How Bad Customer Experiences Can and Will Break Your Business
One thing that has always plagued me being a consumer in the everyday world is how some businesses treat their customers. I've had one too many experiences where I ended up with a negative perspective regarding a particular business because they treated me like they were doing me a favour. Some may ask, but what does that mean, Andi?
It means that a business treated me like the value I was providing by using my hard-earned money to buy their product or utilize their service was not significant. This can mean many things, from how they treated me when I walked into the store right up to the tone used when I was being addressed, the product packaging, the clarity of their services and their willingness to make my whole experience satisfactory. I would always walk out with a mean look on my face because I felt that I spent my money on the wrong business, and it wasn't even appreciated. Some might say this made me a difficult customer. Still, I beg to differ because that's when I noticed that there were a lot of mistakes that small businesses and startups make that fall under customer experience that is vital to how customers perceive their brand. Somehow businesses seem not to want to invest enough to fix these mistakes.
I want to emphasize how important customer experience is to the strength of a company's brand since it can make or break a company, particularly for startups and small businesses that haven't yet adequately established their brands. Businesses that put enough effort into providing pleasant customer experiences attract a significant number of consumers who are loyal to their brand as a result of their overall experience with the company's product or services.
I cannot go further without mentioning a few very eye-opening statistics regarding customer experience and the success of a business. It would be an excellent idea for small business owners to note these statistics or keep them somewhere visible to be reminded of how important it is to have a good customer experience. These statistics will help me clarify the importance of good customer service to help businesses know what they should or shouldn't do to maintain a good brand image concerning their customer experience.
The most mind-blowing statistic I've read yet regarding customer experience is that firms earning $1 billion per year may expect to generate an additional $700 million in three years if they invest in customer experience, as found by the Temkin Group. As I had suspected, being a fellow consumer, this confirmed that how we feel about the experience we have with businesses does matter and very much so given the amount of money we spend on these products and services that improve the quality of our lives. It's a no-brainer that people go where they are treated right, and this matters immensely when it comes to exchanging money with services and goods. When I am consulting regarding building a business's brand from scratch, I always recommend that business owners put a significant amount of time into developing great customer experiences because it can break the business if ignored.
A business can still survive if they don't invest as much in customer experience at the beginning. Still, it won't be for long, especially if they already have a bad customer experience reputation, and that won't take the business far. Some supernatural reason won't cause this, but customers will eventually stop utilizing services or products of a business that doesn't invest in cultivating their positive experiences once they find a better replacement.
It might sound harsh, but it is true, and most customers won't even tell you when they choose to make the switch. This was proven in recent statistics because, according to Estaban Kolsky, only 1 in 26 unhappy customers complain, which means the 25 noncomplaining customers will leave after having to deal with an unsatisfactory experience that could've been addressed but was overlooked. This, to some businesses, can be an indication of a job well done when it is the opposite. Therefore, I recommend that companies invest in evaluating their customer experience every month, if not every other two weeks, especially for a startup, to figure out what works specifically for the business and its customers. Knowing your customers as a business is an integral part of creating good customer experiences. To understand what your customers like, you must know the kind of people they are. It is very easy for a business to overlook this part of creating a good customer experience because sometimes they think their assumptions about their customers are correct. While that might be the case sometimes, if a business struggles with effectively connecting and communicating with their customers, they should certainly invest in getting to know them better.
I could've explored more statistics regarding customer experience to emphasize the importance of investing in it. Still, it would've been obsolete because it all comes down to giving the customers what they want, and this involves breaking this statement down into all its different parts and addressing them. Developing a good customer experience is not a one-size-fits-all; therefore, each business should take a deep and close look at their brand positioning and see if it aligns with their customers' positive experiences. Another essential thing to note is to put yourself in your customers' shoes. As much as we are business owners, we are still consumers, and we all want to have good experiences as customers, which should serve as motivation to align your brand with what your customers expect it to be.
The days of businesses treating their customers like they are doing them favours are long gone because going into 2022, more businesses will be spending more time and resources on improving their customer experiences. Customers no longer base their loyalty on price or product but rather on their experience when dealing with a brand. If you have a business, you should move accordingly if you're not already. I understand how overwhelming dealing with customer experience can be, especially if you don't know where to start or how to go about it. If you need some assistance (ahem, shameless plug), please feel free to contact me by email. We can work on making sure that the customer experience your customers receive from you is the best.
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