Providing Your Customers a Seamless Digital Experience

Problem

In the fierce world of competition, it is key to keep building your customer base and equally important to retain them. Here are a few stats on why customer retention is so important:

• Based on a Walker study, "86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience".
• According to Esteban Kolsky, "67% of customers mention bad experiences as a reason for churn".
• According to Bain and Company, "businesses that grow their customer retention rates as little as 5% typically see profit increases ranging from 25% to 95%.

Actions taken

Ask yourself the following questions to ensure you are providing the right customer experience:

• How easy is it for my client to purchase my product or service? Do I have a website with appropriate call to action? How easy is it for them to go from a product/service description to entering their payment? Do I have analytics in place to track abandoned purchases?
• How easy is it for the customer to "find" me if they have questions or want to learn more? Am I visible on social media? Am I posting regular content? Am I responding timely to questions and information requests?
• If I'm asking my client to complete a document, how am I providing the document? Am I mailing the document? Am I emailing an attachment? Am I making it available online?

Lessons learned

Whether you are a product manager or own your own company, I would encourage you to start mapping the various customer experiences from end-to-end - from finding your product/service to usage. Identify how long or how many clicks does it take for your clients to get their end result. Whether you have a client base of 5 or 100,000, ask your most valuable customers (MVCs) their feedback and thoughts on improving the experience. Your MVCs have been with you for a very long time and are loyal. Find ways to constantly improve your customer experience. Don't see this as a one-off exercise.

"86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience." - Walker study

"67% of customers mention bad experiences as a reason for churn." - Esteban Kolsky