Ten years ago, people would simply pick up the phone and call your business when they needed help. That’s no longer the case. Today, by the time your customers make that phone call, they’ve most likely already tried three other channels to find the answer they’re looking for. The customer’s journey to your business has changed. And so have their expectations.
Your customers’ ideas about what constitutes a good customer experience (CX) have evolved in the same way their lives have evolved. They live and do business in a digital world.
People don’t pick up the phone and call each other the way they used to. More often, they interact through social media, text messages, chat and email.
People switch devices within a single conversation, with seamless handover from their computer to their mobile phone to their tablet. And they expect all of these communications conveniences to be available when they do business with you.
If your customers start a chat session, they expect the employee they’re speaking with to know that they’ve already filled out a web form. When they finally do pick up the phone and call, they expect the employee to know the contents of the web form and the results of the chat session.
When customers contact you directly, it’s now often because they haven’t been able to resolve the issue on their own. They’ve tried the web, your company website, emailed a family member and looked for a YouTube video on the topic.
Now they need more advanced assistance. And they want their service level tailored accordingly from the moment they make contact. Consumers’ shift to digital communications and their changing expectations dictate changes for your business and for the technology your employees use to serve customers.
Delivering a good customer experience is good business. In its 2017 Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report, Dimension Data reported that although 81 percent of companies recognize CX as a competitive differentiator:
- Only 13 percent grade their CX delivery a nine out of 10 or better
- Only 10 percent say their digital business strategy is optimized
The report also noted that the top factor driving digital transformation is improving CX, followed by customer demands for digital interactions. With one-quarter of the world’s population now equipped with active social media accounts, good and bad customer service experiences are shared almost instantly.
- Research confirms that the customer experience affects revenues:
- 90 percent of fully engaged customers buy more frequently and 60 percent spend more.
- Businesses rated as top performers in terms of customer experience achieve double the revenue of those rated as laggards.
Companies participating in the 2017 Dimension Data study reported the following business benefits associated with improving CX:
- Increased customer loyalty (92 percent)
- An uplift in revenue (84 percent)
- Cost savings (79 percent)
Our new guide explains customers’ changing expectations, how to be proactive to meet those expectations and how to find a flexible vendor that can help you along the way.
Find out how to communicate directly with your customers on their terms, leading them to come away from interactions satisfied and buying more frequently from your business.
