It’s 2022 and after a really tough two years, brands globally have started looking forward to re-introducing growth strategies in their businesses. Since the beginning of the pandemic, companies globally have focused on pivoting their businesses to remain relevant in really harsh environments. Business continuity has also been top of mind for most. But this year, companies have started prioritizing growth.
Part of the company’s growth strategy is the customer experience and its part in the company. Over the last few years, especially in this really competitive landscape, the customer strategy has had to evolve somewhat, and this is one of the biggest considerations for the upcoming year.
With this in mind, we took a look at what some of the leading brands are doing globally with regard to their customer strategy. We unpacked some of the practical ways that brands are heightening the customer experience and using that to scale their business.
Shift Your Company Culture to Customer Centricity
Ask yourself a question. Who in your company is responsible for the customer? Who is responsible for their satisfaction and engagement with your company? Did you answer something along the lines of – my marketing department, my sales department and my helpdesks?
If this is your answer, we recommend that you delve into a totally immersive customer centric program as soon as possible. The fact is, every single employee in your organization should be focused on your customer strategy and focused on the customer experience.
From your development team working on the site to product creators, your customer should be at the core of your business. For decades, companies have focused on being product or sales-driven, and although that does have a place in the company, the highly competitive environment that we find ourselves in actually requires a shift to customer-centricity.
Automate as Much as Possible
Take a step back and have a look at your business process with a critical eye. How much time is being spent on processes and operations that can actually be automated? Customer experience can be highly resource-intensive, and if your staff is spending more time on simple processes that can actually be automated, you are losing money.
So, what can you automate? The answer is; almost everything in your business. Let’s take a look at your lead generation strategy to start. Platforms like LinkedIn are a source rich in leads, but trying to track them down and convert them takes up time and money.
Simple lead generation automation tools help you streamline the sales funnel, target new, high-quality leads, and initiate engagement with them automatically. You can automatically invite targeted second and third-level contacts with a personal note, optimize drip campaigns and integrate auto-responders to deal with the entry-level conversations.
Actually Know Your Customer
This is a question we’re asking all the time – how well do you know your customer? Although most companies seem to think that they do know their customers, the fact is that you should be doing a customer recap at least once a year.
Not only do you need to know the basic demographics of your customer, ie. their basic locations, age, genders, etc., but what their interests, behaviors, needs, and wants are. Do you know how your customers are currently feeling about your products? Do you know what that push to buy is? There is so much data out there at the tips of your fingers, so spend some time actually using it.
Tons of brands don’t spend time truly engaging with their customers. How do you know what your customer wants and needs from you? Are they actually completely satisfied with your products, services, and engagement? You can find out through surveys or smart marketing campaigns to find out whether you are hitting the right chords.
We have also repeatedly encouraged brands to actually speak directly to customers. You never know what gems of information and suggestions you might get out of it!
Continually Measure, Monitor and Track Everything
How do you know what is working and what isn’t if you aren’t watching the data? One of the most simple ways, especially on your site, is to keep an eye on Google Analytics. Here, you can monitor your traffic coming into your site, how it behaves, and where it goes to.
So, you can track which pages are working, which ones are not, and which campaigns are getting more traction than others. The tool also allows you a birds-eye view of where the traffic is coming from. You can track if traffic is organic, from a social platform, or from the emails that you sent out during the week.
Those platforms also provide you with key data and stats. You can track open rates, click-through rates, engagement, and bounces. Once you start collecting this data, you can measure what works for your marketing strategies and what doesn’t. You can also track what products and services are more in demand and rework your strategy from there.
Bottom Line
Keep in mind that your customer experience journey is about surprising and delighting customers. If you have not already designed a customer journey for your brand, and you have not gone through the UX development phase, take this year to step back and do it. You will be surprised by the results.
