Why Customer Experience Matters

This article breaks down the essentials of Customer Experience (CX) - what it is, why it matters, and how it directly impacts your brand, customer loyalty, and revenue. It’s more than just good service. CX covers every touchpoint, from browsing your website to unboxing a product or getting support. In this article we cover how to approach, measure, and improve customer experience, using feedback, technology and personalisation to meet modern expectations. Whether you’re just starting with CX or looking to refine your strategy, this blog gives you the practical steps to make real improvements that keep customers coming back.

What you’ll learn:

• The difference between customer experience and customer service

• How CX influences brand perception, trust, and customer loyalty

• The real cost of poor customer experiences (and how to avoid them)

• How great CX drives repeat business, referrals and revenue growth

• Which tools (like surveys and social media) help you gather CX feedback

• How employee experience and personalisation play a big role in CX success

• What to focus on in digital customer journeys to reduce friction

• Key metrics for measuring CX, including NPS, CSAT, CES, and CLV

• The “four Ps” of great customer experience: People, Processes, Place, and Personalisation

Let's explore more about Customer Experience

Do you know why 80% of leaders plan to increase customer service budgets over the next year? It's because of two mighty important letters: CX.

More specifically, that means Customer Experience (CX), which is your customers' perception of their interactions with your company. It's not just about providing good service; it's about creating a positive Customer Experience that keeps customers coming back and recommending you to others.

Competition is fierce today, and if customers are not happy with how you treat them, they'll find someone else who will meet their expectations. Business is a two-way relationship that needs to be nurtured.

The problem is many companies don't know how to approach Customer Experience, much less how to measure it. We're here to help.

This blog post explores why customer experience is crucial for business success.

Customer experience vs. customer service

Customer Experience sounds like a buzzword, but it's so much more than that. CX encompasses every interaction a customer has with your business across all channels and touchpoints.

For example, imagine you're buying a new phone. Your Customer Experience starts when you first see an ad for the phone. It continues as you browse the company's website, chat with a sales rep, make your purchase, unbox the phone, and use it for the first time. Even when you need help and call customer support, that's part of your Customer Experience, too!

Customer experience versus customer service

Many people get confused because they think customer experience is simply providing good customer service. But there's more to it than that.

Customer service is just one piece of the customer experience puzzle. It's what happens when a customer needs help or has a problem. Customer experience, on the other hand, is the whole picture. Every interaction a customer has with your company, from start to finish.

Of course, good service can and will positively influence CX. Yet companies must focus on crafting consistently positive experiences across all customer touchpoints.

How customer experience shapes brand perception

Positive customer experiences shape brand perception. Every smooth interaction signals that your company is reliable, responsive and worth talking about.

Customers also love if you share their values. In fact, 82% of shoppers want a brand's values to align with theirs.

If you showcase values like transparency, respect, and a dedication to customer satisfaction in your CX approach, that will positively reflect on your brand image. Customers will see you as an authentic company that keeps its word. In turn, overall customer engagement will improve.

After that, the consistency of positive CX plays a massive role in shaping customer trust and loyalty over time. It's not a one-and-done thing. You must implement a customer-focused mindset within your company centred on delivering great CX across all interactions.

Consequences of poor customer experience

If the benefits aren't convincing enough, the consequences of poor customer experience should be considered. Negative experiences can severely damage a brand's reputation. If customers have bad experiences and feel mistreated, they'll vent online for all to see. Their negative reviews and complaints on social media will influence other people's perceptions of your brand.

Poor CX also erodes customer trust in your company. Once trust is broken, it's tough to regain. Without trust, customers have no reason to remain loyal or recommend you to others.

How customer experience drives loyalty

Great customer experiences build loyalty. When people feel valued, they return, spend more and grow their lifetime value with your brand. In fact, 88% of online shoppers say they are more likely to continue shopping on a retailer website that offers a personalised experience.

That's the powerful connection between great CX and repeat business. You foster meaningful emotional connections by crafting positive end-to-end experiences tailored to customers' needs and preferences. Customers feel valued, which makes them more likely to buy from you again.

Loyal, satisfied customers also contribute to business growth through word-of-mouth referrals. They become genuine brand ambassadors who happily recommend you within their networks. So, in many ways, CX excellence fuels growth by generating more sales and lowering acquisition costs.

How customer experience affects revenue

Likewise, multiple studies reveal a direct correlation between customer satisfaction and increased sales revenue. McKinsey found that companies that grow faster drive 40% more of their revenue from personalisation than their slower-growing counterparts. That's massive!

Remember, a company's primary goal is to turn a profit. With this data in mind, it's clear that investing in CX is a wise decision for business growth. It just makes good business sense.

Using feedback to improve customer experience

Feedback is the engine of CX improvement. It's a three-step process. First, you gather feedback through various channels such as surveys, reviews, and social media. Second, you analyse this feedback to identify patterns and areas for improvement. And third, you implement changes based on the feedback received.

Let's look at some ways you can gather this valuable feedback.

Surveys

Customer experience surveys are the most popular and effective method for gathering targeted CX insights from customers. One significant advantage of surveys is that you can control the types of questions you ask. You can ask about specific parts of the customer experience that interest you. You can use both open and closed questions.

For example, you can survey customers on your website's ease of use, product quality, delivery times, pricing perception, likelihood to recommend, and more. Closed-ended rating scale questions provide clear metrics for tracking. While open-ended questions give customers room to elaborate on frustrations and share suggestions.

Secure survey platforms like SmartSurvey make it easy to embed compliant surveys across digital channels - your website, emails, and more while maintaining the data security and governance standards that public sector and regulated industries require. Valuable features like question logic, anonymous responses, and conditional branching further enhance data quality. We even have customer survey templates to help you get started.

Tracking survey responses over time gives you an accurate pulse on how customers perceive your CX initiatives. The quantified feedback helps you double down on what's working well and rapidly improve areas that need attention. Tools like SmartSurvey can even provide a customer experience dashboard to make it easier to track all your survey feedback in one place.

Social Media

You're also bound to get much feedback on social media if people are talking about your brand. Keep an eye on your social media chatter with tools like Hootsuite and Buffer. It can help you track mentions of your brand across different platforms. You can track sentiment, identify recurring themes, and respond right from the dashboard.

The downside with social media feedback is that it's not always directly about CX. People may comment on a new logo, pricing change, or a specific product. For specific CX insights, surveys remain ideal as you can customise questions to understand touchpoint satisfaction.

Reviews

Customer reviews on sites like Yelp and Google Business Profile offer another proper feedback channel. Your website and order follow-ups should also invite reviews. This qualitative feedback builds social proof for new visitors.

Monitoring reviews helps identify recurring complaints and opportunities for CX improvement. More importantly, responding publicly to reviews - both positive and negative - shows customers you value their voice.

How employee experience impacts customer experience

Employee experience directly impacts customer experience across service interactions. Simply put, happy employees equal happy customers.

When employees feel empowered, recognised, and supported internally, they have higher job satisfaction. This motivates them to go above and beyond to deliver excellent CX.

Strategies like investing in employee training, incentive programs, and internal feedback loops help align employee experience with CX goals.

How personalisation improves customer experience

From the customer's perspective, generic experiences just don't cut it anymore. They want to feel known and understood, not like another invoice number.

Luckily, data and technology make it easier than ever to deliver personalised CX across digital touchpoints. AI-powered solutions can segment customers based on attributes like demographics, purchase history and browsing behaviour. You can then customise content, offers, product recommendations, and communication channels accordingly.

Customer Experience in the Digital Age

While digital channels introduce new opportunities to enrich CX, they also pose fresh challenges. Technical issues, navigation difficulties, information overload and privacy concerns can quickly derail the experience on websites and apps.

That's why a sharp focus on UX design and omni-channel alignment is vital. Smoothing out friction across digital journeys prevents drop-offs.

How to measure customer experience success

With all this talk of CX investments, you need to accurately measure success. Here are some key metrics you can use to measure customer experience:

• Net Promoter Score: NPS gauges customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend your brand (aim for scores higher than 50)

• Customer Satisfaction Score: CSAT quantifies overall post-purchase satisfaction on a scale of 1-10 or 1-5 (benchmark against your industry)

• Customer Effort Score: CES measures ease of using your product, service, or customer service (scored on a scale from 1-7)‍

• Customer Lifetime Value: CLV tracks repeat sales to quantify loyalty (useful for personalisation campaigns)

Wrapping Up

Customer experience matters. In today's competitive world, it's not enough to have a great product or service. Brands can no longer get by offering mediocre, one-size-fits-all experiences. You need to demonstrate genuine care for customers to earn their loyalty.

The team at SmartSurvey is ready to help you capture honest feedback through secure, intuitive survey solutions. Our UK-based platform provides the compliance, security, and guidance that CX focused organisations need to make smarter decisions based on what their stakeholders really think.

Key Takeaways

Customer experience (CX) vs customer service: CX encompasses every interaction a customer has with a business across all channels, while customer service is just one component of CX. Companies must focus on providing consistently positive experiences across all customer touchpoints, not just in customer service.

Impact on brand perception: Positive customer experiences significantly enhance brand reputation, fostering trust and loyalty. A brand that demonstrates values like transparency and customer satisfaction through its CX is more likely to be viewed positively by customers.

Consequences of poor CX: Negative customer experiences can severely damage a brand’s reputation and erode trust. This can lead to a loss of customer loyalty, with dissatisfied customers sharing their negative experiences online, influencing others' perceptions of the brand.

Customer loyalty and revenue growth: Excellent CX fosters customer loyalty, leading to repeat business and increased customer lifetime value. Loyal customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and recommend the brand to others, contributing to business growth through word-of-mouth referrals.

Importance of feedback in enhancing CX: Gathering and analysing customer feedback is crucial for improving CX. Surveys, social media monitoring, and reviews are effective ways to gather insights, allowing companies to identify areas for improvement and implement changes based on customer input.

Personalisation and digital CX: Personalisation is a key driver of CX, with customers expecting tailored experiences that make them feel valued. The shift to digital interactions requires a focus on user experience design and omni-channel alignment to ensure a smooth and positive CX across all digital touchpoints.

What are the four Ps of customer experience?

The four Ps are key to great CX:

• People – staff who are trained and empowered to help

• Processes – clear, simple steps that reduce customer effort

• Place – convenient channels, whether online, mobile, or in-store

• Personalisation – using data to tailor every interaction

Improve the experiences you give customers

Having an effective CX management strategy is vital if you are to deliver better experiences for your customers. But that's only half the picture; it's crucial to have the right survey tools in place too.

Find out more →