Customers are running away from you? How the CX topic is noticeably moving up the corporate strategy priority list and thus preventing customer frustration.
I am often asked what the actual task of our work is. And when I then say that it is 360º about the customer and about customer lifetime value (CLV), about creating the actual customer experience (CX), then I often look into questioning faces. But when I explain that 68% of all customers are dissatisfied and for this reason reject companies, products or services, the seriousness becomes immediately clear. And our task as well: it is to prevent exactly that.
That we are in the process of changing from product-oriented to customer-oriented business is known to most of us. Also that the power relationship between customer and supplier has long since changed due to digital change. The customer is no longer the prey on which the suppliers can hunt according to their conditions. The customers set the rules and use their ways to drive the providers in front of them through public comments and ratings and in the worst-case punish the companies by finally turning away from them.
"Companies in all industries must face up to the claim of inspiring the customer - in every respect. Otherwise the customer will run away. “
68% of dissatisfied customers must be taken more seriously. And I don't just say this because I come from the hospitality sector, a branch of industry that is familiar with the problem of "complaints from guests".
In spite of the growing appreciation and the realization that one has to take care of the customer also thanks to the available data through digitalization, the concrete attitude is missing. Or better expressed, the lack of consistency visible in processes, standards, or the right mindset of the entire company (not only of a Chief Happiness Officer).
What does that mean in concrete terms? Specifically, it means that a little customer love is not enough. Even if it is a topic that is made a topic of discussion in many companies, the customer journey is analyzed up and down and complaints are also processed in the first instance. It's not enough to reach the customer, certainly not to understand him. In many cases, customers are dissatisfied, often feel they are not seen, not heard and certainly not treated well, as we can see. And as we often find out in our initial analyses such as Mystery Client, Guest or Mystery VIP- Guest again and again.
The answer, therefore, lies in the quantification of the customer experience. In my opinion, more than just talking about the customer side, numbers should also speak for themselves more often. They are also excellently understood in C- suites. What are the company's benefits in facts and figures? What do customer management strategies achieve at the end of the day? In other words, the topic of customer experience clearly gains in importance, radiance, and sense by introducing convincing metrics such as customer loyalty, advocacy, customer referral, ROI or NPS and others. The positive, profitable "side effects" of a successful customer management concept become wonderfully visible through precisely these metrics. And so the topic rises to the top of the priority list in the corporate strategy.
A full 82% could have been their brand ambassadors, even brand lovers, by now. And there I count 14% of all votes of those who were not satisfied with the product itself, in addition to the 68% of customers who were treated badly. After all, if you know your customers, and we know this from our consulting, you know exactly which products they love. But before our work can start, make the customer your priority, set KPI's and measure it.
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