The CX Academy defines Customer Experience as how a customer feels as a result of every interaction they have with a company.
Customer Experience is all about customer emotions. It’s a subjective response to any interaction with a company or organisation. It’s how the customer actually feels after they have engaged. Were they happy, angry, or confused? Their emotional feelings make up their overall customer experience.
Customers measure, subconsciously or consciously, their Customer Experience against their expectations of a company. Expectations are formed by customers based on word-of-mouth, advertising, social media and previous experiences.
Our expectations are no longer set by what the organisation tells us. It’s set by how we feel emotionally after using it. Delighted, disappointed, confused? The customer holds all the power today. If the experience meets or exceeds our expectations we will tell one or two friends. And if it doesn’t, we tell hundreds.
Benefits of Customer Experience (CX)
- Trust – The main reason customer experience is considered the fastest growing business discipline in the world is because customer trust is haemorrhaging around the world. Customers simply do not trust companies as they once did. They do however trust the unbiased opinions of their close friends, family and business colleagues.
- Customer Retention – In the past, investment was focused on attraction, conversion and closing the sale. What has been taking place in recent years is the growth of referrals by existing customers amongst their friends and colleagues. Today you need to give your customers a brilliant experience so that they do the selling for you.
- Customer Advocacy – The CX Academy’s definition of Advocacy is when the customer goes out of their way to promote the company to their friends, family and colleagues. CX is proven to be the most cost effective way of acquiring customers because it motivates existing happy customers to do the selling on your behalf. This is far more believable as it is unbiased and more effective as customers are far more likely to make a purchase decision based on insights from people they genuinely trust. When customers receive an excellent experience they will become your best sales people.
- Differentiation – CX is the only true way a company can differentiate itself in a world that is dominated by sameness.
- Employee Motivation and Longevity – Companies that deliver great CX have happier employees who are more motivated to deliver brilliant experiences. They are more engaged in their work and stay longer with the company.
- Cost to Serve is Reduced – Happy customers are less likely to call a company with any queries and your best staff will stay longer in their roles reducing the cost of rehiring.
- Higher Shareholder ROI – Higher shareholder returns on investment lead to happy shareholders and they are more likely to support the management teams who are delivering greater CX. Shareholders are also more likely to continue to invest in new initiatives which makes progressive companies more agile in delivering new initiatives to the market.
