A proactive customer experience being positive to an organization is a given.
We all know the importance of it and a successful business will have developed a system that caters to their customers’ needs effectively.
Companies that prioritized and effectively managed customer experience were 3x more likely than their peers to have significantly exceeded their top business goals in 2019
This, of course, is under normal circumstances. How does it change during a crisis? What does it mean to have a proactive customer experience during times like these?
Today we’re going to be taking a look at how the business approach to customer experience shifts in times of crisis, why it matters and the processes that can be adopted by SMBs to help adjust to meet these needs.
Customer Needs Are Shifting
The current pandemic has completely upended the ways businesses are undertaking their work—sending their employees to work from home en masse and having to deal with major disruptions in global supply chains.
People are anxious about their short-term and long-term futures, and in circumstances like this they will look to their vendors or partners for support and reassurance.
CX drives over two-thirds of customer loyalty, outperforming brand and price combined, according to CX leaders.
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This, of course, is under normal circumstances. How does it change during a crisis? What does it mean to have a proactive customer experience during times like these?
Today we’re going to be taking a look at how the business approach to customer experience shifts in times of crisis, why it matters and the processes that can be adopted by SMBs to help adjust to meet these needs.
Customer Needs Are Shifting
The current pandemic has completely upended the ways businesses are undertaking their work—sending their employees to work from home en masse and having to deal with major disruptions in global supply chains.
People are anxious about their short-term and long-term futures, and in circumstances like this they will look to their vendors or partners for support and reassurance.
While we tend to like to see ourselves as completely rational when it comes to decision making, the truth is a lot more nuanced—emotional needs matter too, and customers will flock towards organizations that focus on more than getting them a good deal monetarily.
42% of consumers worldwide would pay more for a friendly, welcoming experience. And among U.S. customers, 65% find a positive experience with a brand to be more influential than great advertising.
Consumers right now want support, guidance, and to know that you’ll be there to help them get through the current crisis.
Most importantly, customers have long memories—they’ll remember if a business was more interested in sending run-of-the-mill discounts as opposed to reaching out to ask how they’re doing. It’s crucial that companies keep their messaging on-point and stay sensitive to how the customer is feeling.
Bottom Line
When a crisis comes, everybody loses; businesses and customers alike.
After this current crisis subsides, like other aspects of life such as remote work, customer service is unlikely to go back to normal, if for nothing else because virtually every business in the country has had to put in place measures that they can (and should) keep in place.
The most important takeaways for SMBs during this time are:
Be understanding and empathetic to the troubles and concerns of customers—many businesses have been taking a “We’re all in this together” approach
Use technology to your advantage and let it help you set up a streamlined system for dealing with customers in as quick a way as possible
But don’t forget to maintain your human connection with them—continue to interact with customers; let them know you’ll be there for them and be positive in your approach to reduce their anxieties
Long after this particular crisis is over, businesses should be keeping many of the practices they are now putting in place.
The organizations that are looking after their customers with proactive customer experience in the hard times now will be remembered and rewarded once the ship steadies and we’re out the other side.