By Anne de Kerckhove, CEO, Freespee
According to recent research from Retail Business Technology Expo, keeping up with technological innovation is set to be one of the greatest challenges faced by retailers, with issues around customer experience cited as the greatest obstacles for as much as a quarter (25%) of organisations. High-street retailers are increasingly feeling the need to transition to digital stores and customers are demanding improved conversational experiences. Digital transformation is set to be the key to achieving this – the adoption of automation and other online technologies are vital to providing a more personalised approach.
By 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key differentiator between brands, and the businesses that thrive will be those that implement strategies to ensure that their engagement is centred around the customer, and ultimately delivers a more personal, ‘human’ experience. In today’s competitive landscape, consumers expect to be dealt with as individuals, with specific needs. For complex or big-ticket purchases, customers will often have questions that they want answered before they’re prepared to reach for their credit card. They want to know that they’re being listened to, that companies are treating their questions personally, and as a priority.
Technology that is entirely un-synched from a human connection between a customer and vendor will only do half the job. And doing things by halves – delivering mediocre experiences where algorithms allow you to get it ‘almost right’ – will be the thing that renders many brands irrelevant and, ultimately, unsuccessful.
The opportunity businesses now have is to make customer experience delivery instinctive, intuitive, flexible and personal. But how can they go about doing this?
Consumers no longer settle for just ‘good’
According to Salesforce Research’s report ‘State of the Connected Customer’, 84% of customers say being treated like a person, not a number, is very important to winning their business, and that 69% of business buyers expect Amazon-like buying experiences.
Retailers are continually competing to provide the highest levels of customer service possible, across both online and offline channels, but the algorithm-driven customer experience that brands often opt for is only good, rather than great. Consumers won’t stand for good when they’ve experienced great elsewhere.
Successful businesses must truly connect with their customers – and context will be key. Brands should match their customer’s curiosity, commitment and concern for finding the best deal. In short, the best customer experience in 2018 – and moving forwards – will need to have a personal ‘human’ touch.
A customer-centric approach
As the industry looks to adopt better customer experience, there is plenty of talk about ‘customer-centricity’. Being customer-centric means building your entire business around what is best for each client; therefore, your website and other communication platforms must also be centred around the customer, to create a personalised customer journey that satisfies each buyer’s needs.
Most companies instead build their business processes around delivering their product as cost-effectively as possible, whilst driving shareholder returns. Similarly, their customer experience is moulded within a framework that their teams and departments find convenient to deliver.
Successful companies will be those that listen to their customer and look at what they perceive as great customer service. Those that fail to do this will see their customer base steadily decline, as consumers realise that they can receive better service elsewhere.
Turning visitors into customers
Not listening to customers effectively can lead to massive client and revenue losses. Research has shown that 98% of online customers leave a website without doing anything. Each one of those browsers represents a lost sales opportunity.
As a business, it’s important to consider: why customers are leaving? Why did they come to the website in the first place? What did they want to see, and why didn’t they stop long enough to engage or purchase?
Businesses may not be making it easy enough for shoppers to ask a particular question via the website. And that question may have opened up a meaningful conversation which then converted the visitor into a customer. Few things are more powerful in helping chart the future of a business, than hearing a customer’s question and being able to answer it effectively.
Taking customer service to the next level
The marketing industry has spent many of the last few years talking about digital transformation. However, it is worrying the amount of businesses who still haven’t defined how digital technology can transform and improve their customer service, or even what really good customer experience really looks like.
Businesses must embrace new forms of technology to create great conversations with their customers, or risk standing still whilst competitors take the lead.
Meanwhile, customer expectations do anything but stand still. They evolve. That means whatever experience you’re delivering today probably won’t be acceptable tomorrow.
Companies unsure where to start with digital transformation should start by simplifying their processes. Begin with their customers. Go back to basics. Have more and better conversations with their customers – and essentially ‘get human’. The future of their business depends on it.
