by Granville Triumph
Your customers have more choices than ever, more access to information than ever and a stronger voice than ever. Whether you like it or not, they’re in control. In reality, they’ve always had the power. Modern technology has just made it easier to flex their muscles.
How important is the customer experience? Consider the findings of a recent customer service survey from Zendesk:
- You never get a second chance. Customers remember negative first impressions more than good ones, and those experiences dictate future buying habits. 39 percent of those who have bad experiences will avoid that vendor for two years, while 24 percent of those who have good experiences will seek out that vendor for two years.
- Misery loves company. More people share bad experiences (95 percent) than good experiences (87 percent). 54 percent share their bad experiences with more than five people compared to only 33 percent who have good experiences.
- Social media is the experience news hub. 45 percent share bad customer service reviews via social media compared to 38 percent of good reviews. Both positive (69 percent) and negative (63 percent) customer service reviews are widely read online.
- People are talking more than ever. 58 percent are more likely to share their experiences today than five years ago.
Simply put, a good customer experience has never been more valuable, and a bad experience has never been more damaging.
So how do you ensure the best possible customer experience? Well, a recent Forrester Research survey revealed that 73 percent of customer experience professionals plan to make experiences more innovative, while two-thirds say they’ve already done this during the past year.
Clearly, businesses view the customer experience as a top priority. But is innovation always the answer? Forrester found that most companies aren’t doing nearly enough to actually improve the customer experience. Innovation fails when it makes the customer experience more confusing and complicated instead of enhancing it.
To deliver a truly exceptional experience, customer service must be at the core of your company culture. True innovation that solves people’s problems and makes their lives better comes from collaboration – collaboration with employees, business partners and customers.
Technology enables this collaboration by giving everyone a seat at the table. Technology allows voices to be heard, ideas to be shared, best practices to be introduced and solutions to be implemented. It gives your staff the ability to respond quickly to both good and bad customer experiences, capitalizing on the good and minimizing the damage of the bad.
Customers are sharing their experiences to a captive audience. What are you doing to make sure the news being spread about your company is positive?