The customer is always right… well sometimes. Building a strong customer experience has always been critical for midsize businesses. Having well developed customer support channels and an engaging customer journey are two ways midsize businesses have historically differentiated themselves from their larger competitors.
I recently came across an article by Bernard Chung, the Global Head of Product Marketing, Commerce Cloud, where he introduced 3 ways that midsize businesses can evolve their customer experience. Considering the Corona pandemic has forced companies to reevaluate the ways their customers interact with their brands digitally, I figured sharing the article with the community might be valuable.
In the article, Bernard referenced a study conducted by Oxford Economics which found that improving the customer experience is of utmost importance for most leaders within the next 3 years. According to the study, these companies are utilizing chatbots, analytics and artificial intelligence to ensure that the customer experience not only remains unshaken in uncertain times, but to improve the customer experience moving forward.
As you probably know, convenience plays a large role in the customer decision making process for choosing where and how they buy something. Considering that digital commerce channels are considered the most convenient way of purchasing, midsize businesses need to prioritize these channels moving into the future. Utilizing the aforementioned technology, midsize businesses can and should harness data to optimize these services.
Now, let’s get into the 3 ways midsize businesses can level-up their customer experience!
1. Customers Remember the Personalized Experiences
I think Bernard makes a great point here. Personalization is more than “inserting the customer’s name in the subject line of a promo, the salutation of an e-mail, or on the Web-shop home page.” Artificial Intelligence and other automation technologies create opportunities to understand your customer on a deeper level and meet their exact needs in real time.
2. The Holistic View of the Customer
Collecting and analyzing data across all facets of the customer service function including sales, marketing, and operations can give you a holistic view of the customer. These insights can help your business better understand your customer and in turn offer a more tailored experience for them.
3. Let the Customer Choose
The blind loyalty that consumers once had to brands has diminished in favor of convenient buying experiences and the freedom of choice. Customers want to buy when, where, and how they want without extra hassle. Businesses that enable this will earn their customers trust.
The Customer Might Not Always be Right… but They Always Come First
At the end of the day customers drive business and midsize businesses need to evolve and understand the ways that customers want to shop. Utilizing data is the key factor that will allow these midsize businesses to compete with the larger enterprises. Be personal, look at the holistic view of the customer, and give them space. These 3 simple, yet crucial steps will help you evolve the customer experience of your business in the digital age!
If you want to check out the full article, click here.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic in the comments below. Any thoughts on how to improve the customer experience that weren’t mentioned in this blog post would be greatly appreciated!
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P.S. Later this week I’ll be releasing the first part of a new series where I speak with Simona Marincei, the Head of Intelligent Processes – VP, Product Management SME where we will discuss new features coming to Business ByDesign and how they are relevant for SMBs! Make sure to check it out!
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