A survey from the Harvard Business Review found that up to 80% of “ex-customers” reported being satisfied with a company they left. So, if satisfied customers are likely to leave when a more convenient, affordable, or just different option presents itself, what more can you do to keep them?
The answer, according to Customer Experience Management (CEM) thought leaders, is to look past product, price, and location to focus completely on creating emotional experiences at every customer touchpoint. CEM focuses on qualitative components — the emotional responses of a customer. Study after study has shown that humans are driven by emotion, not reason. According to neurologist Donald Cayne, “Reason may lead to conclusions, but emotion leads to action.”
Giving every client a magnificent experience is certainly not new to the customer service industry. All companies strive to provide satisfaction and pleasure — very powerful emotional ideas. But managing the customer experience so every single client loves every single aspect of your business requires more than ideas. It requires a unique commitment and a systematic, company-wide approach to excellence that makes it virtually impossible for employees to deliver anything less than an exceptional experience at every customer touchpoint.
Commitment to CEM starts with a different way of looking at satisfaction and loyalty. While many managers conduct customer surveys, they often view the results too positively. Successful CEM managers know that customer satisfaction isn’t a goal — it’s an absolute necessity. They know there is very little connection between mere satisfaction and true customer loyalty, so they set higher standards and analyze data much differently.
For example, if 85% of survey respondents say they’re “somewhat satisfied” or “completely satisfied” with your company, is that reason to celebrate? Perhaps it is. But doesn’t that mean 15% of your customers are disappointed? And remember, research suggests that merely satisfied clients are not particularly loyal. So while you congratulate yourself for a job well-done, 80% of your customers may be making plans to switch to a competitor.
Once you establish CEM as the top priority of your company, it’s important to build a three-step system that helps every member of your team deliver consistently exceptional customer experiences. The first step is working with clients who love you most so you can identify the ideal customer experience. Through market research, focus groups, or just old-fashioned conversations with your most loyal clients, find out what your staff is doing to regularly create those emotional bonds. What you learn will help you build the ideal experience, one that your best clients can’t wait to have again and again.
Next, compare that ideal to the way your people are working today. Regular customer surveys and mystery shops can help you evaluate employee behaviors and the customer impressions those behaviors create. You may even want to focus on a net promoter score.
Developed by loyalty business model expert Fred Reichheld, the concept of a net promoter score is essentially to find those customers who are evangelists for your business. They are “promoters.” Based on a 10-point scale, when these clients are asked how likely they are to recommend your company to a friend or colleague, they answer nine or 10, with 10 being the most likely to recommend. If those survey results show that you don’t have a lot of promoters and that you’re not consistently creating the ideal experience, your third step is a training program that arms every employee with the tools to get better.
Start by making sure your team knows exactly what a great experience feels like. Don’t be vague or conceptual. Every single employee must understand and accept his or her role in the experience and the specific behaviors needed to always meet and exceed client expectations.
Because today’s customers are more informed and more volatile, it’s much easier to get more from your loyal customers through upselling and cross-selling. It’s this loyalty — created through legendary experiences — that will have a huge impact on your company’s bottom line. In fact, a survey from Harvard Business Review reports that 97% of all customers who report being loyal to a company do not leave.
If you want to stay ahead of your competition, start improving your company’s customer experience today. If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to look at new cars!
About the Author
John Ely is senior vice president of marketing for Signature Worldwide, a training and business solutions company dedicated to helping clients create legendary experiences for their customers. Ely is responsible for developing, implementing, and evaluating strategic marketing and corporate growth plans and has more than 14 years of industrial and consumer marketing experience. For more information on Signature and its new customer experience programs, call 800-398-0518 or visit www.signatureworldwide.com/pr.
