Investing in employees can yield a better customer experience
Customer experience exists in a feedback loop with employee experience. An organisation trying to improve customer experience without considering the crucial role of employees is missing an integral part of the equation. By mapping out the connections among culture, critical few behaviours and business outcomes, company can easily identify where employee experience has the biggest impact on customer experience: 52% of respondents believe sales associates with a deep knowledge of the product range highly improves the in-store shopping experience.
Building communities under your brand vision
Fusing the customer experience and employee experience is a lot easier when both groups are highly motivated to be associated with the brand or organisation. It’s important to figure out what employees and customers care about and to communicate your shared values: 42% of respondents are willing to pay a premium for non-food products made by brands well-known for their sustainable practices.
Build on magic moments along the customer journey
In an age of ever-expanding digital options, consumer loyalty can and does vanish with the touch of a button. To minimise that possibility, focus on magic moments that earn loyalty over time and create a relationship that endures beyond the next product search. Almost 20% of respondents appreciate when ads linked to their interest directly send them to a favourite brand and 11% like to see shopping opportunities depending on their location. PwC has developed systems to track, measure and display the key components of customer experience so you can gain insights that will help you know where to focus your resources in order to get the best results.
Understand your customers based on their behaviours
Consumer insights enable far greater personalization than the old-school paid media approach of segmenting customers by demographics alone. Demographics can’t tell marketers how, when, where and why consumers shop. Behavioural and attitudinal attributes can. Armed with that information, you can bring together all of your commercial investments—including promotions, content, e-commerce and advertising—to deliver seamless, end-to-end experiences tailored to a specific shopping context. Around 39% of Russian consumers believe personalized advertising is the most influential: they like to interact with a single click and receive personal compilations and product suggestions.
Treat consumers’ data with respect and deliver value in exchange for it
Customers want the companies they interact with to protect their personal data, and PwC research indicates that they’ll take their business elsewhere if they don’t trust that a company is safeguarding it. Anticipate this demand and rethink how you use consumer data, how much control you give consumers, how you value data and how you’ll deliver value by using it. Consumers are making it imperative for companies to be transparent about their data policies and proactive about publicising the value they offer in exchange for it. Yet even as companies encourage consumers to entrust them with their data, only 30% include proactive management of cyber and privacy risks in their digital transformation plans “fully from the start,” according to PwC’s 2018 Digital Trust Insights.
Win the customer journey
Today there are more trips, more choices, more of everything. You can win over customers on-site or via e-commerce by understanding what they are trying to experience and then making it easier for them to accomplish that goal through things such as ease of navigation, breadth and quality of selection, price, quality of advice or exclusivity. For instance, by connecting consumers’ online research with their in-person visits, you can win the trip and deepen loyalty. And winning the trip isn’t just about stores and retail; it applies to every company in hospitality, financial services and healthcare.
