Customer Experience Not an Add-on

Media release

Customer Experience Not an Add-on

Regardless of the rhetoric around the importance of a customer focused culture most businesses see a customer experience strategy as a nice to have rather than a vital part of a successful business plan.

Businesses especially those in service industries will struggle in 2013 unless they get to grips with the fact that just meeting customers expectations is no longer enough to foster growth and profitability according to Chris Bell Managing Director of Customer Experiences a company that specialises in the development of quality customer experiences.

Bell said that businesses must realise that in today’s highly competitive and commoditised market the customer has all the power. This is resulting in higher expectations and less tolerance of poor service levels.

A customer experience development plan is just as important as a financial plan, a marketing plan and a sales plan in fact because it impacts all areas of a business, is more important. The reason customers are not having more quality customer experiences is because of the ad- hock approach to service experiences.

We are seeing an increasing focus on customer experience from banks, some of our larger retailers and from some in the hospitality industry but there is still along way to go said Bell.

Part of the reason for the slow progress is the lack of knowledge and expertise and the complacency that comes from an operational focus. The result is a perception that a business is delivering a better customer experience than customers think it is.

Bell and his team have just carried out an evaluation of just how easily and quickly today’s customers can change service providers including banks, insurance companies and power suppliers. The same study highlighted just how much the internet is now playing in evaluating perspective suppliers based on customer feedback.

A recent international survey found that 70 percent of online consumers trusted the opinion of other customers online.

As part of Customer Experiences research businesses were made aware of the intention to write about the experience on face book unless expectations were met and Bell was amazed how performance improved and extras were provided as a result of voicing our intentions.

Service is the new sales. Service is the new marketing. As the world automates, products will become more and more the same. The service experience is how business will differentiate in the market. Service is how you will make the next sale.

To make it easier for businesses to develop their customer experience Bell has just released a unique, affordable and fully supported online customer experience development program www.customerexperiences.co.nz

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