Improve Customer Experience with These Strategies Why Your Business Needs a Great Customer Experience Strategy Businesses can’t survive without customers, and customers show far less loyalty than they have in past generations. Frankly, it’s important to improve the customer experience to remain competitive and retain customers. All website interactions should offer easy and transparent customer service options, automated processes and the ability to perform complex tasks 24/7 using self-service. The customer experience came in first in an Econsultancy study that sampled opinions about what customers wanted when interacting with online companies. [1] In all types of businesses, products and prices take a back seat to the customer experience, content marketing, mobile-friendly displays, personalization and social media connections. It’s incredibly easy to switch providers of both B2C and B2B products and services when switching is just a matter of contacting another company over the internet. That’s why great UI/UX experiences are so important. A better UX leads to better conversion rates and greater customer loyalty. Improve Customer Experience with These Strategies Great UI/UX is both strategic and tactical. American Express discovered that 60 percent of customers were willing to pay more for better online experiences. [2] What this means for B2B companies is that they must adopt B2C conveniences such as automated customer service, technology options for communications, third-party platform connections and user interfaces that remember each client and personalize their online experiences. Integrating all business applications on the sales platform is central to the process of automating and personalizing user experiences and building user interfaces that can perform lots of customer-centric tasks. Some of the top benefits of creating a great UI/UX include: Understanding Customers An integrated sales platform enables automated data collection about customer behavior on the site, makes easy social media connections, enables comprehensive self-service and builds a holistic profile of each customer. Developing a Clear Customer-centric Experience Companies need to define their core values and goals to develop the right policies. These principles can guide the company’s strategic vision despite the evolving nature of business and marketing. Capturing Data in Real-Time The only way to be sure that any marketing plans are working as intended is to monitor data on customer behavior. This process is easy when the site is fully integrated, or the platform comes with a machine learning module, like Clarity ecommerce does. Measuring ROI It’s critical to measure ROI to adjust marketing tactics based on buying trends. Integrated sites can collect lots of data from many sources, but decision-makers can also post surveys to collect valuable information. The simplest and most important question to include is “Would you recommend our company to a friend, associate or family member?” Another popular question is, “What can we do to improve your experience?” By asking their opinion, it’s telling them that they are important to you and that you care about them as a customer. Fostering an Emotional Connection Content is king when it comes to generating customer emotion. One study found that emotion drives 50 percent of all online sales. [2] Emotion can deliver stronger sales, and a better UX leads to better conversion rates. Multichannel content includes written articles, catalog descriptions, photos, images, videos, emails, etc.--everything that drives sales. Delivering Better Customer Service People are living in an age where it’s becoming difficult to connect with any organization on the phone. Companies can offer many points of contact to their customers with integrated websites. These include Chatbots, Live Chat, emails, customer contact centers, direct-line phone contact and other options. The user experience doesn’t end with a single sale, and companies need to foster agile communications across multiple touchpoints to reinforce the customer experience at all levels of marketing. Generating Predictive Analyses of Customer Needs Integrated platforms can learn about customers and use predictive analyses to predict customer behavior. AI and ML modules can be integrated into the platform, and many versions of CRM software already have these capabilities. Integrated software can create a 360-degree profile of each customer, create and deliver personalized emails based on various criteria and provide relevant product suggestions based on the customer’s buying history. Surprisingly, about 54 percent of customers use emails to contact customer support, and live customer chats (live chat) generate the highest customer satisfactions ratings of all forms of communication. [3] Prepare to Improve Customer Experience with Platform Development You don’t have to add every feature to build an integrated website. You can add modules and integrations as your business needs and grows. You can expand your operations with product sales in additional online forums and brick-and-mortar locations. You just need a development partner that listens to your needs, collaborates with your IT staff, knows about B2B marketing and tests and delivers debugged architecture and code so that your business works the way you want. With more than 1,300 web and mobile projects launched, Clarity is the partner that can help you with your project. Give us a call today and we’d be happy to help you get started. References: [1] Superoffice.com: 32 Customer Experience Statistics for 2018 https://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-experience-statistics/ [2] Superoffice.com: 7 Ways to Create a Customer Experience Strategy https://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-experience-strategy/ [3] Qualtrics.com: 18 Customer Experience Stats to Know in 2018 https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/customer-experience-stats/