Guest Blog: Want Loyal Customers? Take an Evolutionary Approach to Customer Experience
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleagues Erik Alberts and Curtis Hill write about achieving loyal customers. To get loyalty from your customers, you must also be loyal to them. – Shep Hyken
In business, we have many goals, solutions, and drivers that define our version of “success”. There is one measurement more important and compelling than any other and that’s achieving a loyal customer.
Loyalty can mean different things to different people. Loyal customers are much like loyal friends. In my circle of friends and family, there are those who are always there. They support in tough times and share in good times. They are supportive when I make mistakes (and yes there are many) and celebrate when there is success. Loyal friends become coach’s, counselors, therapist, and cheerleaders. They encourage us regardless of the situation and share both in the victories and the defeats.
Conversely I’ve had associations where neither of us had a vested interest. Although the interaction was good, I was simply “renting” them. The outcomes for both of us were beneficial; however, the long-term goals were vastly different.
Like a loyal friend, a loyal customer will remain with you when things aren’t perfect. They are willing to work with your business to build a relationship on the success and to help overcome weaknesses. It’s a partnership which benefits the success of both. Our customers become loyal because of experiences, along with a combined perceived value. They become attached and have a stake in our success.
Too often, organizations can get caught simply “renting” their customers instead of creating “loyal” ones. They aren’t looking to develop a long term loyal customer but striving to gain benefit only for a short time. They try to gain competitive advantage through a series of tweaks, rather than getting to bedrock and figuring out how to create an evolutionary organization and customer-service culture that will redefine the business—with their organization at the leading edge.
Evolutionary approaches redefine, redesign, and reposition organizations in ways that will help them lead the pack and define the territory. Evolutionary customer service requires more work, more time, and—often, but not always—more investment. It certainly requires more commitment and more patience, but produces greater rewards and produce loyal dedicated customers. Evolutionary customer service focuses on getting the entire customer-service experience right and begins the journey of creating loyal customers.
Before you embark on this journey to transform your organization to be focused on creating loyal customers its important to understand the difference between the customer experience and customer service. To often we think they are the same when in reality the are vastly different. In order to evolve your relationship with customers, the strategy you develop needs to incorporate focus on both the experience and the service.
Personally, I prefer the Wiki definitions:
Customer experience (CX) is the product of an interaction between an organization and a customer over the duration of their relationship. This interaction includes a customer’s attraction, awareness, discovery, cultivation, advocacy and purchase and use of a service It is measured by the individual’s experience during all points of contact against the individual’s expectations.
Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase. Accordingly, it may vary by product, service, industry and individual customer. The perception of success of such interactions is dependent on employees “who can adjust themselves to the personality of the guest”
A recent Customer Management IQ survey noted that 75% of executives and leaders rated customer experience as the most impactful and important differentiator needed to gain market and industry share. Corresponding data suggests customers agree.
Bloomberg Business week, noted 63% of existing customers stop doing business with a company simply because they feel neglected by a company. Customer service is still important however it’s no longer the primary focus of the experience.
The ability of companies to evolve their staff, processes and culture can determine the difference between a good customer experience and a bad experience. Positive interactions will ultimately gain the kind of customer loyalty that all companies need to survive
Customer service is a journey between where the customer is now and where they wish to go. Companies designing the journey between those two points needs to encompass the needs of both customer and the organization creating benefit for both. Creating long-term mutual benefit will create that loyal customer we all want and in turn drive growth in our businesses.
If you’d like to learn more about building customer loyalty for your business, check out the Customer Service DNA book by Erik Alberts and Curtis Hill.
For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com. Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article:
Salesforce Suggests What Should Top Our Customer Service To-Do Lists
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