There is no arguing that 2020/2021 has changed customers’ expectations across most industries. They now demand much higher service levels from businesses, personally and professionally.

Digital transformation is the major factor when it comes to creating new experiences for your customer; and being ‘happy with that experience’ just doesn’t cut it anymore. Your customers expect more – and if you want to build and maintain a relationship with them, then you need to deliver MORE.

Huge opportunities are available to businesses willing to re-think how they present themselves to their customers. Businesses that choose to stand still, face a huge risk.

Let’s be honest, most businesses want their customers to have the best experience possible when visiting their store, whether that be online or a bricks and mortar location.

According to Interactive 2022 Customer Service Report  , customer satisfaction rates have dropped 2% since 2018. This report is based on data from over 25,000 companies representing 30 industries using live chat and tickets for customer service and sales. This data has been analyzed from over 594 million chats and 18 million tickets, making it very credible.

So how do you deliver an experience that exceeds all customer expectations?

First you need reliable information about WHO your customer IS. Who is that person?

How often do they visit your store?

How often do they react with your business digitally?

What do they need from you now?

And most importantly, what will they need from you next?

Use the data you already have access to on your customer, and leverage that data in order to create a much better digital experience for them.

Think about it like this: When you regularly visit a site, say a movie streaming service, they have gathered information on what movies you like to watch and  they offer suggestions to you in the form of a small pop-up screen in the corner.

You may not be aware that these movies are on their channel, and as such, you are often interested in their suggestions. That is creating a positive customer experience for you in a digital form.

They are predicting what you may want next from them, and that keeps you coming back.

Interestingly, Evans Doe Ocansey (a research scientist in mathematics at the Institute for Algebra of the Johannes Kepler University) recently built a model using machine learning for predicting a customer’s next purchase day. You can read more about how he accomplished that here.

Secondly, you need to centralize all of your customer information. This information needs to be easily accessible to sales, marketing, customer service, and other divisions within your company.

When a customer re-visits your online store, marketing needs to be aware to offer a promotion or discount; sales can start interacting with your customer by offering a product demo and to answer any questions that they may have. Because that is what they want, the customer wants to be helped.

Just as if they were in your bricks and mortar store speaking face to face with a sales person.

Now you probably have a CRM system in place, but is it specifically designed for the sky-high expectations of today’s customer?

Can it deliver everything we have just described? If not, then maybe you can’t deliver the seamless experience that your customer expects.

An important action point you can take today is to visit your website as a potential customer.

With unbiased eyes, look at your online store and see how easy it is to navigate, go to the customer portal, and through the checkout process.

Was it seamless or cumbersome?

Were you prompted to purchase another product?

Were you offered assistance by a virtual representative?

Now look at your other customer interaction points; email content, advertising etc,

Are you delivering an elite customer experience?

You must be brutally honest about your own experience.

Is your business going to survive and thrive in these rapidly changing uncertain times or do you need to make some changes?

Don’t think of this as a daunting task, but as a fantastic opportunity for your business to grow exponentially, to obtain new customers, to get ahead of your competition.

If you can come up with the right strategy, you will significantly improve customer satisfaction, retention, and sales.

Any questions you may have regarding this topic can be answered on our website www.aepiphanni.com or please, contact us directly via the many contacts points listed on our site.

Other articles relating to this topic can be found at Implement Business Transformation Initiatives  and ZohoCRM Customization and Implementation