Your small business and digital marketing before CX
The customer experience is about creating a relationship with people. The relationship exist as a conversation. It has a specific tone and voice and expresses shared values and interests for both the user and the business as online personas.
It is difficult to talk about the nature of the customer experience (their journeys to conversions) without talking about your business nature. How can you deliver quality and value to customers, for products and services, when you have trouble describing who you are and how the company behaves? This begins with perceptions you have about yourself and your small business and certain realities in the modern marketplace with respect to customers.
Answer the following questions honestly:
1. You see yourself inside your SMB mostly as? A. A business person B. A sales person C. A marketer D. All of the above
2. The company's strategies focus mostly on? A. Sales B. Marketing C. Customer acquistion D. All of the above
The answer to the first question is of course, D. You are all of those things to your business. But what is the priority of each and which activity gets the most attention and resources? Recent research shows that 30 to 40 percent of all sales "never contacts" marketing. That is important because it asks for you to account for how the other 60 percent of sales are acquired. Those sales must be related to your marketing.
The second question is answered with A. Remember you were asked to answer honestly. You have acknowledged the importance of sales. Knowing that, where does marketing land? In the best case scenario sales and marketing work in unison for your products and services. But, you know that one business aspect often can suffer because of another.
New reports show that a majority of people prefer to do research and transact online without the involvement of a sales person! Predictions show that 1 million sales jobs will be lost by the year 2020 in the US. It is a complex bond between the two that must be balanced. Digital marketing priorities have to be properly aligned.
Watch the funny, but true, short video about the relationship between sales and marketing
CX is much more than a buzzword found in digital marketing. It's real. It exists. The acronym presents opportunities for engagement, interactions, ownership, reputation, loyalty and revenue for your business. The customer experience is:
Competitive advantages
Expressing business and customer personas and cultures
Communicate with a voice and tone customers connect with
Differentiate signature moments
Allow for social channels and sharing
Work to redefine customer and their behaviors
Embrace customer-centricity
Your CX should include discovery, planning, actions and optimization
CX FAQ's
What is the customer experience?
It is the perception customers have of your products and services as they interact with your organization.
What is a good strategy to use to improve your customer experience?
That messaging is uniform, information is accessible and consistent, and needed resources are available.
what do customers bring with them to the experience?
Customers bring high expectations with them to the experience. CX means customers are able to complete tasks which complement their desires, wants, and demands. Customers bring the hope that their experience will be seamless, fully coordinated and consistent across channels.