You may have heard of the User Experience (UX) for web design and app development. Now, there’s a new kid on the block. And it’s all about the customer experience (CX). We kid you not.
According to a study done by the Stratify Group, companies that promote the customer experience report higher customer referral rates and customer satisfaction.
Whether it’s the culture of the Zappos brand or Delta’s ability to tell stories about flight safety, how your customers interact with and experience your brand should not be ignored.
Why?
Businesses that make themselves part of online conversations through exceptional content for customers can engage in a meaningful way. The benefits? It welcomes new customers, enables consistent messaging across every medium and platform, and helps your brand become more human. But it’s not all rides and rollercoasters. It can bring a few challenges.
The marketing department can’t refer customers to the customer service team… because they become the customer service department. The two teams are tightly integrated, which is a tremendous opportunity – if the right pieces are put in place.
Here are some tips for how to make the customer experience seamless for all:
1.    Get a social media policy in place
The topic of social media is controversial, which is why a social media policy is more important than strategy. There are lots of gray areas, which is why rules are smart. Of course, your company can’t plan for every contingency. But by establishing guidelines on the front end, employees know what to expect and how to interact.
2.    Engage your employees.
High employee engagement brings good business results. According to a study by Gallup, affects, employees who are engaged at work have 37% lower absenteeism, 25% lower turnover (in high-turnover organizations), and 65% lower turnover (in low-turnover organizations.
One way you can engage employees is by encouraging communication on multi-channels and giving them an outlet to express their individuality. You’ll want to make sure that it remains consistent with the brand (which is why you need the social media policy in place). A happy, engaged culture is a powerful model to create a ‘wow’ customer experience.
Your company will naturally come to life by being accessible to your customers’ needs.
3.    Re-evaluate all of your communication tools
Double check that communicating with your company is a seamless experience.
Make sure that your business isn’t hiding behind corporate jargon – or worse, a 1-800 number that leads to a busy signal. Every point of interaction should be a frictionless experience for your customer that leads to positive results.
How does your business improve its customer experience? Please comment below.
This post originally appeared here.
A version of this article first appeared on the Vocus blog.
