build a better relationship with clients. As for our business, we use Connecteam to help streamline communications with our clients. This strategy provides us with loyal customers.