“How
customers perceive their interactions with your company.”
Anytime you interact with
a customer, whether it is online, in person or over the phone, you are engaging
in forming customer experience – good, bad or ugly. Most of us, apparently,
feel that we are doing a good job – only, we are not.
According to Bain & Company, 80 percent of CEOs
believe they deliver a superior customer experience, but only 8 percent of
their customers agree. How do companies go about bringing those two numbers
closer together? When it comes to your first chances to nurture positive CX –
your website and social media profiles – it is important to set your brand ego
aside.
Think about this:
“There are only 86,400
seconds in a day. Given that we are universally bound by this limited resource,
how can we make things easier, quicker and simpler for our customers?”
This question, posed by
MGM Resorts International’s chief experience officer, Julie Hoffmann, at the
American Marketing Association’s National Conference in September, is one that
you should ask regularly.
In addition, here are two
exercises you can do today to positively impact the online customer experience
you provide.
How would you describe
your organization and its services or products to a 10-year-old?
Visit your website home
page. Without scrolling, does it answer this question in under eight seconds? The average attention span for the notoriously ill-focused
goldfish is nine seconds, but according to a recent study from Microsoft Corp., people now generally lose
concentration after eight seconds.
If a first-time visitor
sees only your clever brand tagline, then it is time to make one critical
change on your home page. Add a succinct single-line message that communicates
your value proposition. A quick web search turned up these examples of
effective home page value messages:
·
The easy, fast, affordable way to send
money online – from your desktop, tablet or mobile device.
· Comprehensive, easy-to-use cloud-based
law practice management software.
·
Software
for automated sales tax compliance. “Sales tax is hard. We make it easy.”
That value message will
help visitors confirm their interest in your product or service. Make sure this
simple description also lives on your social media profiles.
Within the first eight
seconds, visitors should also see one or more simple, low-risk ways to engage
with you. An opt-in subscription form, download offer or free trial may extend
the visit well beyond eight seconds.
What are the top five
questions your prospective customers ask you?
You are sitting on the
most valuable insights money can buy – actual customer interactions. Ask your
sales team to account for the questions they continually get asked by prospects
at the beginning of the relationship. Do you address these questions on your
website’s most important pages? How many pages and links does it take to get
the answers? Your customers are coming to your website to figure out if you
provide a solution for their pesky, nagging pain point. Is there a way to
provide relief in fewer interactions?
Sometimes, particularly
with B2B, we get caught up in trying to deliver so much information that the
most customer-relevant part gets lost or left out. You do not need a new
website to make real strides in your CX. Real improvements can result from
simply creating headlines and separating blocks of copy and important callouts
with more white space.
Your brand is not just a
tagline, a collection of bright colors and a logo. Ultimately, your true brand
is your customers’ experience of your company over the duration of their
relationship with you. Your website is a prominent part of that, so start your
CX initiative there.
