Running a business in 2023, more than any other time in history relies upon providing the best possible customer experience. Whether it is going above and beyond to offer additional support after a customer makes a purchase, or smiling through a particularly harsh bit of feedback to then offer an alternative solution. Managing customer experience is going to be one of the most important things for every business in 2023 and beyond. So how can you improve your customer experience management? In this blog, we will be covering 5 different ways that you can effectively manage your customer experience. So let’s dive in and see how you can improve your customer experience in a few simple steps.
Create a customer experience strategy
Before anything else, you need to start with a customer experience strategy. The only way of effectively managing customer experience, is to have a structured approach that allows for some maneuverability later on.
Begin by creating customer personas that cover all of your leading customer profiles.
Then define what you will be offering these customer profiles, how do you stand out from your competition?
Create a clear roadmap of your customer journey, what customer touchpoints will you incorporate?
Define how you will measure the success of your customer experience management strategy. Will it be the percentage of customer complaints handled or improved results from customer feedback surveys?
How will you analyse these metrics? Using customer feedback, how will you aim to improve customer pain points?
Finally, look at how you will take action to implement any changes that need to be made. Is there an option to offer more customer service advisors if required? Could you perhaps offer up more detailed product descriptions or videos showing your product or service in action to encourage a more thought-out purchase by your customers?
Creating a customer experience strategy is the first vital step in improving the overall management of your customer experience. Do not try and skip over this step as this will be the foundation of everything that comes after this.
Create Systems That Support Your Customer’s Experience
Once you have a strategy the next step to managing customer experience is to find a customer experience management (CXM) system. Whether you create one yourself or find a suitable option from a third party it is important that whichever software you choose has everything that you require to get the job done. You will want to be able to measure the typical sales figures and percentages by demographics, customer complaints percentages, and returns. But beyond this for the full CXM experience, you will want to look at how you can manage the experience of these processes. How easy is it for your customers to report a problem? Do you have systems such as AI customer service bots that can help with all top-line simple queries? By incorporating a CXM system your business will be able to run more efficiently and provide a better experience for your customers.
Always Look For Ways To Improve (Competitor Analysis)
Looking at your competition, or even businesses in different industries to see how their customer experience works can provide great ideas for your business. Perhaps it is looking at a big distributor who provides same-day delivery on certain products, or a no-questions-asked 28 days refund policy? Providing options that customers are coming to expect from companies allows you to stay on top of the current trends in your industry. If you see a competitor who is performing well in an area you are lacking in, find ways to bridge the gap. Analyse their approach and find a way that you can take something from it and incorporate it into your strategy.
Invest In Your Customer Support Team
Customer support is one of the most important parts of your business when it comes to retaining customers as well as creating new ones. When you have an issue with a product, it can often be a frustrating experience. This frustration will only be increased if you are unable to get through to a helpful customer support team member for the product. The difference between companies with almost identical offerings and demographics can often be linked back to the customer experience that they offer to their customers. Customer experience management does not simply end once a sale is completed. By providing a helpful customer support team as well as a top-line AI service that can answer simple questions, your customers will be able to solve any problems they have with their purchases as quickly as possible. This experience will stick with the customer and often create just as loyal of a customer as one who had a perfect experience with their product from the beginning.
Look Into The Future (New Technologies)
Customer experience management is a constantly evolving thing. Customer expectations can change rapidly based on changes in technology. For example, a recent change is the rise in AI and the effect this is having across many industries. Now people can have simple problems in almost any area solved by AI. For example, AI can help you to write an email, create a CV, or even provide fully written articles that you can use to create content. In business, you can use software that makes your processes simpler. For example, a CCM software that allows your employees to craft communications that are always on brand as well as design templates with ease. By investing in the latest technologies for your customer experience, you will be able to offer the most up-to-date and efficient customer experience.
So there are 5 ways of managing customer experience in 2023. Here at Sefas we offer a customer communications solution that makes crafting and managing your communications as simple as possible. To find out more about what our software can offer, please get in contact today.