When your customers reach out to you with a question or a problem, you know they’re expecting a clear, accurate, efficient response. If you can’t meet those expectations, the future of your customer care operation – and your brand – looks pretty bleak.
But you also know something else, something that’s come into much sharper focus since COVID-19: accuracy and efficiency are really just table stakes. They’re the bare minimum. And now, more than ever, your customers (being the human beings that they are) need more from you.
Your customers want “to feel seen, known, and appreciated by the companies they’re buying from…”
That’s how writer Dan Newman describes the “core” of customer experience in his forbes.com article, “4 Actionable Customer Experience Statistics For 2020.” Newman points that, in a study completed just this month, 57% of companies surveyed intend to reconsider their entire business models in order to adjust to the sudden new, post-coronavirus realities. By examining 4 key statistics, Newman comes up with specific actions many brands should consider now.
As you read what he has to say about Statistic #2 (Most Companies are Competing on Customer Experience), my question is: how is your brand competing?
At Skybridge Americas, we are customer experience experts who have been delivering seamless customer care throughout the pandemic. If you would like to know more about how we can help you meet and exceed your CX goals, please reach out. We would love to talk.
4 Actionable Customer Experience Statistics For 2020
Daniel Newman
Even in the midst of a global pandemic, there is one thing that’s for sure: people still want to be treated well. This concept is at the core of customer experience—the simple idea of people wanting to feel seen, known, and appreciated by the companies they’re buying from. Even as many companies seek to temporarily halt production of certain items or close their doors to dine-in patrons, they’re finding themselves in a weird place: wanting to stay top-of-mind for customers amidst potential closures, and not wanting to stir anxiety or fear while they do it. In fact, according to a June 2020 survey (1) performed by our team at Futurum Research, which talked to 330 companies in North America and Europe, 57% said their entire business model needed to reconsidered in the wake of COVID-19. Let’s just say that things are about to get a whole lot more competitive and CX may be the thing that keeps you in business.
No matter what industry you’re in, the issue of customer experience was likely rising to the surface, even before the coronavirus pandemic began. Research shows CX will be the key brand differentiator by the end of 2020—even more than price or product quality. It can be a difficult pill to swallow, especially for those companies that have invested heavily in branding themselves as the low-cost or premium-choice provider. So, why should everyone be focusing more on CX? The following are five statistics that show customer experience is more than just a trend; it’s a full-blown tide that will shape how businesses must need to operate moving forward.
CX Statistic 1: 86% of Buyers Will Pay More for Great Customer Experience
For all of you bargain-basement suppliers out there, let that stat sink in. In fact, research from PwC shows that 32% of customers will walk away from a brand they love after a single bad experience. If you’re one of the companies providing basic needs like toilet paper or water during the coronavirus crisis, you may get a pass because those things are in great demand. But we get to the other side of this, the mere issue of availability won’t be nearly as important. Customers—especially those who have experienced loss of income—won’t be willing to deal with less than stellar CX when spending their money. Many—myself included—will be choosing to buy from brands that chose to pay their employees while their businesses were closed or provided free services to those who needed them. Based on CX, how will your company fare in the post-coronavirus environment?
CX Statistic 2: Most Companies are Already Competing Primarily on Customer Experience
I actually have some mixed feelings about the finding that more than two-thirds of companies now compete primarily on the basis of customer experience. Why? Because I am, in addition to a father and technologist, a customer of many products and services. I have used the chatbots. I have called customer service lines. I have tried to make returns, only to get lost in an endless see of web pages with no contact information or return policies. I know for a fact that even if companies think they are competing on customer experience, most are losing. The good news: there is still room for companies to wiggle into the forefront of CX. Customers are waiting for companies to rise to the occasion. If they’re anything like me, they’ve been endlessly disappointed thus far.
READ the complete article here >
-Bobby Matthews
Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Skybridge Americas
bmatthews@skybridgeamericas.com
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