How to Develop a Customer Experience that Differentiates in Today’s Digital World

I recently had a meaningful talk with Matt, the Co-Founder and CEO of Sportiqe. As we had a quick recap of my core services, there was one fascinating word that immediately caught his interest – humanize.

“That’s a very, it’s a very interesting word. I love to understand how this equates to your business”, said Matt.

To humanize means to “give something a human character.”. To businesses, this could mean more.

As a business consultant, I am well-aware of how critical humanization is to achieving excellent customer experience (CX). It’s crucial not only for keeping up with the tight competition, but also to stay on track even with the rise of crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

This means planning your business strategies while keeping customers on the frontline. It also means providing an enjoyable experience from all throughout the buying journey, from pre-sale to post-sale.

A study from Deloitte proved that customer-centric businesses are more profitable by 60%, compared to those who have different approaches.

But how exactly do you become customer-centric? First, you need to get a good grasp of your customers’ journey from all possible touchpoints.

Second, it’s essential to request customer feedback regularly to have an idea of the areas you need to improve on. And with the right metrics and tools for tracking business performance, you’re off to a good start.

Today’s customers are more conscious of what they want and how they want to go about when using products or services. As a business owner, it’s vital that you understand the key points of their journey.

Here, you’d be able to get ideas and strategies on humanizing engagements, no matter what products or services they wish to get or how they wish to get them.

Connecting with customers is easy with a one-to-one approach. Starting conversations will further humanize the experience and better guide the customers throughout the journey.

Conversations allow the customers to directly key in their questions or issues as they arise. Prospective buyers also feel more connected with your brand as it becomes more conversational and sparks an emotional connection.

An individual’s experience occurs within the five human senses. These senses control how we make decisions, including how we spend our hard-earned money.

For example, Nike has increased purchase intent from buyers by 80% after adding scents to their outlets. According to a study published by ScentAir, 82% of customers would stay in a space that smells pleasing and 75% of customer emotions are influenced by factors such as scent.

In other words, stimulating your customers’ senses to spark interest can lead to good returns down the road. Consider adding new improvements or extra perks to your brand so customers would love the experience and keep coming back for more.

Consistency in customer experience is crucial, especially if you’re delivering across different channels. You need to have your customer support trained and prepared to efficiently communicate with customers on all platforms such as text message, phone call, or Facebook messenger.

For instance, if the response received via email is more satisfactory than via Facebook Messenger, this could spark annoyance among customers and you don’t want that.

However, if you do manage to cater to consistent customer experience, your business has the opportunity to accelerate growth, retain returning customers, and improve your brand’s identity as a whole.

When customers connect with your business, data is collected in various forms. However, customer data collection alone won’t make the cut.

According to V12, 88% of marketers use collected data to better understand their customers.

Say the customer is confused and unable to proceed with the transaction.  You can utilize the data collected from their behavior to convince them to go ahead and make that purchase.

Use this data to develop a contextual conversation with your prospective buyers. Along with the right context, you can answer the questions accurately and provide a better perception of your brand.

Every company has a story to tell. Share yours by communicating with your customers in the best way possible. Customers engage in businesses that are easy to connect with. This is why you need to make sure that they can easily reach or approach your team when the need arises.

Customers feel more valued if they think they are part of your business. Craft a strategy where your audience can relate to your brand on a personal level.

To do this, you can focus on engagement through social media platforms, reach out to your customers regarding a new product or feature launch, and keep them updated on recent developments.