Improving Customer Experience for Brands

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Personalizing customer experience is one of the most exciting opportunities for companies in 2018. But how do we accomplish this? What does this mean?

To understand how to optimize and personalize customer experience we have to understand what each of these means. Customer experience is every single touchpoint a customer has with your brand. This is them browsing your website, going on your social media, watching a video, engaging with an employee, it includes everything: all interactions, anything someone can do with your brand.

A personalized customer experience is about treating people as individuals and one in a million. We live in a world where customers can buy products and services from almost anywhere and this is becoming even more complex every day. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, we have to get personal.

With this in mind, we have to think: How can we create a better customer experience and then scale this?

End goal? Quality and consistency.

Stay Authentic and Consistent

You don’t want your customer to have a different experience on your website than your social media, or in your Chicago store versus your Los Angeles store. This all has to be consistent and seamless. Maintaining a consistent tone of voice and a consistent experience across all your channels is vital to creating and increasing the loyalty of your customers.

Imagine if you walked into a McDonald’s in another state, and you didn’t see any golden arches, bad the food came on wasn’t branded, and there was no such thing a “McFlurry.” It’s safe to say you’d be pretty confused.

60% of US millennials expect consistent experiences when engaging with a brand in the store or online. Additionally, 80% of consumers report that “authenticity of content” is the most influential factor in whether or not they will follow a brand.

It is crucial for companies to have brand guidelines, which include voice and look and feel, that help keep their brand consistent, recognizable, and, ultimately, trustworthy. A large food chain like McDonald’s maintains consistency with everything from their copywriting to the temperature of their Diet Coke and everything in between.
People want consistency and brands need to give it to them.

Importance of Personalization

There is a 20% increase in sales generated from personalized web experiences and email campaigns and they are also 26% more likely to be opened than ones that are not. Some marketers have even gained a 760% increase in email revenue from segmented campaigns.

75% of consumers expect a consistent experience wherever they engage, this could be social networks, in-person, online or by phone. The question is, how will you deliver?

One of the most important parts of delivering a personal experience is taking the time to understand who your customers are. You need to understand the demographic data and customer information, from there you can assess your various products and define a series of profiles based on your typical customer’s needs, wants and expectations.

You then need to create compelling and relevant content that will stay consistent throughout the whole customer journey.

Take Sephora for example, their app uses location technology to become the customer’s in-store shopping companion, reminding users of past purchases so they can stock up on favorite items, and it also gives out beauty tips. The app also lets customers take control with Sephora Virtual Artist, an AI and AR feature of the company’s app. With it, customers can try on a variety of facial products.

Personalizing push notifications can go a long way—from greetings to reminding consumers they’re near a store.

In today’s hyper-connected world customers expect to customer service by whatever is most convenient for them. It doesn’t matter if it’s talking face-to-face, by phone or email, via social media or live chat, customers expect businesses to be there always, 24/7.

It is important to think about this and create a personalized customer experience that will not only leave customers satisfied, but also ensure that they will keep coming back.

Renata Sandor
PEDCO AG
Renata Sandor is a Marketing Director and has a Masters degree in Public Relations and Advertising from DePaul University. Her expertise in marketing has afforded her the opportunity to become a marketing expert for startups and small businesses.

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