There is no denying that the customer’s experience is integral to the success of any business. As such, the role of Customer Experience managers is extremely important.
When preparing the Customer Experience strategy, a budget is set. This budget needs to be enough to ensure that all customer arena- be it the company’s website, the self-service system, or the help lines- are functioning optimally and offering a superior customer experience.
While many organizations agree that this is a crucial part of their success, a significant number do not invest enough in these areas. According to a survey carried out by Forrester, 92% of the companies that were surveyed placed customer experience as a priority, but only 47% felt that they budgeted a proper amount.
So, let us discuss some areas where more money could be spent to help you reach the goal of offering a great online customer experience.
#1. Devote Greater Resources to Customer Responses:
Gartner states that, “Customer service and support are the central opportunity for an enterprise to demonstrate ethical behavior.” Listening to customers is the most important part of any customer experience strategy. It is not enough to have a support line, or an email address where customers are asked to use whenever they need to make a suggestion or a complaint. Listening attentively to what the customers say is key. So, in essence, every suggestion, complaint, opinion or comment, needs to be evaluated. Apart from doing this, it is also important to show customers that you are paying attention to what they are saying or writing.
So make sure that you have enough personnel who can answer to emails and online comments promptly. If a customer is not happy, make sure that you are listening to what he/she said, and that you are going to take action to see to his/her complaint in a tangible manner. Following through needs to be facilitated and any complaints need to be handled in a systematic manner. Investing more in these measures can prove to be very profitable.
#2. Keep Improving the Website:
The organization’s website is the key medium for you to engage with your customers. Thus, the website needs to be seen as a sort of virtual shop or office where you are dealing with your customers. Gartner analyst Michael Maoz states that, “customer support is reactive (i.e., it responds to customer requests or problems), as well as proactive (it anticipates the information customers need to make informed decisions and keep products and services performing to their expectations).”
You also need to make sure that the customer care personnel and sales staff who deal with customers online are knowledgeable, up-to-date and friendly. You need to make sure that the website is up-to-date, nicely presented, well laid out and user-friendly. So investing in regular updates and website maintenance is a good way of improving your online customer experience.
To sum up…
These areas are often not given enough attention and sufficient funds, unfortunately. So it is important to embrace the fact that they are crucial in the organization’s success, and for a truly positive customer experience.
