Why Customer Experience Has Become So Important

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Before we dive into the 5 key reasons why customer experience has become such a big deal. Im going to start by clarifying what customer experience is, as I hear a lot of confusion. To simplify things it’s everything that a customer experiences from a company. It's not just about customer service or the post-purchase phase; it encompasses the entire customer journey – from pre-purchase to post-purchase and even repurchase. Every aspect of your business, from brand, advertising, sales, digital, product, customer service and even finance all plays a crucial role in shaping the overall customer experience. It's a collective effort. Customers don’t segment their own experiences into pre-sale and post sale, they just have an experience with a company which is made up from all the different interactions or pieces of content they’ve seen about that company. 

‍Here are 5 key reasons why CX has become such a big deal

‍1) Internet and Mobile drove 24/7 accessibility:
For over a decade we have been able to interact with organisations 24/7 anytime anywhere via mobile, so we now expect them to be on their game at our convenience. If I am bored sitting at an airport at 3am, I can buy a new pair of Nike’s from my phone to treat myself. Gone are the days when businesses could only be accessed during working hours. This constant accessibility demand has put pressure on companies to be always available and responsive. Which has driven investment in self-service channels and online platforms. Brands who offer the best digital experiences and 24/7 availability have a competitive advantage. Which has driven a stronger focus on customer experience in the last 10 years.
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2) More Competition & Choice:
The digital era has led to an influx of new entrants in almost every category. Which means customers have more choice and businesses have more competition. Brands can no longer make empty promises through advertising to lure in customers; brands must deliver on those promises consistently through the entire customer experience.  As customers now have the power and their expectations are rising much faster than most businesses can evolve. Customer experience has now become the key differentiator between brands. Apple is a perfect example they have such a well crafted customer experience that they barely need to advertise. They notify customers of new products and then they camp outside their stores. Which shows the power of a great customer experience. 

3) Digital experiences are expected, so focus has shifted to overall CX
In today's world, customers expect businesses to have a strong digital presence and the ability to interact on various platforms and channels. Whether it's through websites, mobile apps, web chat, in-store interactions, or social media, businesses need to be available where their customers are. Customers want a seamless experience across all these channels – they expect businesses to have their information readily available and to pick up where they left off, regardless of the channel they use. And they are now even expecting personalised experiences. Which is why the focus has shifted from having a digital experience to the entire customer experience orchestrating across all channels and customer touch points, digital and non-digital. 

Car brands are a good example of this, having worked with Lexus and helping them map out their core customer journey. Customers start the journey at home researching cars on their devices, then get to a point where they go to a dealership for a test drive. It’s these transitions from different channels that really highlights the need for CX strategy. Every interaction is a make or break opportunity to create a more seamless and valuable experience. So the brands who best address the frustration points in the customer experience, will have a great advantage. As it demonstrates to the customer that you understand them better, so it gives them a reason to come back.  

‍4) Strong CX creates more sustainable growth
‍Executive teams tend to be measured on the results they are driving in the short term. So, it means businesses tend to focus more on acquiring customer in the short term vs retaining them. This often leads to overspending on campaigns and paid media to attract new customers and underspending in improving the customer experience and brand to reduce customers leaving. The problem is, it’s like pouring water into a leaky bucket meaning there’s a lot of money being wasted.  Great brands know that a great customer experience gives customers a reason to keep coming back and drives customer growth more sustainably for the long term.

Apple once again are kings of this, but Zara the clothing brand from Europe are also a great example, they barely need to advertise because their CX is so strong. For businesses to sustain success over the long term they need to create a better balance between acquisition and retention and spend a whole lot more time on retention and customer experience, especially as it gets harder to reach customers in paid media. 

‍5) Customer centric operating models are more efficient
Traditionally many companies are structured by product or business unit who are often working in silos competing against each other for customers attention. And, there is often a big disconnect between marketing and customer service. The most progressive companies have realised that a product centric operating model was slowing them down from meeting customer expectations and have re-orientated to a customer centric culture encouraging data sharing and collaboration between teams to create the best impact possible for customers and the business.

Formula 1 racing is a great example of this as I found out recently chatting to Salesforce CTO (ANZ) Gayan Benedict. He talked about the entire organisation aligning around their customer-centric culture, which has enabled them to unlock new levels of operational efficiency. Another indicator of change is many leading companies have created the Chief Customer Officer who becomes responsible for the customer growth and experience across acquisition and retention. So this role should help organisations implement a customer centric culture and ways of operating. Including a better balance and efficiencies between acquisition and retention. Coles Supermarket is an example of a traditional company recently implementing this role in Australia.
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So to sum things up, customer experience has become so important because there’s more competition for businesses and more choice for customers. Customer expectations continue to rise much faster than most companies can evolve, so becoming more customer centric is critical for business growth in the long term. The ones who don’t change and stay product centric and short term focussed will get left behind.