It is hard to believe that US companies lose $1.6 trillion dollars annually due to poor customer service according to Accenture. That figure is simply mind boggling. In today’s very competitive world of retail, it doesn’t take much for a customer to leave you, often it’s just a click of a mouse and they are gone.
Yet, getting the service experience right is well worth the investment. According to PwC, happy customers are willing to pay a 16% premium to companies that deliver excellent customer service. We all know that price becomes less of an obstacle if your customers love the experience.
So, what do retailers have to get right to stem this flow of lost customers, improve their overall customer experience (CX) and be a stand out amongst their competitors?
SmarterCX by Oracle, have found 7 key traits that are driving CX in 2021, which I thought were well worth sharing:
1) Customers want convenient communication – retailers that embrace both offline and online communications and communicate on the channel the customer prefers, enjoy benefits including a higher customer lifetime value and higher retention rates.
2) Customers prefer to speak to real people – according to Accenture this figure is as high as 83% of customers that prefer a real human rather than talking to a machine.
3) Customers expect a higher quality of service over speed – customers want good service that is personable and solution focussed. Team members are measured more on their willingness to solve issues rather than how fast they solve the issue.
4) Customers crave hyper-personalisation – customers are 80% more likely to buy if the experience is personalised.
5) Customer allegiance is strong when they commit – when customers commit to a brand, they go all in. According to KPMG, 52% of customers say they will buy their favourite brand even if it’s cheaper and more convenient to buy a rival product.
6) Modern customers seek modern loyalty programs – make them personal, seamless and valuable to members.
7) Loyalty isn’t unbreakable – customers do and will leave and, in this age, quickly. PwC found that 32% of customers would stop doing business with a brand they loved after just one bad experience.
How well are you looking after your customers?
Roger Simpson – CEO, The Retail Solution and Author of “The Ultimate Retail Sales Experience” With over 35 years’ industry experience, Roger Simpson is recognized as Australia’s #1 Authority on customer ROI in the retail industry and as a global expert on staff coaching, customer service, and selling skills.
