Customer Experience is Fundamental. Customer experience is the engine driving revenue growth for a business. Once you understand and integrate this element, you will be able to increase your sales through the training of your teams. Training your teams and instilling in them a passion for excellence and customer experience is key to your development. Today, customer experience is one of the strategic priorities for many companies.
Reminder: Key Concepts of Customer Experience
A “customer momentum” driven by the empowerment of the consumer
The focus on customer experience is inseparable from a context in which the relationships between businesses and their customers have been reshaped by technological advances. The rise of digital has led to an increase in touchpoints and channels, resulting in a more complex, omnichannel customer journey. By accessing information before even making initial contact with the company, the journey of the “expert” customer is lengthened at the outset. The development of mobile devices and social media has given consumers greater bargaining power, allowing them to share their opinions on a product or service. The “community” customer journey therefore continues after the purchase, with the potential to either harm or enhance the brand’s reputation.
Fundamentals of Customer Experience
Customer Experience can be defined as the cumulative feeling a consumer has following all interactions with a company, represented by its employees, products, stores, websites, marketing campaigns, values, customer service centers, etc. Customer experience thus includes all touchpoints before, during, and after a purchase, but is not limited to them. In fact, it encompasses the company as a whole, taking into account both direct and indirect customer interactions.
Therefore, efforts to transform the shopping experience into a moment of delight (“wow effect”) are not sufficient on their own but must be integrated into a “full-end” customer journey, both from the customer’s perspective (salesforce, after-sales service, etc.) and from the company’s perspective (internal relationships between departments, invisible customer journeys).
Customer Experience can thus be understood both as the rational evaluation of a service or brand by the consumer, based on factual events such as product quality or wait times to speak to a sales representative, and as the emotion or irrational attachment associated with a brand or product.
Finally, Customer Experience is a relative concept that consumers continually compare based on two dimensions:
- Their history with the brand or company
- The customer experience offered by competitors
Customer Experience vs. Customer Relationship
In France, there is some confusion surrounding the term “Customer Experience,” as it remains relatively new, and its distinction from other terms, such as “customer relationship,” may not be very clear. However, Customer Experience goes beyond simple customer relationship management, as it deals with life moments that are not directly tied to that relationship. It also takes into account the customer’s overall view of the company.
Customer Experience and Economic Performance
One of the common limitations mentioned regarding Customer Experience is the difficulty in measuring its economic profitability. The topic is often perceived as “soft,” based on intuition, with little quantitative data to support decisions, such as launching a Customer Experience improvement program. As a result, 46% of companies that do not implement Customer Experience management programs cite the lack of measurable results as a reason for not doing so.
However, better management of Customer Experience can result in increased revenue for the company. There are three key drivers:
- Additional revenue generated by an increase in the average revenue per loyal customer.
- Revenue assured by a decrease in customer churn rates and an extension of the average customer lifespan.
- Additional sales generated by word of mouth, i.e., customer acquisition through recommendations from existing customers.
