When was the last time you had a great experience as a customer? What made it great? Was it speed? Quality? Convenience? Appreciation? Going above and beyond?
What about the last time you had a bad experience?
Many companies report their number-one priority for the next 5 years is their customer experience (CX). Last year, nearly 75% of executives increased their CX budgets by up to 25% despite economic uncertainty.
Why Is Customer Experience the Biggest Focus?
Here are 5 game-changing reasons:
- More sales – Companies that lead in customer experience are 26 times more likely than laggards to experience 20% or more in revenue growth.
- Can almost double revenue – Companies that earn $1 billion annually can expect to earn, on average, an additional $700 million within 3 years of investing in their customer experience.
- Competitive advantage – 89% of companies now compete primarily on the quality of experiences they offer, and 93% of consumers say reviews influence their purchasing decisions.
- Customers will pay more – 86% of buyers will pay more for great customer experience.
- Unhappy customers are a big risk – 1 in 3 customers say they would stop doing business with a brand they loved after just one bad experience. So even if you have a beloved brand, just one bad experience could cost you a third of your customers.
So, it makes sense that companies should prioritize creating a great customer experience.
Why Most Customer Experience Investments Fall Short
When you look across the research and expert advice on customer experience programs, most of the attention and investment is going to the technology – GenAI, slick user interfaces, powerful analytics. But is it enough to make an impact?
While customers increasingly embrace digital options, 75% of customers prefer human-led service – regardless of their preference for digital, in-person, or telephone.
And when the customer experience depends on human interaction, what is the investment in the quality of that experience?
Often, CX programs can get so focused on data and analysis that the business objectives and the organizational culture needed to support them get lost in the mix.
Many companies list “customer focus” as one of their values or priorities, but often it’s far from the reality in the implementation. They may invest in some training programs, but it frequently breaks down across corporate silos and a lack of accountability.
Reimagining Customer Experience from Top to Bottom
To create a truly great customer experience, you must have collaboration across the entire organization with the customer at the center.
Companies that bring the fantastic game-changing results of CX to life are those who establish a fully integrated customer experience by transforming their entire culture from top to bottom.
And it benefits the top and bottom line too. Because when you’re focused on operational efficiency, guess who else it benefits? The customer!
The advancing technologies available to improve the speed and availability of customer service can only have the impact they promise if we focus on the human interactions too.
At Executive Leadership Consulting, we use our Red Thread Leadership™ model to create synergy and collaboration across your organizational culture, so every interaction creates an outstanding customer experience.
If CX is one of your priorities, let’s talk.
