Salesforce 12 mins read
What is Connected Customer Experience and How to Create It with Salesforce?
Understanding why good customer experience today means forming a holistic image of the brand through a connected customer journey.
Exceptional customer service is a crucial component that may make or break a whole operation and also drives the overall success of any business. Customers are no longer reliant on the brand or business for services in this new era of digitization. This is because they have a wide range of options to choose from for a single good or service. And the next accessible option is always just a click away if they aren’t happy with their first choice.
Because of their negative experiences, 71% of consumers reportedly changed brands at least once in the last year.
Consequently, businesses must shift their focus from processes to people because people are the basis for any business to succeed in the long run. Customers are more aware than ever thanks to technological breakthroughs and development. Customers can now share their interactions with various brands on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The importance of the customer experience increases as the client gains more power, which calls for higher quality in services.
Businesses must therefore go above and beyond what they give their clients in order to stand out from the competition in order to thrive in this fiercely competitive market. To provide better customer service, they must ensure that they are utilizing the greatest tools available.
We have recently witnessed a significant change in client experiences as a result of COVID-19. The modern equation between brands and their consumers has fundamentally altered the idea of customer experience. In the past, in-store interactions dominated the customer experience. The customer would visit a store to make a purchase, look over the merchandise, pay the bill, and then leave; all of these interactions made up the bulk of the customer experience.
At every stage, businesses now set up several client touchpoints to completely understand the needs, behavior, and concerns of the customer. Instead of dividing the system into isolated components, they attempt to holistically observe the customer’s entire journey.
There is no denying that the world has undergone a significant transformation over the past few years since the digital revolution. It was already moving towards digitization before the 2020 pandemic, and the epidemic further accelerated this trend. Nearly everywhere, we have observed the shift from face-to-face communication to digital areas. Almost every part of the human experience has been digitalized.
People can now readily access retail options with just a few clicks on their smart devices instead of going to physical stores. As a result, every personalized push notification, website visit, or even call center discussion is now included as a part of recording the customer’s journey. To provide the finest customer service, every piece of information a consumer shares with the company serves as a value exchange. Today, a successful customer experience means guiding the customer through a meaningful and productive journey.
The CUSTOMER is the primary factor defining the outcomes of an enterprise’s operations, including marketing campaigns, sales presentations, technological advancements, and infrastructure expansion.
These elements are without a doubt necessary for operating a business, but ultimately, customers dictate the company’s survival. As a result, providing a great customer experience (CX) is a key factor in both new client acquisition and customer retention. It might even be more important than the goods and services one provides. Companies need to become customer-centric, offering exceptional/unparalleled customer service, in order to develop a resilient bond with their customers.
According to Kevin Hale, the creator of Wufoo, there are three different kinds of businesses:
-those that offer the best bargains,
-those that produce the highest-quality goods, and
-those that provide the finest customer service.
In the end, all of these organizations place the highest value on the experiences of their clients. Making the consumer happy is the one rule that should be followed if you want your business to succeed and expand. Being customer-centric is not simple, and just as it takes time to cultivate dedication, loyalty, and honesty, so too does customer-centricity.
Having a wonderful customer experience immediately becomes the top priority when customer service is integrated seamlessly into a company’s underlying principles. The first impression of your business is always influenced by how you engage and approach your customers. Customer experience refers to the complete perception that customers have of your brand following each engagement.
In addition to attracting new clients, providing the finest possible customer service can help you keep your current clientele, which is one of the key elements in stabilizing growth and profit. As a result, your bottom line will ultimately depend on how you handle your consumer base.
Peter Schwartz, Salesforce’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning, stated:
“It’s more than call centers and successful responses to problems. It is service opportunities in sales, support, and marketing. Delivering great customer experiences now means providing amazing, almost magical service at every opportunity.”
According to Salesforce’s State of the Connected Customer research, 84% of customers believe that a company’s experience is just as important as its products and services due to the increase in connectivity brought on by digital services, and more than two-thirds (69%) expect connected experiences.
The following are the essential elements of a connected customer experience that will help businesses create happy, devoted customers and increase word-of-mouth advertising:
Artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots may have replaced human connection in the wake of recent technological advancements, enabling round-the-clock accessibility, but they will never be able to match the human touch. Adopting a personalized strategy is the main need for improving the client experience. When customers have trouble getting in touch with a real person to handle their problems, it is extremely frustrating for them and results in poor customer experience. Therefore, in addition to adopting AI, businesses must incorporate additional interaction methods.
Train her customer support team to be courteous, friendly, and empathetic when dealing with customer issues. Make them feel that their problem has been solved and that you care about them. Have real conversations with your customers. If a client feels stressed about something, ask if there is anything you can do to help them. Small gestures like these ensure a unique customer experience.
We barely have time to go shopping because of how fast-paced our daily lives are. Customer experience may be substantially impacted by providing an easy-to-use system where everything is compiled so that it is simpler for the customers to spot what they are looking for, speedy checkouts, etc. As a result, offering such promising and accessible services enhances customers’ enjoyment of their purchases.
In today’s digitized world, everything moves so quickly that many businesses have forgotten one of the elements that significantly affect the consumer experience: the language barrier. Businesses should invest in communication since it is the link between them and their target market. A simple hello in the language of your customers can greatly increase their engagement. Chatbots that can converse even while using a limited vocabulary improve communication, which enhances the customer experience.
Your customer connections can be constructed using all the useful information that your customers share. It can offer fantastic insights if the customer purchase history is unlocked and the available data is properly analyzed with the use of business intelligence technologies. Understanding how to use client information is essential for developing an excellent customer experience.
When consumer information is gathered carefully, businesses can provide exceptional experiences while also growing customer trust.
74% of customers expect sincerity and openness from the business in return for relevant personal information.
Customers want to know how their personal information is being used and whether it will be secure and helpful to them before sharing it.
According to the Annual Digital Trends report from Econsultancy and Adobe, customer experience (CX) outperformed content, video, and social marketing techniques in terms of appealing to modern consumers.
Let’s dive in and look at some of the best real-life customer service examples that can motivate us all to up our game in order to better grasp this connected customer experience.
Zappos, a leading online clothing and shoe retailer, has doubled its sales since investing in the improvement of the consumer experience. Their primary goal is always to find solutions for their client’s problems. Even before managing client problems, they train their customer care crew for six weeks in unique programs. To ensure that each of its customer’s journeys is distinctive, Zappos goes above and beyond. They encourage their staff to engage in genuine discussions rather than the normal order, exchange, and return requests by encouraging them to break the script. They are told to talk about anything that improves customer relations, such as sports, current affairs, children, and pets.
Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos, said in an interview, “Zappos is a customer service company that just happens to sell shoes.”
Customer service procedures may appear more time-consuming and expensive, but if they result in a devoted customer base, all parties will benefit. Happy customers can only be beneficial for any business.
It is indisputable that one of the best examples of a company that provides excellent customer service is Netflix. It uses innovative methods that go beyond the norm in how it makes use of the most recent technologies. It is a data-driven tech giant that customizes thumbnails tailored to particular customers in addition to movie suggestions using AI, data science, and machine learning.
Customers of Netflix may not be aware of what they are looking for themselves, but thanks to a machine learning algorithm, Netflix suggests content that viewers may be interested in watching next to keep them using the service. It displays personalized thumbnails for every user by examining the viewing history.
The following image shows how Netflix customizes thumbnails of the show Stranger Things differently so as to fit the tastes of each customer. While some thumbnails depict the show as a psychological thriller, others make the show seem like a teenage drama, mystery, or all-out horror.
After homes and workplaces, McDonald’s was intended to be a location where people feel most at ease socializing. However, sales have been steadily declining lately. The counter this, in addition to changing their menu and emphasizing better ingredients, they also chose to change their marketing approach. They changed their emphasis on improving the clientele’s experience.
They offered self-service kiosks and innovative technologies that facilitated the buyer journey. Customers can easily order and pay via a digital screen at these kiosks, then receive their order once it is ready. By reducing line wait times and enabling customers to receive their meals more quickly, these modifications considerably enhance the dining experience.
Future revenue creation is greatly influenced by the customer experience. The Temkin group estimates that by making investments to enhance customer experience, a company with $1 billion in yearly revenue can earn $823 million more.
Here are four practical strategies to enhance the client experience:
When items are created with their needs in mind, customers adore them. The journey of the customer is made easier and the relationship between the brand and the client is strengthened as a result of personalization. With the ability of AL/ML to understand client data, this can be accomplished with ease.
The “Share a Coke” campaign, in which millions of bottles were printed with 150 of the most well-liked names, was one of the well-known advertisements that won the hearts of consumers with its personalization method. The goal was to simulate a unique connection with clients and bring forth happy times that could be enjoyed by all.
According to a Salesforce study, 56% of customers expect offers to constantly be tailored to them.
If you want to develop a more personal interaction with your customers, personalization is a requirement. Spotify is another illustration of how powerful personalization can be. It builds customized playlists for its consumers based on their search histories using AI algorithms.
You need employees who can contribute to fostering a positive environment for your customers if you want to produce a positive customer experience. You require customer-facing personnel who can instill a sense of worth in your clients.
Maya Angelou, the famous American poet conveyed this sentiment beautifully, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
When a customer contacts you for assistance, everything depends on how you make them “feel”. As a result, you must adjust your approach while dealing with consumer issues.
Employ workers who can show empathy, and are kind, and friendly so that they can deal with situations where they must inform clients of bad news, such as a product not being available, a coupon that has expired, features that are no longer available, etc. Because every consumer is unique, dealing with them can occasionally be challenging. However, staff members must remain composed, pay close attention to what the client is saying, and do their best to address the issues in a constructive manner.
There are various methods for learning what customers believe about your brand. To observe your target audience, you can employ pop-up polls, online discussion boards, or social media networks.
To truly understand how your customers feel about your service or product, use a Voice of the Customer (VoC) program. Customers can be questioned, contacted on social media, sent feedback forms, engaged in live chat or email, and many other methods. You can apply these approaches to your VoC analytics program. It will provide you with useful information that you can use to improve client experiences.
The main distinction between firms that are successful and those that struggle is that the former type of firms pays close attention to the opinions of their clients. If you know what your customers want, you can easily exceed their expectations and make them happy.
A customer’s happiness is directly correlated with an employee’s happiness. You need to treat your employees well if you want to provide excellent customer service. Employees are more likely to work better and handle clients well if they feel valued by the company.
The example that best demonstrates how a company relies on both employee feedback and the feelings of its consumers is the one that follows. Instead of concentrating on the company’s earnings, the well-being of its personnel was given top priority by the well-known airline Southwest Airlines.
When the Covid-19 crisis struck, the majority of airlines began to reduce staff and costs. But the CEO of Southwest proudly told its staff:
“I want you all to know we will not furlough or lay off any Southwest employees on October 1 (when bailout funds expire), unlike our major competitors. Further, we have no intentions of seeking furloughs, layoffs, pay rate cuts, or benefits cuts through at least the end of this year.”
Create a safe space where workers may readily express their ideas and concerns in order to enhance the office environment. Engage with them as a manager or even as a CEO, provide customer service training to increase their self-assurance, or set up friendly contests to inject some fun into their stressful everyday affairs.
Currently, Salesforce is the most widely used customer relationship management (CRM) platform available. Many businesses have started integrating Salesforce into their systems to enhance customer engagement. It is a cloud-based piece of software that links businesses and clients.
Employees in sales, service, marketing, and IT can access the same customer data from anywhere in the company thanks to Salesforce’s assistance in removing departmental silos. This makes it possible to perceive and understand customers in-depth on a single CRM platform. Salesforce Customer 360 is named based on how it provides you with a 360-degree perspective of your customers.
Being able to manage and enhance customer interactions with your business automatically helps to improve the customer experience. You must manage customer interactions and experiences as effectively and efficiently as you can if you want your business to flourish. As a result, if your business isn’t already utilizing the Salesforce CRM platform, you’re losing out on a chance to boost sales and the chances of repeat business. Salesforce is fundamentally used to manage customer interactions with your brand.
Here are some ways that Salesforce assists other businesses in updating their customer service policies:
1)Intuitive Platform Interface
Numerous businesses and companies can readily use the services that Salesforce offers. Its flexibility enables businesses to better tailor their offerings to employees. It is simpler to use because users don’t need to learn programming languages to grasp its features.
2)Quick Resolutions
Customers’ most common source of annoyance when dealing with any brand is slow response times. However, thanks to Salesforce’s easy accessibility, the response time can be quickly decreased.
3)Communication Automation
By eliminating manual work, it enhances the client experience and saves time. In addition to personalizing services, you may automate responses to customer grievances and issues raised.
4)Record Customer Interactions
It stores all the data in a centralized location, making it simpler for staff to access consumer data. Customers also save time by not having to repeatedly express their issues in detail, as past records can provide the missing context.
5) Security
Salesforce enables businesses to ensure that crucial client data is neither compromised nor lost as a result of security breaches.
6)Seamless Accessibility
With a basic internet connection, an employee can access customer information from anywhere.
Salesforce offers other businesses a platform to manage every department, current customers, potential new customers, new business prospects, lead generation, and much more. Salesforce is an excellent place for businesses to start if they want to make the customer experience frictionless.
Companies are struggling to meet the unprecedented customer expectations for their brand. As long as you can demonstrate genuine resolve to address the customer’s problem from the get-go, it is not a tough endeavor.
Your company will certainly start to prosper, reaching brand-new heights when you incorporate CX and customer satisfaction into your organization’s culture. An organization cannot exist without its consumers, hence efforts are being made by businesses to enhance the customer experience, attract new clients, and, probably most crucially, keep their current clients.
The best example of a company that provides exceptional customer service is Apple. They provide fantastic goods and pay close attention to the thought processes of customers. They enjoy some of the most fervent and devoted clientele in the entire world as a result.
You must start developing new concepts and goods that will redefine industry standards if you want to improve your customers’ overall experience. Start concentrating on consistently developing new customer experience tactics because this is a field that needs constant care.
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