I truly believe that Customer Experience is one of the most important aspects to grow and scale a business. I have found that most business owners and managers don’t realize their customers don’t really like them, are not very loyal to their business and will actually go to a competitor if the price is a little bit less in a heartbeat.
Most businesses don’t even know just how terrible their customer experience is… and it’s costing them BIG money! In today’s market, customer experience isn’t just something that is nice to have, it is YOUR reputation. Each touch point and moment is a referendum on evaluating your business and your people, and customers often vote with their wallets. In a 2025 Customer Experience Survey, more than half of consumers (52%) say they stopped using or buying from a business because they had a bad experience with its products or services, while nearly a third (29%) stopped due to poor customer experience, either online or in-person. Wow! That is a lot of money left on the table that you lost.
Business Owners Overestimate Customer Loyalty Growth
Worst yet, many business owners seem to be playing a different game entirely. About nine out of 10 say customer loyalty has grown in recent years, but only four in 10 consumers say the same. That’s not just a perception gap. It’s a blind spot with a direct line to lost revenue.
I have found this to be very true in my conversations with business owners and managers. I always ask, “How is your business doing and what are your biggest challenges?” Most don’t mention improving their customer experience as a challenge. They tell me about improving their product or service, marketing, the number of fires they have to put out, frustration of babysitting employees, hiring and a slew of other issues.
Although all of these concerns are certainly important in growing a successful business, very few will share their concern to me about improving their customer experience. When I ask specifically about how they feel about their customer experience, they usually say it is good or fine. Really? Have they ever asked their customers that question?
What’s amazing is how long it takes for a business to start thinking about their customer’s journey and experience. Most businesses ignore their customer experience and it is costing them lots of money.
To enhance your customer experience, evaluate and or implement the following strategies:
- Prioritize your customer feedback to continuously improve your experience not just your product or service you offer. Find out what your customers really want not just what you think they need.
- Train your employees to provide an exceptional and personalized experience. When was the last time you trained your staff? Do they even know what an exceptional experience should look like or do you assume they do?
- Create an experience that engages your customers emotionally. Think about how you can make them FEEL important in the experience.
- Streamline processes to reduce waiting times and enhance convenience.
- Utilize technology for seamless interactions.
Determine how you can build value for your customers to deliver an experience that will engage your customers directly. Treat awareness of your customer experience as an important business strategy to feed long-term customer retention before it is too late.
The goal of any business is to foster a consistent culture of serving others both your customers as well as your employees on a deeper level. Remember, if you take good care of your employees they will take good care of your customers. Now that is “MAGICAL”!
Need help? If you are struggling with your customer experience, are frustrated that you are always having to babysit your employees, hiring the wrong people, wish your managers were more accountable and are afraid you might be losing too many customers, then contact me to schedule a quick FREE STRATEGY CALL and I will provide you the help you need to fix those challenges right away. You shouldn’t have to worry about that. Just CLICK HERE or email me at info@johnformica.com
John Formica is America’s Customer Experience Coach, team culture expert, keynote speaker, and Top 10 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Customer Loyalty and Customer Experience. For information on customer experience evaluations and programs, leadership training, how to find and hire great people, affordable tailored training programs or to book John to speak at your next event, contact 704-965-4090 or visit our website at JohnFormica.com.