4 inspirational customer experience quotes and how to leverage them in your business 2014 #cx

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Today, customers are in power and business success is based on how well companies can meet their demands and expectations. Customers have many choices and it is critical to make their experiences as simple, consistent, and relevant as possible as they make their customer journey. I have selected 4 great customer experience quotes and used them to deliver some practical advice for the new year 2014.

“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends” – Walt Disney
Zendesk commissioned research in 2013 to explore customer service attitudes and behaviors among 7,000 consumers across seven countries (Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, UK, US). One result of that survey was that 73% think brands pay more attention to generating sales across multiple channels than they do to providing a seamless, integrated customer service experience.

Having a customer on your premises is the greatest opportunity for your business – just as real friends are the ones that get invited to your house, the relationship you have with customers is the greatest when they visit your premises. So don’t forget that vital transition from the virtual to the physical world.

“There is only one boss – the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” – Sam Walton
How long are customers willing to wait for service in your store before they walk out? As it turns out, not very long. According multiple surveys, almost all (94 percent) customers think waiting 5 to 10 minutes or less is reasonable. In fact, waiting too long is the No.2 complaint consumers have about retailers (The first? “Rude staff.”)

Keeping customers waiting more than 10 minutes may seem a trivial complaint, but it can cost you. If you make them wait, 48 percent assume your business is poorly run, and 52 percent take their business elsewhere.[1]

So, walk a mile in your customers’ shoes and experience and feel what they experience and feel when dealing with your organization. Where can you find your critical moments of engagements?

“We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job to make the customer experience a little bit better.”- Jeff Bezos
It might be strange that I use this quote in regards to Healthcare, but I strongly feel that more organisations should view patients as their customers.

Many patients often find themselves having to self-navigate their way through a series of frustrating hand-offs from one person or department to another. The patient is not at the heart of the organization but is subordinate to the missions and tasks of functions to which the patient must adapt and in many cases, please. Information the patient gives to one person or department is not passed on to the next, but is asked for again and again. And the waiting experience is often a disaster.

So from an efficiency & experience point of view many HC providers are lagging behind best practice. Don’t fall into the trap to hide behind “we are unique” to address these and other issues.

“People don’t always remember what you say or even what you do, but they always remember how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
According to an article in New York Times, Americans spend roughly 37 billion hours each year waiting in line. The dominant cost of all this waiting is an emotional one: stress, boredom, that nagging sensation that one’s life is slipping away.

If you can deliver a customer journey that is perceived as fair, that is not wasting customers’ time, that is easy to understand and that provides value you are on the right way. You will then be able to influence the most important benefit – the impact on something which is invaluable, yet largely intangible: your customers’ experience of your brand.

What do you think will be the key challenges and opportunities for CX in 2014?

[1] Great Clips Survey 2012
Image courtesy of Qmatic AB.

Sven-Olof Husmark
Sven-Olof is the founder of Experify, a business consultant firm, Senior Advisor at Egain Group a pioneer in intelligent AI driven energy optimization of buildings and former CMO at Qmatic Group, a world leader in creating better customer journeys.Sven-Olof is a senior executive with demonstrated success in growing companies globally by initiating effective sales, marketing and customer service strategies.

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