With it now being possible for customers to buy products and services from all over the world at the touch of a button, they are more empowered than ever. Unfortunately, this means customers have less brand loyalty and are open to embracing new experiences from competitors if you fail to meet their expectations.
With so much competition, it is getting increasingly harder to stand out. Still, SMEs can improve their competitive advantage by focusing on making their customers’ experience a priority!
Here are five reasons why you need to make the customer experience your brand's unique selling point (USP) in 2023:
1. In tough times, consumers will rely on brands they know they can trust
In uncertain times, customers look for reassurance and consistency. It is more important than ever to be dependable and provide the service you have guaranteed but to excel, it is crucial to ensure that you exceed your customers’ expectations by improving how they experience interactions with your product or service. By making your customers’ journey seamless and making them feel valued, you will build trust and have a better chance of creating a strong long-term commitment from them.
2. Understanding your customer helps you specialise
Offering high-quality products and services is no longer enough to help you stand out, it is the customer experience and making this superior that will be the defining factor for your business’s success. Most SMEs are not aware of the important emotions that actually drive a customer to make a purchase. By collecting and understanding your business data, you can pinpoint the thought processes and behaviours that drive your customer’s decisions. This means businesses will be better positioned to create the experience and optimal environment for purchases that customers really want rather than assuming what they want.
3. It costs your business so much more to acquire new customers
Did you know that it costs a business five times more to acquire a new customer than to maintain an existing one? Bearing this in mind, you can see why providing an excellent customer experience is integral to your business growth and long-term survival. Taking time to invest in your existing customer base will create brand loyalty, re-occurring revenue, and a database of warm leads who will likely be open to up-sell or cross-sell opportunities from your business.
4. Your customer experience is what makes you win over your competitors
It can be frustrating when companies fail to deliver what they promised. This is often made worse for customers when it’s combined with lousy communication or failure to make them aware of any issues. Unexpected delays will happen in every business, but the number of companies that fail to address this is shocking. By understanding this annoyance and increasing visibility throughout your supply chain or projects, you can provide an end-to-end view from suppliers to the customer. Having this transparency will also enable you to be aware of any potential disruptions ahead of time, so your business can take action early to prevent or mitigate the situation and keep your customer experience a happy one as they know what to expect.
5. Customer satisfaction is critical to your businesses success
Customers have never had so many avenues where they can be publicly vocal about the service they get. And with word of mouth and reviews being one of the primary sources taken into account before making a purchase decision, it has never been more critical to achieving a positive customer experience. Creating a superior, seamless experience and giving each customer more than they expect makes a brand advocate out of every happy customer. Word of mouth is one of the most powerful tools an SME can utilise.
If you enjoyed this, check out our other blog posts in our UK business content series here.
