Hello!
The customer experience is one of the key aspects of revenue earning that influences the financial wellbeing of a company. It deserves serious attention from the CFOs to make sure that these efforts are properly funded. Medium-sized organizations are becoming increasingly focused on customer experience to stand out among the crowd and develop customer loyalty. Conventionally the responsibility of measurement and improvement in customer experience lies with the operations leaders. Here are the main crucial elements for the CFOs of medium-sized companies to consider for better management of customer experience.
Leadership Visibility
Senior leaders in any company such as CEOs and CFOs have to lead by example and publicly demonstrate that customer experience is one of the top priorities for their organization. Some of the actions a company can take include having a customer experience manager that reports to the CEO directly for providing support and focus. This seniority level is necessary because the customer experience manager has to tend to several areas within a business such as marketing, sales, operations, and customer service. How the senior leadership will treat the customer experience sets the tone for the others in the company to follow.
Using Significant Metrics
There is an adage that says, if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. There are many kinds of metrics such as win rates, on-time deliveries, turnover figures, and employee satisfaction indicators. Two of the key metrics needed to judge customer experience include NPS or Net Promoter Score and CES or Customer Effort Score. NPS seeks feedback from the customers while CES is a measure of the customer perspective. The metrics to be selected for customer experience are not one-size-fits-all kinds of solutions. Newer methods for measuring loyalty will be developed thereby allowing various companies to develop metrics that can identify the root causes for an issue and opportunities.
Understand the Customer
Prospects are always looking for companies that have a good understanding of their niche, business, and their particular requirements. They are always expecting the businesses to understand them better and be proactive in delivering their solutions. Companies having access to the customer views and can process the available data concisely and clearly, can differentiate them. So, the companies have to understand the full picture of a customer including collecting and analyzing data regarding profitability, touchpoints of the clients, and their requirements. Companies having a full understanding of their clientele are likely to outwit their opponents.
Offer the Best Products or Services Available
Nothing sells your products more than the quality of the products. The same applies to services as well. The reason you have customers in the first place is the product you sell or the service you render. What you are offering should be the best they can get. Your customers should get the best deal, buying from you or paying for your services. Nobody is saying, 'sell at the least price'. However, let what you are offering to them be the best deal they can get. Your customers should get value for what they are paying for. Ensure that you work on the quality of the utility of your goods and services and you will have in your business, satisfied and happy customers. When your customers are happy, referrals will come in continuously. If your customers are sure they will get value for their money, they would not mind if your brand is not the cheapest. Make it a point of action to constantly improve on the quality of your goods and services. Add new features and improve on existing ones. Give your customers something to look forward to always.
Design the Customer Experience
The details about customer experience can be found out in customer journey mapping by using the company process. It is a terrific method for identifying the probable pain points. This whole process provides a great opportunity to review the whole process and it details the crucial insight about customer wait time, requests for several kinds of info, and many requests for the same info.
Collectively the management team can identify and prioritize various projects for improving and engineering customer experience.
Empowering the Employees
One of the more efficient ways of responding to the customer requirements is by empowering the employees with the development of a culture where they are encouraged to resolve the customer requirements and issues without having to seek approval. Empowering the employees to take necessary decisions means quicker response to the customers. It also improves employee satisfaction and decreases turnover. Companies that are good at maintaining seasoned employees are more likely to provide a better customer experience. You can outsource certain work to a global PEO to improve employee experience with your company. In case you are in South Africa, you should check out an international payroll that can help you with this process.
Have a Feedback Loop
Even when you have robust customer data and your employees are empowered, the customer experience may not improve unless the results are going to be shared on an ongoing basis with the company senior management and workers operating at the front. Companies have to learn what is working out and what does not. They need to have established procedures and policies in place for changing courses if necessary. Improvement in the customer experience is an ongoing process and not the destination.
Integrate Your Customers With Your Company's System
Everyone wants to be recognized. You can apply this natural law to your business’s advantage. Recognize your customers. Beyond recognition, reward them. Let them feel like they are part of your business' progress because they are.
Give your long-standing customers special attention, let your high spending customers have incredible discounts. Reach out to them on their special days and during special holidays.
This means that you should keep a detailed record of your customers. Engage them about developments as early as possible and reward your loyal customers. The bottom line is that they should feel appreciated. They should know that you are happy to have them and you care about them. There is a lot to be gained from this process. Your happy customers will most likely bring in others.
Also, offer extra information about your field to your customers. Educate them about your products or services and more generally about the industry. For instance, if you sell cars, you can give them simple tips about cars. Let your customers see your brand as their go-to for information. They do not have to pay for the extra information they are getting from your company. Let it be one of the perks of being your company's customer. This will not only create a sense of gratitude in them, but it will also ultimately boost their confidence in your business. This is a good spot to be for any business.
Train the Part of Your team That Relates With Customers
The part of your staff that relates with your customers should be specially trained for the job.
These include your marketers, sales managers, customer care unit, receptionists, etc. Every worker should of course be well trained but workers under these categories should be specially trained for their duty. This is because they are usually the first point of contact for your customers.
These are the workers who help to create the first impressions in the mind of your customers, they help to paint a mental picture of what your company is like in the minds of your customers. This is a crucial point for you, this may be the difference between converting inquiries to purchases.
Therefore, these sets of workers would need more comprehensive in-service training for their positions in the company. They should have a good knowledge of the product. They should know about every new development so they would be equipped with information when inquiries come. Also, their communication skills should be worked on constantly to achieve improvement. If they will be communicating with your customers, they should learn to do it well.
Emotional intelligence should also be a strong point for this part of the team. Your workers can not afford to blow the lid off their emotions when customers tender their grievances, even if the customers do so in an impolite manner. All of these should be incorporated in the service training for your workers to improve your customer experience. You can incorporate this into the process of recruitment.
Leverage Customer Experience for Revenue Growth and Propel Your Business
Most CFOs in any company have several responsibilities, however; customer experience management is one of the key areas of an organization. It requires their attention because it is strongly linked to the financial health and revenue-building of a company. They should realize that this for them is a win-win situation. The amount spent on creating and maintaining a great customer experience is an investment that yields in multiple folds. Happy customers are to a business, an invaluable asset that can transform into larger profit margins and more visibility. Therefore, business owners should create a system that allows them to engage their customers better and more efficiently. The earlier business owners recognize how important their customer experience is to their business, the better.
Thank you!
Subscribe to our newsletter! Join us on social networks!
See you
