Discover your top customer experience (CX) issues quickly

How do your customers, both current and prospective, really feel about the experience they’re having with your brand? How can you best measure this? In this post, I share three cost-effective analysis techniques you can use to get these answers. I realize it’s more fun to focus on acquiring new customers. It’s satisfying to see those acquisition metrics rise as you capture more visitors through your organic, paid and social campaigns, then nurture them with your content marketing. But if there are any 'experience or expectation disconnects' during those first touchpoints, these prospects may not feel an emotional connection with your brand, and not convert as a result. Also, it’s much more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a current one. According to Emmett and Mark Murphy in the book 'Leading on the Edge of Chaos,' a 2% increase in…

Chatbot increases conversions, not just dialog, which is why you need to understand how best to use chatbots

Live chatbot is not just for customer support anymore; it’s a proven engagement and revenue booster. Kayako.com shares some compelling statistics that show just how powerful live chat can be when it comes to engagement and conversion. Analytics and conversion expert Neil Patel also shares some conversion math related to chat. He asserts that, with chat available, 10-50% of your visitors will engage with you on your website. If implemented correctly, one-third of those visitors should go on to become buyers. Even using his conservative estimates, that means a conversion rate of 3.3% through the use of chat. That’s nothing to scoff at. For large-volume sites, these conversion rates and revenues add up quickly. Here are six tactics you…

Over 95% of consumers say customer service is the most important factor in their choice of a brand

The customer service game is quickly changing. Customers tend to expect more from their interactions with brands and consequently, brands are forced to invest more in customer support innovation to up their game. It's a small wonder that, according to Gartner, almost 90% of businesses are going to compete mainly on customer experience, and over 95% of consumers say customer service is the most important factor in their choice of a brand. Is your business keeping up? Your customer support team may not be available 24/7 but your customers may have questions every day, all day long. Imagine how many unhappy customers you may have been able to win back if only your team could be there to promptly help or direct your lost leads in the right…

Live chat is a valuable customer service tool, but you need to use it correctly. There is plenty you should do but also a number of things you need to avoid

Excellent customer service has two critical elements. The first is solving the customer query as soon as possible. The longer the case persists, then the more it becomes a nuance for your customer. Secondly, you need to make the experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible. Even an acknowledgment of their issue, such as "I'll get back to you with a solution" can help with this. The solution can be provided later. People remember world-class customer service and they detest poor service. [si_blog_banner_cta] Live chat can help fulfill both these elements. Kayako, a help desk software for customer service surveyed 100 customers to show the long-lasting impact of live chat on user experience: More than 50% of customers prefer…

Chart of the Week: 34% of customers are frustrated at not being able to find answers to simple questions. Could updated customer service channels help?

As it becomes easier to find information and make purchases, customers are becoming increasingly impatient. Brands need to ensure they are reducing this frustration by offering the highest possible level of service. However, now that there are so many channels that customers can interact with you, this is more difficult than ever. Brands need to ensure they are making the purchase journey simple and engaging, providing all the relevant information in an easy-to-find way and communicating with customers across all the channels their audience uses. [si_guide_block id="70611" title="Download our Free Resource – Essential digital marketing tools" description="This guide gives Free members a preview of the 30 categories of digital marketing tools you should be using for your marketing."/] Failing on any one of these fronts can mean you lose customers,…

It's now more important than ever to establish and maintain a good work environment, and transparency is a key component of that.

Today, there is an information overload and everyone is well-informed. So most people prefer to work with companies that are known for their good work environments. It is easy to check the reviews and ratings of any company, so businesses can’t afford any negative publicity. It's now more important than ever to establish and maintain a good work environment, and transparency is a key component of that. Maintaining transparency sounds great in theory, but is not that easy to implement practically. It takes a lot of time and effort to create a truly transparent company and work environment. [si_guide_block id="39004" title="Download our Business Resource – Marketing operations strategy guide" description="The guide is designed to give an overview of marketing operations and covers the 7 pillars of a marketing operations framework, as…

Chart of the Week: 40% of customers are highly satisfied with agent-assisted methods of communicating with companies

Customer experience (CX) is a huge part of driving engagement, sales and repeat custom. While companies understand why good CX is vital, there seems to be a disconnect between what customers view as good CX and what businesses think create great experiences. According to new research from NICE inContact, businesses tend to underestimate customers’ satisfaction with agent-assisted methods of customer service while over-estimating satisfaction when it comes to self-service methods like chatbots. [si_guide_block id="NUMBER" title="Download our Free Resource – 10 common website customer experience mistakes" description="This guide reveals examples of poor website design from different sectors which are commonly seen, but best avoided."/] While the rise of customer service methods like automated assistants and chatbots is increasing and customers are getting used to them, they may not be offering the experience that companies…

Is your business equipped to offer customers personalized experiences across multiple channels?

In the era of instant communications and instant gratification, relationships between businesses and customers are changing. Driven by customers’ need for personalized and seamless interactions, brands are constantly adopting new communication channels, which allow them to reach customers at any stage of their purchasing journey. Making a purchase nowadays is easier than ever as customers can go from discovering a product on Instagram to an online checkout system in less than a minute. With 51% of UK’s consumers saying they prefer to shop online, the pressure is on for businesses to engage customers in high-touch point, more personalized interactions. [si_guide_block id="135151" title="Download our Business Resource – Integrating customer acquisition and retention communications" description="Our briefing to integrating customer acquisition and retention communications will show you common areas where the two teams fail to communicate, how a customer data…

Three ways financial services companies are leveraging AI to enhance the customer experience

Artificial intelligence is having a transformative impact on industries and sectors across the world. From retail to manufacturing, advanced AI technology has already changed how we interact and do business with one another. This trend is only going to continue and whilst some worry about a Terminator-style apocalypse, many are looking more optimistically at the opportunities ahead. The financial services sector has experienced some really interesting developments over the last five years. Changing regulatory compliance requirements and shifting customer demands mean that financial services companies are turning to new technologies to manage different challenges and opportunities. Many of these can be grouped into three broad areas: Combating fraud and financial crimes Managing credit and regulatory risk Enhancing the customer experience Within this post, I’d like to look at some of the ways financial organizations are using AI to enhance the…

People always prefer a brand that keeps them happy and satisfied, so improving your customer experience will be beneficial

‘Satisfaction’ and ‘happiness’ are the two critical factors that keep customers loyal to any brand and should be a be driving factors of your customer experience strategy. People always prefer a brand that keeps them happy and satisfied. Happiness can be achieved when the product or service works perfectly and the customer service offered is exceptional. Customers are also satisfied when a product or service is able to satisfy their exact needs, which means understanding what these are. So, how can you provide a pleasurable experience to your customers so that they remember you and return again and again? Here are five great ways to improve the customer experience offered by your company in 2019: 

1. Leverage the power of artificial intelligence

Gartner has already predicted that by 2020, virtual agents like chatbots will…