Customer ambitions delivered

Customers are becoming savvier, researching before they buy, recommending products to friends, and rating their experiences and product satisfaction after they make a purchase. What does this mean for companies? It means that their customers expect to be wowed and they are on the hook to deliver.

Providing good customer experience pays off. People who have the best customer experiences spend an average of 140 percent more money than those who’ve had the worst experiences. Not only that, but people who’ve had positive experiences will likely remain customers for five years longer than those with negative experiences. Overall, delivering great experiences reduces the cost for companies to serve customers by as much as 33 percent (1).

Research shows that 89 percent of market leaders expect to compete primarily on the basis of customer experience – a number that has jumped from 36 percent four years ago (2). As more companies realize the benefits of engaging with their customers along every touchpoint, customers are growing accustomed to top-of-the-line experiences. Modern customers expect a tailored experience— one with flexible purchasing options, painless technology integrations, and ample opportunities to provide feedback if they receive stellar or sub-par products or services.

To provide high-level customer experiences and really thrive in today’s digital world, it’s important to have insight into customer feedback and the ability to act on it in real time. Companies must understand the needs, wants, and past experiences of their customers, and that includes a deep understanding of customer-employee interactions across all touchpoints. But collecting all of the necessary data can leave companies drowning in big-data overload. Companies must have a clear understanding of the kind of data that is useful and the ability to separate it from clutter.

Here are some steps to consider:

1. Begin by defining value and what value means for your company.
2. Figure out which of your customers are the most valuable and have the greatest impact on your bottom line.
3. Start testing your value hypotheses on small groups and known customer bases.
4. Track your results. For example, you can begin by tracking your customer’s satisfaction rates.
5. Finally, begin to create targeted and unique experiences for your customers.

Deloitte Digital and Medallia are reshaping the future and driving customer experience value (CXV) for our clients. Leveraging Medallia’s Engagement platform, Deloitte Digital’s transformation approach creates executable strategies that help companies to not only receive and process customer feedback, but prioritize the feedback and act on it in real time. Connecting CX to CXV, the value created for customers, can help companies maximize the bottom-line impact of investments.

Together, Deloitte Digital and Medallia work with clients in greenhouse labs, map customer journeys and use cases, review ecosystem architecture, and create data models, segmentation profiles, scorecards, and equations.  We use these tools to help our clients envision their customer’s wants and needs and create differentiated and profitable experiences at every interaction.

Have a question about customer experience? Meet with our customer experience leaders at the 2017 Medallia Experience conference, April 18 to 21 in Las Vegas, where Deloitte Digital is a platinum-level sponsor. Stop by kiosk #3 to find out how Deloitte Digital can help you realize the value of your customer relationships. While you’re there, RSVP for our cocktail experience, an open house with a glittering view from the Cosmopolitan’s West Tower terrace. And don’t miss our speaking sessions. 

See you in Vegas!

Tim Greulich is a senior manager with Technology, Media & Telecommunications | Digital Business & Strategy, Deloitte Consulting LLP. Connect with him via LinkedIn or Twitter.

(1): “The Value of Customer Experience, Quantified,” Harvard Business Review, 2014
(2): ”Customer Experience Primer for 2016,” Gartner 2016