A Sponsored Article by eLoyalty, a TeleTech Company.
Small and mid-sized companies can no longer be complacent in their customer service, leaving premium customer care services to the corporate giants that can afford it. Companies of every size, in every situation—from trying to grow to just trying to stay afloat—need to see great customer experiences not just as an ideal, but as a business necessity. Read on to discover why every business should strive to deliver outstanding customer experiences.
1. Customers will pay more for a better experience
Customers are willing to pay for a better experience. In fact, a recent Xerox study reveals that while 40% of Gen Z value superior service, this rate increases as the customer ages, with 52% of millennials and Gen Xers, 60% of Baby Boomers, and a whopping 70% of the over-70 crowd willing to pay more to receive an enhanced level of customer care.
2. Customer care should not be limited to voice
Increasingly, superior customer care is found in channels other than voice. A 2016 survey by The NorthBridge Group found that, while a traditional phone call was preferred for handling billing questions or resolving problems, alternative channels overtook voice when it came to making account changes. For making comments or suggestions, alternative channels beat voice almost 2 to 1.
3. Customer experience leaders outperform laggards
As daunting as it may be for a small-to-mid-sized business to attempt to keep up with customer experience paragons, not doing so comes at a steep price. A 2016 Forrester report has found that customer experience leaders outpace customer experience laggards by a huge margin, with the leaders experiencing an average revenue growth of 17% versus 3% by the laggards.
4. Customer disappointment causes attrition
A recent Thunderhead/Populus study found that 25% of customers will switch to a competitor after just one negative experience. In addition, American Express research has revealed that 95% of customers who have a bad experience will share it with others. How long can a company sustain growth, or even stay in business, when it is losing customers it disappoints?
5. Smart companies compete on more than price
When competing on price alone, the only way to survive is to dramatically reduce costs, but what do you do when your margin is zero and there’s nothing left to slash? For organizations looking to create lasting customer relationships, their value is created by providing a better level of service than the low-price leader.
6. It’s never been cheaper to provide great experiences
The advent of cloud technology allows businesses of all sizes to avoid costly, multistep upgrades and infrastructure expenditures, providing the best customer experience technology innovations through a budget-friendly monthly subscription cost model.
Smaller companies cannot afford to fall into the trap of foregoing superior customer experiences simply because they don’t have the resources to compete toe-to-toe with bar-raising corporate giants. Companies of every size have cost-effective options available to deliver the next-generation experiences their customers demand… and contact center solutions to start building their own brand legends.