Building relationships with customers should be a circular and continually beneficial experience for all parties – we need to focus on the journey rather than the destination. It’s about creating a lifecycle, where customers will come full circle and become advocates for the business and impact future customers’ lifecycles. C-suites must give the customer journey the consideration it deserves in order to create one that is the pinnacle to business success, explains Richard Sampson, Chief Revenue Officer at Tax Systems.
According to Forbes, customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than companies that aren’t. In a time when budgets are continuously strained, establishing a customer relationship must be mission-critical for organisations to maintain a low customer churn and minimise debt. There are seven key checkpoints throughout the customer lifecycle, offering companies seven chances to increase customer value.
Checkpoint 1: Awareness
When a new problem arises, or a current solution is no longer fit for purpose, individuals will actively seek out information about new solutions. In fact, 75% of B2B customers check with at least three sources before they buy, according to Gartner. Companies therefore must ensure a wide array of information is available online, in the press, on social media and through customer reviews. By widening the avenues of exposure, companies can present services and values, leading to an initial connection and consideration.
Checkpoints 2 and 3: Consideration to commit
Once individuals have identified possible solutions, they then evaluate the specifics to determine how well-suited it is to meet requirements. Therefore, the information available must provide an in-depth insight into the company’s services. Individuals may also start to ask questions at this stage, making it critical for organisations to open two-way communication channels.
By opening these channels, individuals can share initial queries through a chatbot or email service and more in-depth, pressing issues over the phone. By enabling individuals to experience your brand, gain insights from customer reviews and have all their questions answered, businesses lay the foundations for trust through transparency, leading to the most critical checkpoint of all; when an individual commits and becomes a customer.
Checkpoints 4 and 5: Initiate and adoption
Customers tend to have questions when the service is implemented or rolled out. Therefore, communication is critical here to establish trust and ensure the customer is satisfied with their decision and experience. By building seamless communication channels, companies can maintain customer satisfaction with the service they are providing.
Once onboarding is complete, the customer has fully adopted the solution. Unfortunately, in some cases, the unexpected happens – a service becomes faulty or the company is unable to deliver on a customer’s demands. Many organisations think it is best to avoid difficult conversations, however, trust is built through customers’ understanding. Although transparency may lead to disappointment, customers are more likely to be accepting of an outcome if they understand the reasoning.
Checkpoints 6 and 7: From retention to an advocate
Once a business ensures customer satisfaction, they are awarded with the retention stage where a customer renews their contract or buys further solutions. Now familiar with the product, the customer can share their story, experiences and in some cases, shortfalls, through customer testimonials. This feedback is immensely beneficial to the business; it can prompt the company to upgrade and personalise its services further, attracting new customers, or pushing new individuals from the consideration to the adoption stage.
By enabling seamless and transparent communication, a customer travels from awareness to advocacy easily, ensuring satisfaction with the journey, trust and loyalty to the business. Throughout these seven areas, however, businesses must remember to consider the why when deciding how best to communicate and by what means would be most beneficial for the customer.
Multi-channel demand – why a one-size-fits-all approach may leave customers with cold feet
Following the pandemic, there has been a clear reluctance to return to in-person meetings, especially when compared to the convenience of digital communication. Yet, screen-to-screen communications lack engagement and personality, making attention retention tough. When considering business to customer relations, businesses must learn what the individual wants and where the company can fit into the equation – a difficult task through a screen, when body language and the atmosphere cannot be read clearly. Therefore, perhaps a sole reliance on digital is not the answer.
Instead, a hybrid, multi-channel approach will cover all grounds. But, companies must let consumers have the final say; some customers may prefer a quick answer from a chatbot, whereas others may require a telephone call. But don’t make customers wait aimlessly on hold; instead, provide a callback service.
Anonymous communication channels for customer to customer engagement will also create value; by establishing trust, this output can then service the business in a positive way as it will present the business with anonymous feedback, allowing companies to make personalised, customer-led upgrades. Ultimately, all businesses should meticulously plan all avenues of communication to form a web of opportunities that will ensure no one slips through and leaves.
Ensuring customers are at the forefront of decisions, instead of disappearing through the back door
Value from customer investment can be measured in several ways. While trust, transparency and loyalty are valuable in themselves, organisations can also perceive success through the customer’s perception of services, witnessable through company review improvements or comparisons to competitors. The truth is also in the numbers. The success of your efforts can be seen through customer retention rates, journey mapping and financial and customer value performance tracking.
As eloquently summarised by Simon Sinek: “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” Organisations willing to implement both formal and informal ways to listen, through an array of channels and then act on any feedback, will witness substantial growth in customer value and a continued upward trajectory of profit.
Click below to share this article