In a world where your potential customers are just a click away, customer experience has become the new battleground.
According to a study by RightNow , 86% of consumers are willing to pay up to 25% more for better service.
This is why big brands like Apple , Disney , and Airbnb invest so heavily in creating great customer experiences. This allows companies to build brand loyalty through service while simultaneously increasing profit margins.
Instead of competing on quantitative things (low price, more quantity, etc.), Airbnb and Apple chose to improve qualitative metrics (empathy, support, appearance and behavior), and that's exactly what customers want and perceive .
Customer experience techniques, when used effectively, facilitate acquisition, boost loyalty , and improve retention. However, customer experience needs to be viewed as a series of actions to be truly successful in the long term.
Shall we delve deeper into this subject?
What is customer experience?
Customer experience is the overall perception of your product or service, across all interactions throughout the customer lifecycle.
However, its significance isn't limited to the consumer experience alone. This perception influences customer behavior and builds memories that drive loyalty and impact the economic value generated by the organization.
According to Beyond Philosophy , the first consultancy in the world to focus on this technique, customer experience is the rational, physical and emotional perception of a customer with any part of an organization.
Gartner defines customer experience as “the perceptions and related feelings caused by the unique and cumulative effect of interactions with a vendor’s employees, systems, channels, or products. ”
Forrester Research defines customer experience as: “How customers perceive their interactions with your company.”
Clearly, the two basic elements of a customer experience definition are perception and interaction .
Thus, customer experience can be defined as the impression consumers have of your company after any contact is made. This contact can be physical—in-store or over the phone—or virtual, through your website, social media, and online chat.
📌Check out our post: Humanized service: make your customer experience incredible
Difference between customer experience and customer service:
Contrary to popular belief, customer experience is not the same as customer service. Customer experience refers to all moments a customer has with your company, not just those with your customer service team.
For complete alignment, different groups within the same company that normally work independently, such as marketing, design, customer service, and sales, often need to work together to create a single point of contact.
📌 Check out our article: The new experience marketing: total focus on the customer
It's a careful examination of the emotions your company evokes across different moments, including how customers perceive that experience.
Therefore, a satisfied customer isn't measured solely by the sale or a smile on their face. It's also important to remember that customer satisfaction shouldn't be measured solely by comments on Google reviews or Facebook Recommendations, or by referrals from new customers.
📌 Check out our article: Improve customer experience using online reviews
Otherwise, you might think that a customer is only truly satisfied if they tell everyone about it or recommend the company to others.
In many cases, a customer's first point of contact with a company is through an interaction with an employee (whether visiting a store or speaking on the phone). This gives your business the opportunity to provide excellent customer service.
However, customer service is just one aspect of the overall customer experience. Let's look at a practical example of the difference between customer experience and customer service.
Let's look at a practical example...
If you book a trip over the phone for the first time and the person you're speaking to is friendly, that's good customer service. This means you're not yet loyal to the brand, but you recognize the excellent service provided.
Another situation: if you book your trip online, go through the entire process quickly and easily, receive a confirmation call, and even receive a bonus for booking, your perception changes , right? And do you know why your perception changed?
Because it's simple and effortless, offering the basics is already a big differentiator these days.
“There’s only point in investing in memorable experiences if the company is delivering the basics.”
Francisco Zapata | Head of Customer Centricity at Rokkets | CCXP
📌 Check out our article : Customer Effort Score (CES): Measuring Customer Effort
The experience must start from the inside out: the employee experience
This topic certainly gives a lot to talk about, but the fact is that many companies provide incredible experiences for their customers, and forget the most important thing – their employees .
For example, if a company hired employees who were misaligned with its mission, apathetic, and didn't really want to be there, what would happen?
They would likely have poor interactions with customers, which would lead consumers to perceive the brand as lazy and not caring about their business.
On the other hand, if a company hires passionate people who are connected to its purpose, those employees will likely help customers have a great experience and a strong perception of the brand.
Additionally, there are several factors that can contribute to overall perception, including product quality, store cleanliness, or ease of navigating your service.
Employee experience drives company culture and is a fundamental part of an organization. Culture is its soul, its personality, its intrinsic values, and its beliefs. Culture is what separates a business from its competitors, the attraction that helps attract and retain customers and employees.
So, remember: Happy employee = Happy customer😀
We are in the “Age of Experience”!
For a long time, companies believed that price was the key differentiator in winning customers. And that's not a lie; after all, this technique is still a reality in many businesses.
Thanks to the internet, this has significantly changed shopping habits, as well as decentralizing much of the more traditional businesses that once fought solely on price. But as we know, habits are constantly evolving, and we are consuming more and more experiences.
The graph above shows the evolution of searches for the term customer experience in search engines since 2017.
Therefore, it will be necessary to offer the customer a different and memorable experience. In other words, more than selling a product, companies must sell services.
The idea is that the value of your business is created through interaction with the user, solving problems, meeting their needs, desires and demands, some of which they don't even know they have.
And to understand these customer desires , you need to be close to them to hear what they say about your company.
📌 Check out our article: Voice of the Customer (VOC): What it is, and how to implement this strategy
The product alone no longer guarantees a competitive edge for brands. Differentiation was greater in the past, but today all products are similar.
Think about your computer or cell phone. You don't buy from brand A or B just because of the device, but because you identify with the brand's proposition , because you like the service, the environment—there's social proof behind all of this.
Therefore, there is a strong investment in adding services to products precisely to create differences, and consequently surprise the consumer.
Customer Experience Statistics You Should Know in 2024:
- 89% of customers say customer experience is important to their purchasing decision . (Zendesk, 2022)
- 70% of customers will leave a company after a single negative experience . (American Express, 2018)
- Brazilian companies lose approximately R$1.6 trillion annually due to customer dissatisfaction
- 65% of Brazilians say they have stopped buying from a company because of poor service . (American Express Survey, 2023)
- Resolve a complaint in a customer's favor and they have a 70% chance of doing business with you again – Lee Resources
- It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for unresolved negative experience Glance
- For every unhappy consumer who complains, 26 remain silent – White House Office of Consumer Affairs
- 72% of consumers say they share their experience on social media platforms after . (Source: Harris Interactive – “Customer Experience Impact Report” 2023)
- 87% of customers share good experiences , while 95% share bad experiences . (Source: Zendesk Research – “Customer Experience Trends Report 2022”)
- 58% never use a company again after a negative experience – NewVoice
- 66% of consumers who switched brands did so due to poor customer service – ThinkJar
- Resolve a complaint in a customer's favor and they have a 70% chance of doing business with you again Lee Resources
- % of customers say customer experience important as price or product quality
- 79% of customers are more likely to buy from a company that personalizes their experience . (Source: Gartner)
How to improve customer experience?
There are several ways to improve your customer experience, but before that, you need to deliver the basics. Remember that quote from Francisco Zapata you read earlier? Well, yeah...
But the good part is that we will help you on this journey!
#1 Customer Journey
The customer journey is the first task on our list. Before considering a thousand different options for delivering a memorable experience, we need to understand the steps our customer takes during their journey with your company.
In addition to understanding user behavior, the customer journey map can be used to identify areas for improvement and problems to solve.
Essentially, the customer journey map focuses on:
- A persona, because each persona has a different context;
- Before purchasing, find out what leads the customer to purchase your product and what makes them continue using it;
- Identify your company's contact points;
- What your customer expects / what you should do;
- What he is getting at each stage;
- Find out if there are any obstacles that are hindering the purchase or renewal;
- Find ways to improve communication and become more accessible to the customer;
📌Have you seen our webinar? 👀
#2 Reduce efforts
Once you've mapped the customer journey and identified all the points your customer goes through, it's time to reduce your effort so they can be more effective in their actions.
At this stage, it's important to follow the customer's path and note the most complex stages of the transaction. To do this, find:
- Stage that requires a lot of technical or intellectual knowledge;
- Difficulty or multiple clicks for an interaction;
- Speed and accessibility;
- Focus on popular stereotype, for ease of use.
#3 Personalization
Once you've mapped out the journey and understood the friction points with your product, it's time to deliver something personalized to your customer.
When I say something personalized, it doesn't necessarily have to be something expensive or super innovative.
The tip is: be creative, always focus on solving a problem and then think about customizing it.
For example, if a Harmo client is starting to conduct customer surveys, it makes sense at this point to send some supplementary materials on survey metrics, explaining them in more detail, right?
Customer expectations are rising every day, whether on social media or through traditional channels. That's why it's crucial to offer personalized service.
📌 Check out our article: Customer Experience: How to Create a Solid Strategy for Your Business
#4 WOW Moment: What is it?
In the business world, it's common to talk about the importance of " delighting a customer ." This is where the " wow " factor comes in, an expression used to describe the feeling customers get when a delivery exceeds their expectations at the time of purchase.
In short, this is the moment when you surprise the customer and cause a positive and unique reaction in them.
One example is Uber, an app that connects you with drivers to get around the city. From the very first experience with the app, the fact that the device displays available cars on a map, the estimated time, and is connected to my credit card ends up incorporating several "wow" moments with the product itself.
This was certainly one of the reasons why the system scaled and found so many followers.
Additionally, an unforgettable experience establishes an important emotional connection with your customer.
A good time to create a " Wow Moment " is when your customer's expectations are low. Think about it—are you more impressed when expectations are high or low?
For example, you expect a design company to have a great website, right? In this case, it's more difficult to deliver a stunning website experience, as customer expectations are already high.
The best option would be to think about the experience on the contact page, for example – as most websites in this section are just a standard form.
Case Study: Disney Experience to Delight Customers
Perhaps one of the greatest examples of culture and customer enchantment is Disney. In fact, we all know the company has several strategies for enchanting customers, which has made it an expert in this field, right?
In addition to the Disney Institute , there is also the book: The Disney Way to Delight Customers , which shows its entire culture and internal processes.
When Walt Disney conceived Disneyland, his dream was to create a magical and safe place where his daughters could have fun.
Over the years, even after his death, this idea remained strong and is now what moves thousands of people every day inside the theme parks that turn dreams into reality.
Furthermore, Disney has 7 commandments for customer service, which make all the difference and create a lot of enchantment in people who visit the park.
Watch our webinar, "How to Apply the Disney Experience to My Business? " At 13 minutes, Felipe Diesel explains how to map customer expectations and some tips for your business!
How to measure customer experience?
One of the most frequently asked questions we receive is: "What's the right metric for my business?" The answer is probably: all of them. After all, you need to understand your business's situation in different ways and in different situations.
📌Are you unsure which metric to use?
We've prepared the Practical Guide: Customer Experience Metrics . Access it→
Below are the key elements for each type of measurement to clarify the differences between the three customer experience measures:
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
NPS , or Net Promoter Score, is a customer loyalty metric. Its goal is to determine a consistent, easily interpretable score that can be compared over time or across industries.
The metric measures how likely respondents are to recommend a particular company, product, or service to friends, family, or colleagues. The idea is simple: if you enjoy using a product or doing business with a particular company, you'll want to share that experience with others, right?
The Net Promoter Score question is simple. On a scale of 0 to 10, you ask customers:
Depending on your answer, customers will be divided into three categories, based on their Net Promoter Score:
- Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will continue to buy and recommend your products to others, fueling the growth of your business.
- Neutrals (score 7-8) are satisfied customers who purchase with average frequency and are vulnerable to competitive offers.
- Detractors (score 0-6) are dissatisfied customers who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word of mouth.
CES (Customer Effort Score)
The Customer Effort Score is a metric used to measure the level of effort a customer put into resolving a specific issue with your company.
The Customer Effort Score question is on a scale of 1 to 7, which asks:
To calculate customer effort , you need to take the weighted average of the scores to determine a score out of 7. The higher the score, the less effort was put in.
CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score)
The Customer Satisfaction Score is a metric that directly measures customer satisfaction levels in specific interactions, and is measured through a numerical scale that asks:
There are several ways to calculate CSAT because there are different ways to measure this score.
Therefore, customer satisfaction scores can be measured in five ways, namely:
- Yes and No – 1 and 2 (binary)
- Dissatisfied/Neutral/Satisfied – 1 and 3
- 1 to 5 (Likert scale)
- 1 to 7 (Likert Scale)
- 0 to 10 (Likert scale)
If you choose to calculate CSAT on numerical scales such as 1 to 5, 1 to 7, or 1 to 10, you will need to calculate the weighted average by adding up all occurrences and dividing by the number of respondents.
But if you opt for the 1 and 2, or 1 to 3 model, the calculation ends up being easier, as you will basically have to subtract the percentage of satisfied vs. dissatisfied customers.
Conclusion
Customer perception is one of the most valuable aspects of a company. Managing this perception and measuring the customer experience should be a priority for all companies seeking to remain competitive.
Everything a company does directly contributes to how customers perceive the overall brand experience. Before delivering an experience to your customers, think about your employees; they are the front line of your business.
The idea behind customer experience is that by improving interaction, you increase emotional engagement with your customers. This way, they'll develop a positive relationship with the brand, form an emotional bond, and become more loyal to your company.
Try not to focus solely on short-term results. Dedicate yourself to increasing the lifetime value of your customers. After all, loyal customers generate 10x more revenue !
Therefore, customer experience is definitely the way forward. Especially since companies that offer a good customer experience grow more than twice as fast as their competitors .
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you said, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
