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Leading companies understand that they are in a customer-service business. How the organisation delivers to the customers is as important as what is being delivered. CEOs should consider the fundamentals of customer interaction and especially redesign their business to a more customer-centric focus. With advanced analytics, CEOs gain rapid insights to build customer loyalty, make employees happier, and reduce the organisation's costs. This takes patience to adapt and redesign functions to create value in a customer-centric way. Businesses are now recognising customer experience's power to grow loyalty and secure long-term growth.
1. Empower one’s employees and value their ideas
Empowered employees equal happy customers. Using a survey can uncover common points, and those insights can be used to review the systematic processes. A CEO should also understand the company’s values. A question is whether all employees understand the values that support good customer service. A CEO should also give employees a voice, thus offering valuable insight.
Additionally, a CEO should take action on the feedback. A clear connection should be made between what insight employees give and what the results are. These front-line employees bring the customer experience to life, and they also need to know what is expected of them. It’s important to note customers will only love the company if the employees also love it. Valuing employees’ ideas is of utmost importance. Employees are associated with each customer journey, and humans create more experiences than automated processes.
2. Use tech to create breakthrough customer experiences
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are tailor-made for customer experiences. The latest digital technology, such as customer-service chatbots and the translation of free-form texts, has made insights even faster, and new levels of personalisation are introduced. Agents can be trained based on customer feedback. Data points can be collected to optimise customer service experiences and coach agents. With AI and machine learning technology, customer behaviour can be predicted, and actions are acted upon before it’s too late. All digital platforms can be optimised well for a better customer experience. Such digitisation has helped businesses increase their numbers. CEOs and their organisations can get more creative with their products.
3. Embrace the Omnichannel mindset
One should maintain journeys via multiple devices. Today’s CEO understands that one’s customers use a mix of online and offline methods to connect between brands and often switch between the two multiple times. However meandering and unpredictable customer approaches are, the information is relayed seamlessly and consistently. Through the omnichannel strategy, a customer has the same experience whether one is communicated online, in-store, on the phone or anywhere else. Dealing with a company in multiple ways is smoother and more straightforward for customers. That, in turn, boosts customer loyalty. A bird view is provided to a customer’s journey, and through an omnichannel approach, everything is placed in a single approach that is visible and can be tracked. This allows one to get regular insights and enable action to improve the organisation's business. Omnichannel helps customers to be heard and understood. Offering a seamless experience boosts satisfaction and loyalty. As a result, omnichannel allows customers’ needs to be heard, making them feel heard and understood.
4. Personalize, personalise and personalise!
Customers are all about personalisation. 80% of customers often make purchases based on customer experiences. Customers also want organisations to understand them, strengthening the bond between the customer and the organisation. Data can be used to personalise survey questions, geolocation technology helps to personalise based on location, recommendations are offered based on previous purchases, and adapting one’s website or mobile application to provide dynamic content based on preferences are ways personalisation can be used. Overall the satisfaction of customers focuses on the location experience and the range of actions taken that improve the business performance. Closing the loop with the customers transforms the customer experience. The customers’ dialogue is used as the starting point, and a positive experience is delivered. Even having a customer experience management platform capable of collecting and analysing data, thus ensuring the right and personalised data is available for the concerned customers. However, when interacting, a CEO and his organisation should also learn and adapt to a customer’s journey. A customer journey mapping allows for the organisation to gain focus and make visuals about the customers’ progress, needs, and perceptions. As a result, internal operations can be transformed, and customer experience can be improved immensely. Customer experience improves based on personalised customer journeys. This journey mapping gives more insight into the customer, and the organisation can go beyond.
5. Improve Customer Service
Customer service is part of the overall customer experience and is a powerful tool. Customers often buy or interact with an organisation because they believe they will receive good support. Time and again, data show that customers that experience better customer service are more likely to interact with the same organisation again and stay loyal. Some ways to improve customer service include:
Conclusion
Customers are experiencing the brand and organisation whether a CEO invests in the experience. A successful CEO defines the customers’ experience and how to measure success. The CEO focuses on keeping the customers close by bringing the customers' voices to the employees. This includes bringing customers to share personally, from contact centre recordings or open-feedback surveys. A customer-centric approach brings better business, and this approach makes organisations 60% more profitable. Higher customer retention helps lower customer acquisition costs, which is a win-win. In addition, better customer experience also leads to better employee experience wherein one invests and listens to their employees to tap into their ideas for bettering the customer experience. Mastering the concept and execution of customer experience is a challenge, but it is an essential requirement for a CEO and organisation where customers have the power.
