Every organization has a unique way of interacting with customers based on its organizational culture, a system of shared assumptions, values, beliefs, and behaviors that govern people’s behavior within the organization. The way employees of an organization interact with customers creates the image or perception of the company to its customers. Even more, every customer’s perception is unique as it is not merely about the way the organization interacts with the customers, but also includes the way the customers perceive it.
Customer experience is the cumulative effect of customer’s perceptions and related feelings caused by each interaction with an organization’s employees, systems, channels or products. Therefore, it is not enough to merely group the customer perceptions into a set of bands by asking a series of rating questions (typically on a scale of 0 to 10). These questions barely break through the surface of customer’s feelings and do not come near understanding the true voice of the customer.
https://www.techsophy.com/blog-customer-feedback/
The retail landscape is undergoing rapid change. It has always been one of the first industries to be affected by economic fluctuations or political turbulence, but when you add to that the myriad of other factors impacting the sector today—chief among them being technology—traditional retailers and disruptors start speculating about and often fearing the future.
For starters, the retail industry is and will continue to be alive and well for the foreseeable future. A recent study by Deloitte predicted that “consumers will spend confidently throughout 2018.” In fact, the research highlights that the sector is expected to see a growth of 3.2% to 3.8% this year. This projected growth is for the global retail industry, which includes brick-and-mortar and online formats. The competition and the wide range of choices in channels and formats is also expected to continue, according to the study. The customer has always been king—and despite the changes the sector is undergoing, retail has remained and will likely always be the customer’s kingdom.
https://www.forbesmiddleeast.com/en/for-retail-to-thrive-online-and-offline-retailers-must-learn-from-one-another/
When you’re truly in sync with your customers, it shows. Communications are personalized and thoughtful. Customer support is frictionless. New products are consistently well received. And customers are happy to send new business your way.
But that kind of synchronicity is pretty rare. Despite all the customer data and technology at our disposal, most companies don’t know their customers as well as they think they do. As a result, they overlook the pain points damaging the customer experience. When left unattended, that gap can quickly grow into a chasm.
https://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/are-you-tuning-out-the-customers-voice-02092561/
Are you listening to the voice of your customers? Of course you are. Based on CustomerThink research, nearly all large enterprises conduct relationship and/or transaction surveys. And increasingly, small and mid-sized firms are doing so, too.
But wait, did I say “voice” – singular? You should be listening to several “voices,” deciding what actions are needed, and — this is the most important thing — taking action! My customer-centric research has identified five “Listen” practices that leading brands implement more effectively, in order of relative impact:
http://customerthink.com/voice-of-customer-industry-trends-consolidation-disruption-and-the-rise-of-real-time-action/
So it turns out that the voice of your customer is pretty darn important. Gartner found that 95 percent of companies regularly listen to their customer’s feedback, and yet rather worryingly, Gartner’s research also concluded that only 29 percent of firms with VOC programs in place incorporate VOC data into their decision-making processes, while nearly three-quarters of brands don’t consider their VOC programs to be very effective at driving actions. In other words, the benefits of VOC data collection are clear and well received — but brands are struggling to make their VOC programs impactful.
https://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/the-step-by-step-guide-to-a-successful-voice-of-the-customer-program/
We’ve all heard that writing according to the company style guide is good for customers because it creates brand voice consistency. But does that still apply when customers are looking for help? When it comes to self-service, the brand voice can often be tone deaf. It may be time to trade in the traditional brand voice for a more adaptive, empathetic approach to communication that puts the customer’s language and style, not your brand’s, at the center.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/306674/
Customer engagement and customer experience (CX) are too often used as buzzwords without a company making a true effort to shape their strategy and the way they do business around the customer. Moreover, companies feel that simply installing a technology product will be a silver bullet to providing better customer engagement. This shortsightedness creates an unsustainable environment that gives customers the sense of a disjointed company and employees left confused on how they can provide the best experience for their customers.
https://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/9-challenges-to-successful-voice-of-the-customer-strategies/
In today’s fast-paced world, a person’s opinion about a product, service or individual is unpredictable and changing constantly, yet companies can use this unpredictability for their own benefit.
Sentiment analysis is an extremely useful tool to monitor the public opinion of certain topics across social media, like stock market trends or political campaign announcements. By analyzing text—such as posts and reviews uploaded by users on different platforms—sentiment analysis helps businesses understand the social sentiment of a brand, product or service.
https://www.adweek.com/digital/how-unpredictability-can-work-with-us-exploring-sentiment-analysis-tools/
As an entrepreneur, you have to lead, but sometimes you have to listen as well. And you won't know when to do which if you never hear what your customers are saying.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/316134/
2018 has been declared as a year of reckoning by Forrester. At the top of Forrester’s 2018 prediction is the claim that Customer Experience (CX) programs have hit a wall. Practitioners have generated a great deal of activity around journey mapping, voice-of-customer programs, and implementing quick wins.
But this is where they hit a wall. The latest Forrester CX Index demonstrated that, for some companies, scores actually declined and others reached a plateau. In a word, CX programs are “stuck.”
So, how can we unstick our CX programs and generate greater momentum in what was once declared a centerpiece of the CEO’s agenda? Here are seven tips to help move your CX program in the right direction.
http://customerthink.com/your-cx-is-stuck-now-what-7-tips-to-get-moving-in-the-right-direction/