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CX, product, and price—getting the balance right

Barry Lemon

25 Mar 2020

Customer Experience (CX) is transforming the business arena. Where quality of product and scale of price once defined a company’s reputation, success and revenue are now heavily influenced by how effectively your business interacts with customers across all touchpoints. Brands that invest in their customers’ experience are enjoying revenue growth rates faster than ever before. A clear return on investment that’s not to be sniffed at.

86% of customers who receive great CX are likely to repurchase from the same company, and satisfied customers spend 200% more each year.

Although CX isn’t a new concept, the urgency around getting it right is, and unfortunately, your CX strategy probably isn’t working as hard for you as it should be.

80% of companies believe they provide ‘superior CX’, but only 8% of customers agree.

CX and product price

Traditional eCommerce dictates that price affects purchase volume – (prime example: sale season) – but low prices aren’t enough to ensure ongoing customer loyalty, especially in the B2B space. Over half of customers are willing to pay more for a guaranteed good experience, and 69% of customers are prepared to switch brands due to real or perceived poor service [ThinkJar]. Technology moves at a million miles an hour, as does daily life, and customers don’t have the time or the desire to ‘figure things out’. An easy, seamless experience is now a baseline expectation rather than a nice to have. If you haven’t got a good CX strategy, then regardless of price, you’re in danger of hurting your revenue. After all, how many times have you heard someone say, ‘I know it costs more, but it’s just so much easier to deal with company X,Y,or Z’. But how do you make sure your CX strategy is pulling customers in, rather than pushing them away?

Be pro-active

Assumptions are the mother of all downfall. Reach out to your customers to find out exactly what their pain points are; either directly with key customers or through an en-mass survey. You might be surprised by the commonalities that are flagged, but this will help to identify what the priorities are for your customers. In addition to the insight gathered, customers will appreciate their opinions being heard and are likely to remain loyal for longer if they feel their needs are being put first. For extra brownie points, why not use some of these contacts as a control group? The only people better suited to test new solutions than an established QA team are the customers who will be the ones ultimately navigating them. Share these findings with your internal team/s and discuss what the solutions are, and what this means for them –  after all, if they’re unable to support a solution in-house (e.g. for resource reasons) then it isn’t really a solution at all. Tip: Investing in an automated, personalised platform/programme is one of the most popular win-wins for in-house teams and customers. It frees up resource while maintaining consistent, tailored communication that’s relevant to customers. Learn from CX leaders Cisco: “CX dictates competitive advantage; timely, tailored and value lead touchpoints are the key to securing customer loyalty and revenue retention.”

Be practical

Once you’ve identified the main pain-points, you can work on the relevant solutions. Be realistic about what you can change first rather than trying to tackle everything all at once. Little improvements that build up over time will prevent customers from feeling alienated. They will also have a bigger, long-term effect and allow you to tweak and tailor aspects as needed. Be prepared to invest in CX – after all, you can’t buy love or loyalty. More than 50% of organisations are redirecting their investments to CX innovations because customers are 4.5x more likely to pay a premium for excellent CX [Forrester]. Higher investment in CX will equal a higher ROI. Tip: Scalability is key; if you change too many things at once, customers can become alienated, resulting in a dip in CX. If you’re budget-restricted, start by identifying one or two elements per-quarter that you can tackle. Making sure your end CX goals are achievable is far more beneficial to you and your customers than a half-hack.

Plan your KPIs

Think about the what and the why around needing an improved CX; and how this could be measured. CX should be a supporting pillar of your business strategy and work in harmony with your overall business plan. Having measurable KPIs will help you keep track of performance and identify sooner where this is or isn’t performing. From building customer advocacy and brand loyalty that ensures customers are only interested in purchasing your products – (we all know an Apple die-hard) – to increasing the number of net-new customers who will benefit from an enriched experience, KPIs will be as individual to every business as their CX strategy.

And remember 

Customer Experience and Customer Service are two different things. CX should encompass all the touchpoints a customer will encounter when interacting with your business, accounting for multiple assets, products and processes, as well as communication (or the perception of) across social platforms. CX is bigger than a single point of interaction, it starts from the moment a customer becomes aware of a service or product and carries through to (and past) the point of purchase. In the words of CX experts Cisco: “Positive customer journeys lead to increased customer retention and renewal and ultimately have a multiplying impact on the bottom line.” At Velo, we’ve worked extensively with some of the best CX teams in the business and have run multiple CX defining projects, from initial analysis through to deployment. We’re here to help, so if you have a CX problem or just a CX question you want to run past us, feel free to get in touch via: studio@velomarketing.co.uk 

Barry Lemon

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