Business
How to reach out to James Gilbert: Customer Experience and Why It’s So Important When you’re a business, one of your biggest goals is likely to bring in customers. In the long run, though, it costs significantly more to attract new customers than it does to cultivate the customers your company already has. So what role does customer experience play in this cultivation? James Gilbert of CloudCherry explains how CX can be a key driver of business growth and profitability in this podcast episode. Keep reading for the details. Successful Customers Vs. New Customers People tend to trust companies that bring a human element to their customer experience. This means treating consumers like partners, rather than a sale. Doing this has been shown to reap huge benefits, as successful customers often become advocates that function as an “engine” for inbound sales and referral marketing galore. Bringing a human element to your customer experience doesn’t stop with the marketing department, however. Every department within your business needs to be synced and collaborate to give people the best interactions possible at each step of the customer journey. Companies often struggle with implementing a customer focused mindset throughout their business, as identifying pain points and the best place to begin reform can be difficult. It’s All About Alignment If you’re going to begin a customer experience program, success begins at the top of your organization. Every person in your company, from the CEO to the most junior worker, has to live and breathe creating great experiences for customers. The more aligned your business is on customer experience, the easier it will become to identify and address customer pain points before they become major issues. This applies to every step of the customer journey, from awareness to investment and beyond. Simply put, organization alignment means looking at every customer interaction with the mindset of “how can we give them the best experience”, rather than “what’s in it for me”. If you can do that, your business will be leagues ahead of competitors, and you’ll be guaranteed to see yield from happy customers and their advocacies. To get started, James recommends mapping out every step of your customer journey and analyzing the type of experience those steps provide. Every aspect of your business needs to be geared toward customer success if you want to turn customers into advocates and see long-term growth and profit. Marketing and Customer Experience As you map out your customer journey, it’s important to keep in mind that every person will have a unique path they take to become your customers. These journeys will vary depending on customer personas, the marketing channels they convert with, and much more. To be successful, you will need to analyze every avenue and optimize them to promote customer engagement and satisfaction. Common CX Mistakes Companies Make More often than not, companies seeking to create a solid consumer experience will make the mistake of implementing their plan without first having organization alignment. Every interaction a customer has with your company needs to be backed up, and if even one encounter is off, you run the risk of having your efforts fall flat. Another mistake businesses tend to make with customer experience is pushing consumers into making purchases. Purchases and investments in your company should be the natural result of a person’s interactions with you, not of aggressive sales decks. If you can create a positive customer experience within your sales process, you’ll stand out and make sales without having to press. Everything comes naturally when you have a customer-centric culture. The Role of CX In Long-Term Growth and Profitability A strong company alignment that centers on implementing a positive customer experience is a huge driver of ROI. In fact, keeping current customers happy costs significantly less...