5 ways to create your customer experience strategy
4 min readIf a customer chooses your particular product over that of a competitor, it is because the brand has differentiated itself. She managed to awaken something in him that he did not find in other similar products. “The customer experience professional” brings together all the emotions felt by a person before, during and after the act of purchase. This experience therefore conditions the act of purchase, but also customer loyalty. On the other hand, it is what all the brands use to distinguish themselves from the competition.
What are the components of the customer experience?
The quality of a Customer experience professional strategy depends on a multitude of factors, the results of which are indeed tangible. The case of the relationship with the seller or the atmosphere at a physical point of sale is an example: when they are good, they result in a higher conversion rate and customer loyalty. In the case of digital, the graphic charter of a website or rich media elements (videos and images) help to offer an exceptional customer experience.
The quality of the customer experience is based on four pillars:
The cognitive dimension:
These are elements that only appeal to the rational. A product must therefore be deemed useful by the buyer.
- The affective dimension:
- Is the product satisfactory?
- Does it fulfill its function?
- Note that this notion of satisfaction depends directly on the buyer’s expectations.
- The conative / behavioral dimension:
- In general, this dimension targets purchase intentions. It also includes customer loyalty.
The emotional dimension:
This is the most comprehensive measure, since it seeks to express the general satisfaction of the buyer around a product. This therefore not only integrates the product itself, but also the seller, the quality of the customer relationship, etc.
Measure customer satisfaction:
Even though customer experience can be subjective, metrics do exist. Among them, benchmarks are necessary, including one expressing the optimal Customer experience professional.
The customer relationship audit is also possible. Finally, a benchmark of your sector of activity will give you the keys to differentiate yourself.
How to implement a quality customer experience strategy?
1 – Adopt a strong and consistent positioning
Positioning is a reflection allowing you to give your offer a realistic, attractive and if possible different position on the market and in the minds of consumers. In other words, strategic choices are necessary, because it is illusory to want to be everywhere.
How to create effective positioning? Three principles must be observed:
- Keep it simple:
No need to try to complicate things. Sometimes a simple, short and punchy slogan is enough.
- Be relevant:
The elements of the marketing mix must correspond to the needs and expectations of your target.
- Be credible:
It is important to take into account the positioning according to the competitors in order to occupy a special place in the mind of the customer. Differentiate from the top (sophistication) or from the bottom (purification)? In the two cases, the challenges will not be the same, and your experience strategy will have to be in line with this objective.
These are not the only axes: profitability and sustainability will also be taken into account. But these three principles already represent good avenues for reflection.
2 – Personalize the customer relationship through intelligent use of data
Today, data allows for much more personalization of the customer experience than ever before. Thanks to them, you have the ability to better understand your customers and their expectations.
Your strategy must therefore allow conclusions to be drawn from these insights. It is important to process this data to integrate it into decision-making. In the medium and long term, you will get a customer experience that is closer to what your audience expects.
3 – Deploy on several channels
The single-channel is visibly on the verge of disappearing. With the omnipresence of the web and mobile devices, a channel strategy has become essential. It is thus estimated that purchases would thus be boosted by around 30%. The customer journey is a more than interesting notion knowing that new features are available. Some brands do not yet know how to combine all of these terminals to promote the customer experience without being intrusive. Choices are necessary to proceed in stages.
4 – A / B testing to optimize your customer experience
“Succeeding in a customer experience strategy is complicated. You have to find a customer experience strategy that is in line with the real expectations of customers and also compatible with its business model”. Faced with this, all the tools are good to take. A / B testing consists of offering different experiences to customers, randomly, and observing which one performs the best. Depending on the results, it will be possible to generalize the process.
5 – Towards a customer-centric culture
Rather than product-oriented, the strategy of many brands is now customer-centric. As a reminder, a customer-centric culture takes place from the customer’s point of view in order to take an interest in their daily life and their problems.
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