Get customer obsessed and see your business flourish

AN overwhelming majority of marketers see improving customer experience as a high or critical priority in 2017, according to a study by Forrester Marketing.

In an era known as the digital age, with technology advancing rapidly, the pressure to deliver your brand promise to a customer base that is more empowered than ever is challenging.

Yet understanding the importance of customer data and the challenges presented by a demanding consumer can see your business thrive.

Of those surveyed by Forrester, 77 percent saw improving customer experience this year as pivotal.

Collect, understand and use data

At the Forrester Marketing CX 2017 event in Frankfurt, Kadir Dindar, head of global customer intelligence at data analysts SAS, quoted former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts: “Consumer data will be the biggest differentiator in the next years. Whoever unlocks the reams of data and uses it strategically will win.”

Implementing sophisticated analytics will allow you to understand data and reveal valuable insights into customer preferences.

But beyond this, understanding data can also show if you are using the right marketing platforms to target customers.

Similarly, analytics will also clearly define whether the correct marketing strategies are being employed for the business to see a healthy return on investment.

Understand your customer

No matter how good, useful or trendy your product may seem, nobody will buy it if they do not believe they need it.

Marketing and advertising will only get you so far. Relating to your customer, providing them with a unique experience across all digital and traditional platforms, can get you the rest of the way.

One of the significant areas of customer experience lies in the handling process, with Dindar pointing to feedback published by SAS remarking on how important the personal journey of purchasing was to a customer.

“Customers are almost twice as likely [to be] satisfied if customer conversations are handled through journeys rather than individual touch-points,” he said.

The same research also suggested that personal interaction which provided a fulfilled customer experience was often more important than how much the consumer paid for the product.

SEE ALSO: How embracing data analytics can help your startup thrive

Creating brand loyalty

Brand loyalty is earned, and by no means a given. If you are a startup, this is an area you can build and maintain with a few simple rules.

Jochen Kieninger, head of CRM at German-based drugs store dm-drogerie markt, explained at the Forrester Marketing CX 2017 event: “We are trying to do all our communications to being attractive, not seductive. Not manipulative by giving offers that have hidden hooks. When we lower a price, we guarantee that we will not raise it again for the next four months. This creates a relationship with customers who will trust us and come back again.”

The success of your business is based on customer satisfaction, because unless you own all of the world’s liveable necessities, then people will always have another option.

To drive revenue gains, cost reductions and improve your reputation, you need to start a transformative journey toward a mindset of customer obsession.

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