We know that customer experience is important, and businesses are investing a lot of money to improve it. However, the field of customer experience, especially digital experience, is still relatively new. Therefore, it’s common for companies to be learning as they go. This however, doesn’t always yield the best results.
In a recent Gartner study, it showed that many customers can’t actually tell a huge difference between digital experiences among many brands.
Now that doesn’t mean that customer experience isn’t important. A Forrester study showed that brands with superior customer experience bring in 5.7 times more revenue than competitors that lag in customer experience.
However, it does show us that companies are still having trouble using customer experience as a true differentiator. In order to actually see value from a customer experience investment, there is clearly something still missing from many brands.
With more than 15 years of experience in helping brands differentiate with customer experience, here are some of the top mistakes that we see companies are making.
You’re offering a lot of channels
So this isn’t always a bad thing, but let’s look at an analogy. You’re lost and looking for directions. You ask someone where the address you’re looking for is. They give you 5 different routes to get there. Is that helpful? Well, maybe. But wouldn’t it be most helpful if they just gave you the easiest route to take?
That’s exactly what happens when we give customers all the choice in the world without emphasizing the channel that is actually going to work best. When it comes to channel strategy, opti-channel is the best way to create a differentiated experience. Learn more about it here.
You’re pre-defining their conversation flow
Natural conversation can take a lot of twists and turns. With automation, things can feel overly robotic when we only give customers a set amount of options. What if their query doesn’t fit into one option? What if they are calling about more than one thing? What if they would categorize their issue as billing when your organization defines it as returns?
The point is, in an attempt to standardize and simplify the customer journey, many companies have actually made it more of a maze. In order to differentiate, the focus should be on making the conversation flow feel natural and easy.
You’re including too much technology
Technology makes things easier. However, if there are too many disjointed systems in place, it can actually detract from the experience.
Instead of thinking about having many tech systems to support the customer journey, think about having fewer systems that are able to simplify and make the journey more cohesive. In the end, a customer should not even feel like they are on a journey, but rather having a simple conversation.
You’re giving them offers
You know those kiosks at the mall that try to give you samples when you walk by? Although they are giving you something for free, I rarely see anyone actually take them up on the offer. Why not? It has to do with the fact that like many offers that are thrown our way in this digital age, there is no real value to the customer.
We aren’t saying that cross-selling is a bad idea. We’re just saying that if you are going to take a customer’s precious time to offer them something, it better be relevant and useful to them. Personalization is key here. Don’t waste a customer’s time with something that they don’t care about.
You’re only focusing on the customers
In customer experience, it’s easy to assume that all the attention should be placed on the customer, but in fact that leaves out many important stakeholders that can majorly influence the customer experience. Namely, contact center agents.
Have you ever had a bad experience with a customer service agent? Beyond the bad taste that it leaves in your mouth about the company, it can actually steer customers to bring their business elsewhere.
Focusing on agent experience (also called employee experience), is a way to in turn improve the customer experience. You can learn more about it here.
