We know that to fully realise your Customer Experience strategy, you need to fully understand the needs of your customer and what is important to them now.
GWI has reported that “3 out of 5 internet users say that bad customer service would negatively affect their purchasing decisions [...] customer service in 2021 won’t just be about providing helpful advice quickly but being empathetic as well. This can apply at any stage of the customer experience.”
So, how do you create a fantastic customer experience? We know that data collection and the ability to read data are two areas that businesses struggle with, so here are 5 tips for truly understanding and connecting with your customer.
1. Collect the right data and manage it correctly
For a decade data has been hailed as the new oil, but with a constant feed of information available to brands it’s important to look for the data that will help you make the best commercial decisions by answering these questions:
Who is your target market and what do they need from you?
Where do your prospects shop, research and buy?
What are their pain points and how well do you solve these vs your competitors?
What features and services do your prospects expect as standard from you
How can you deliver more than that?
Brands that are preparing for long-term success will have a greater focus on customer research, data and insights with a shift from acquisition to loyalty. Understanding what success means and creating business cases with clear KPIs help our clients to make sure that we are driving measurable impact.
2. Ask your customers directly
Collecting feedback is critical to creating a CX strategy that will benefit your customer and how they experience your brand. It’s unsurprising that 58% of brands already have a focus on speaking directly to their customers.
Acting on the feedback is as important as asking for it in the first place – the most well recognised and loved brands truly understand that as customer needs and levels of expectations evolve you have to grow with them. By making sure you’re doing more of the things they tell you they love and working on the areas where they felt disappointed, you’ll be on your way to a winning CX strategy.
As part of our whitepaper RISK No Longer a 4 Letter Word Liam Price, Head of ECommerce at FatFace, told us; ‘I found most of our customer feedback was untapped and unused. By updating to a new platform, we could then refocus and utilise this data within the company. Feedback is a gift, we have to accept it accordingly.’
3. Use social listening tools to gain further insights
Social media has evolved to be a place where people are happy to do important tasks like banking, as well as shop for that outfit when inspiration hits their feed. Importantly for brands, social media is also a place where people share their thoughts and feelings on the products or services you offer. This will include where you’ve exceeded or fallen short of their expectations you can either join in the conversation or just listen and learn.
And, (as we all know) it’s not just the young’uns that can’t get enough, GWI has reported that as we move forward from the restrictions of last year, engagement from Gen X and Baby Boomers is still flourishing – a fantastic example of how a brands’ customers continue to evolve, and why keeping up with them is so important.
4. Work with partners that can help you make sense of your data
Accenture recently reported that only 17% of customers haven’t changed their shopping motivations because of the pandemic. 33% are evolving and 50% are defined as Reimagined “the pandemic caused them to rethink their personal purpose and re-evaluate what’s important to them in life … Reimagined—represents an opportunity for companies to capture market share.”
But how do you find the 88% and understand what is important to them? The most efficient way for our clients has been to have an expert, like us, as an extension of their team. We have the expertise, resource and time to dedicate ourselves to helping you gather and understand customer data to create a CX strategy we know will work. And we can get you there quickly.
5. Draw on trends and cross-market insights to predict future behaviour
Your customers are brilliant and tips 1-4 are important for making the best use of the data they share with you – this last tip isn’t about data, but following it will shortcut you to creating long-lasting connections with your customers, and be an innovative category leader.
Whilst imitation may be the best form of flattery, we find that brands who drive market dominance often look for inspiration outside of their own sector. By researching how similar challenges have been overcome in other industries we’re able to create game-changing propositions that offer “a new way”, a solution that your customer wouldn’t have thought of because they don’t always understand what is possible.
By understanding how these solutions have helped and hindered other markets, you’ll be better equipped to identify the opportunities within your own brand helping you to maximise efficiencies, sales and customer enjoyment.
Predicting future behaviour is key to making sure your shareholders have the confidence they need to invest in your CX strategy. A key part of our strategy is to put together a panel of existing and prospective customers and share our propositions, concepts and initiatives with them to understand which are motivating and appealing and which are most likely to nudge them through to the next stage of the purchase cycle. In doing so, we make sure any future concepts are based on evidence rather than assumptions.
Are you ready to create a CX Strategy that will drive measurable results?
We help the brands who want to de-risk their CX programme and focus on the initiatives that offer the greatest impact.
Get in touch if you’d like to chat about how we can help you identify the plans that will have a positive impact both commercially and for your customers.
Contact Us
To learn more about how we can help bring meaning and value to your customer data to drive rapid results, speak to us today.
Call us on: +44 20 3828 6440
Or
Email: paul.vallois@nimbletank.com