How many of you have experienced this same type of customer experience that has you frustrated at the end.
I recently contacted a business because I was confused about a bill that I received and its renewal notice. I spoke with an enthusiastic and friendly support agent who answered my questions promptly with the right satisfying answers. I was delighted and very impressed with the service I received.
Days later, I received a second notice regarding my same bill and renewal. It made me think. Was this just a notice that was sent out before my phone call or was my original request never put in place. I also had another question that I wanted to ask, so, I called back to follow up. A different agent picked up the phone. Not as enthusiastic as the first, but pleasant. The agent sees no prior interaction history and asks the same basic questions. Apparently, the first support agent I spoke to neglected to log any of my previous interaction.
I was now frustrated and felt anonymous and unvalued. I had to go through the entire process all over again, asking the same questions. What a waste of my time. My patience faded as my frustration builds. How do I judge this business? At first, I had a great experience only to be subject to a frustrating one on my follow up call. Obviously, my confidence in doing business with this company has dropped. Do you think I am going to go out of my way to give praise to this business and refer it to others. Probably not.
Now, let’s look at the bigger picture. Multiply this experience with dozens or hundreds of other customers and interactions in a week, and the result is a consistent decline in customer satisfaction, loyalty, and even (gasp!) customer retention. Not good. The issue isn’t just disorganization; it’s disconnection. Without an accurate, centralized way of keeping customer history records, you lose the opportunity to show your customers that you care and have your act together.
In today’s modern business world, customers expect personalization. They want companies to recognize them, anticipate their needs, and tailor their experience based on past interactions. But if you aren’t capturing and recording your customer’s interactions and history, with every call, chat, email, and order, you are losing the opportunity to intelligently engage with your customers.
Instead of feeling understood, customers feel like they’re starting from scratch each time. Your carefully crafted marketing campaigns may feel impersonal. Your support team may appear uninformed. Over time, that erodes trust, making it easier for your competitors to win over your existing or potential customers.
Missing customer data doesn’t just hurt your external customer relationships. It also affects your internal teams, too. Sales may waste time pursuing cold leads that have already expressed disinterest. Marketing might retarget customers who’ve already made a purchase. Your service staff may provide solutions that have already been tried and failed. Not to mention your staff appearing incompetent when dealing with customers.
When departments operate on incomplete information, their efforts overlap, conflict, or miss the mark entirely. This results in higher operational costs, lower productivity, and a workforce that feels disconnected from the customer journey.
Today, there really is no excuse for this to happen. There are many simple and inexpensive tools, (CRM) Customer Relationship Management systems and AI programs to help you record, track and use to enhance your customer experience. A comprehensive CRM that includes inputs from all your customer service touchpoints, especially inbound calls, or previous purchases, isn’t a luxury. It’s the backbone of the modern customer experience. And when put into practice thoughtfully, it protects your reputation, brand, empowers your employees, and keeps your business competitive in the ever changing complex customer journey. Now that is MAGICAL!
Need help with your Customer Experience Strategy or CRM to better serve your customers and blow away your competition? Contact John today for a FREE Strategy Session Call or let’s schedule a training workshop for your team. It might help you achieve the profits and goals you always dreamed of. Contact John at info@johnformica.com or (704) 965-4090.
John Formica is America’s and Australia’s Customer Experience Coach, team culture experience expert, keynote speaker, and Top 10 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Customer Loyalty. For information on customer experience programs, leadership training, team culture, business growth, how to find and hire great people and tailored training programs just for you or to book John to speak at your next event, contact 704-965-4090 or visit our website at JohnFormica.com.