Building a Customer Experience Management Strategy

In today’s business world, organizations HAVE TO be paying close attention to the individual experiences customers have as they interact with your brand. From initial awareness of your brand all the way to “raving-fan stage” (a.k.a. the ENTIRE customer journey), there are plenty of opportunities for things to go sideways along that journey.

Obviously, it’s nearly impossible to satisfy everyone and there are many things that can go wrong in customer interactions, so you should always have a gameplan. Fortunately, this gameplan has a name: customer experience management (CEM or CXM for short).

Improving customer experiences and the positive relations you garner along the way can help you build trust, increase sales, and drive loyalty. As we start digging deeper into the process of customer experience management, several strategies emerge that you can put in place to ensure your customers leave feeling happy and content, every time.

For all you marketers and content pros out there, keep in mind that your marketing, content, and CEM strategies are like peas and carrots. They go hand in hand since so many touchpoints today are digitally derived. So let’s explore this process more and hopefully you can steal a few nuggets to ensure your customers are nothing but a bunch of happy campers.

Image Source: Giphy

What Is Customer Experience Management?

Customer Experience Management is the process of managing the interactions that customers have with your organization and brand. This includes all touchpoints along the customer journey, from the first point of contact to the final transaction. CEM should maximize the satisfaction of customers and the return on investment of marketing initiatives.

The more positive and memorable an experience is, the more likely customers are to come back. This is especially true for younger generations, who have an unrivaled attention span for companies that make an effort to understand them. By focusing on improving the customer experience, you can increase brand loyalty and drive repeat business.

Positive experiences also make customers feel more inclined to recommend your brand to others. This is especially helpful if you’re in a B2B industry, since you may have a harder time acquiring new customers. Brand referrals can be a great way to expand your reach.

What Does a CEM Strategy Entail?

Let’s take a quick stroll through the key components of a CEM strategy.

Goal Setting

What are you trying to achieve? And just to put this out there, “improving our customer experience” is not a good goal. Are there specific areas that need more help than others? Maybe specific stages of the buyer’s journey? Whether you’re focused on increasing customer retention or decreasing customer complaints, it’s good to know what you’re aiming for. It helps to write down the goals for your customer experience management strategy, as well as the metrics and technology you’ll need to achieve those goals.

Map the Customer Journey

Back in the pre-internet days, a customer journey was a lot easier to define. It often started when a potential customer had to pick up the phone and talk to a salesperson. That funnel looks a lot different today. Google is often the starting point for research and most purchases are completed without any involvement from humans.

So you may be stuck reinventing your customer journey. This can include everything from designing a more intuitive website to optimizing the content of your communications to better meet customer needs. Good content marketing software can help you with this.

Customer co-creation is another strategy that you can use to create a better customer experience. This involves partnering with customers to help understand their journey, and they can even help you create products and services that meet their specific needs, which can help you differentiate your brand from competitors and drive more sales.

Personalization

By providing a personalized experience for customers, you can make them feel special and appreciated. Statista reported that 63% of marketers have noticed better conversion rates due to personalization. By leveraging tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, you can personalize interactions with customers based on a variety of factors.

Four important aspects of personalization for customer experience management.

Image Source: Expert Journal of Business and Management

Focus on Customer Service

Customer service is one of the most important aspects of customer experience management, as it can make or break a purchase. According to Salesforce research, good customer service makes it more likely for 89% of customers to become repeat buyers. It helps to track and record customer service interactions, including how long they take and any issues that may arise. Once you’ve gathered enough data, you can provide your employees with better training, tools, and resources.

What Are Your Customer Needs and Expectations?

Different customer groups all have different needs, desires, and expectations. For example, younger customers might respond better to visual engagement and social media channels, while older customers often prefer a more traditional approach.

One way to get to know your customers better is to conduct focus groups. This allows you to sit down with customers and discuss their needs and expectations, while gaining insights into how they use your product or service.

Dig Into Your Data

Data can also help you with customer experience management. This can include data from customer surveys, your website, or a mobile app. You can use this data to identify trends, such as your customers’ demographics or their preferred communication methods.

For example, if you’re in retail, you might notice that customers are increasingly shopping online and adjust your customer service accordingly. If you work in the healthcare industry, you might notice that many customers have concerns about privacy, so you can decide to adopt a stricter privacy policy.

Statistics and tips to help people use data for customer experience management.

Image Source: CX Network

Keep in mind that whenever you collect data from your customers, you should do what you can to protect it. The last thing you want is for someone to leak or misuse your customers’ information. When people feel that you’re making an effort to keep their data secure, they’re more likely to trust your business and share more information.

Usually, you have to get customer consent when collecting their data. You can do this in a variety of ways, including with a simple checkbox or a verbal prompt. Be mindful that you don’t ask for too much at once. Just ask for the minimum amount of data you need, then move on to the next activity.

After you’ve identified your customers’ needs and desires, you can combine this information with their demographics to create a customer persona. You can look at this as a fictional sketch of a typical customer. This approach can help you focus your efforts on the types of customers you want to attract.

The Core of Customer Experience Management

There are many strategies available for improving your customer experience, but it all starts with a general understanding of what your customers expect when they interact with your brand. CEM is about more than just supporting customers and answering their questions; it’s about providing a positive experience that leaves them feeling appreciated and satisfied.

With so much of the CEM process revolving around digital touchpoints (a.k.a. content), it’s vital to have a platform that can help you manage all of the content creation and maintenance tasks that will likely be part of your regimen. DivvyHQ is the perfect solution for this. Multiple teams can come together to define your CEM strategy, determine individual to-dos, assign tasks, and get your teams working towards a better customer experience. To get a first-hand look at everything Divvy can do, request a demo today!

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