Posts from the ‘customer centricity’ Category

Is your brand as customer-centric as you think it is? Most leaders will say that the customer is at the core of everything they do. Yet, so many websites fall short on creating exceptional customer experiences. Creating a culture of customer-centricity involves every aspect of the customer journey: before, during, and after the sale.

Is your brand as customer-centric as you think it is? Take the quiz and see where you stack up:

• Is it easy to shop the site? Shop on the device most of your customers use, and score yourself against your most aspirational competitors. Is the site mobile optimized? Is it easy to contact customer support? Do you take mobile payments? Are returns easy? Hint: all those annoying things you haven’t had time to fix? They are friction points for your shopper. Friction=lower conversion. Removing friction points=opportunity to “wow” the customer. Getting the basics right matters more than the shiny new things.

• Is customer service empowered to make your customer happy? Can they solve the problem in one interaction? Can they make exceptions to policy without management approval? Your customer’s experience with the contact center will make or break her perception of the brand. Lose her trust here, and she’ll buy from a competitor next time. Delight her here, and you might create a customer for life. Empower your teams to do what’s right for the customer. Every time.

• Do you recognize and reward your best customers? Does everyone get the same treatment, or do you personalize based on shopping history, interests and activity? Do you have a loyalty program? Do you create value beyond promotions to inspire loyalty? Do you meaningfully support the causes she cares about? Do you recognize VIP customers when they call, chat or email?

• Do your customers shop with you again? What’s the average lifecycle of a customer? How many times does she buy per year, and what’s your LTV? How healthy is your email, SMS and organic traffic growth? If you’re buying new traffic without cultivating existing customers, you’ll be running on a very expensive (and unsustainable) hamster wheel.

• Do you listen to your customers? Do you ask your customers what they think? Are Voice of the Customer learnings shared regularly? Consider creating a customer panel comprised of your most loyal shoppers. Do you analyze the shopping funnel to understand drop-off points, and use both VOC and funnel metrics to drive your roadmap?

If you can’t say yes to all of these questions, it’s time to think about how you’ll begin to level-up. Here are a few tips to get you started:

Rule #1: Everyone in senior leadership needs to be shopping the brand as a customer regularly.

Rule #2: Create a customer-centricity report card and make sure you know where you stand.

Rule #3: Create a customer experience manifesto and make sure everyone across the organization exemplifies it at every touchpoint.

Rule #3: Don’t chase the shiny things at the expense of getting the basics right. The ratio should be basics: 80%, shiny things: 20% or less.

Customers have more choices than ever. Give them a reason to choose you.