by jaakkomannisto | Aug 17, 2019 | General
The customer journey will be reborn and start breaking the silos
By now the concept of the customer journey has already been known for quite some time. But what we are seeing based on thousands and thousands of customer engagements is that the ideology is re-emerging. Companies will also reel their KPIs and metrics to service customer journeys but also use the same ideology for innovations and service improvements as well as improving their internal well being! This said I think that the year 2019 will be the year when companies really start breaking their data silos and stop using separate systems to collect the data. A single touchpoint approach has already been living far too long. he realm of customer experience that focuses on the customer journey and sentiment as they traverse through the product/service is helping define the lifetime value of a customer. There are a tremendous opportunity and emergence of customer data platforms that go beyond the 360-degree view of a customer to enable cohorts and clusters to enable better targeting for up-sell/cross-sell.
How are we doing – the second coming of the employee experience
Many times in the hassle of trying to improve the customer experience we tend to forget that it is our own people that create those experiences. Happy employees create happy customers. And finally, this seems to be catching off! For the first time in 10 years, we can see lots of investments in measuring and improving one’s employee experience and companies are taking this matter more and more seriously.
Digital integration continues
Companies will continue to take the next steps in using integrations and automating their process also in customer experience. This is a global phenomenon and cannot be neglected in cx world. Data will move more frictionless from system to system but also e.g. tricking the surveys throughout the customer journeys and managing the entire process automatically is turning into everyday life for marketers and cx professionals.
New CX leaders will emerge
Still to hear that someone is ”A chief customer experience officer” is rare and it will still continue to be. Mainly because there are very few people on the market that actually understand through experience have to lead customer experiences on a strategic level. Now, this is of course controversy because companies are racing to bring CX to be their main strategy for competitiveness. This said, there will be more and more incompetent CX managers on the market and it will take still more time for them to gain experience. But also it warms my soul to say that there are more and more really high-level professionals among customer experience and they are moving to senior positions faster than ever!
ps. An interesting trend we are seeing inside CX leaders and managers is that they are starting to call themselves the “Journey managers” or “Journey leaders” which is furthermore emphasizing the importance of customer journeys in the field of CX.
Connecting to business results
This might sound a bit obvious but during my career, I have seen countless companies and leaders who do CX “Just because you need to” or “Because it is trendy right now”. From my perspective, I see that this phenomenon is finally declining and companies are requesting and also trying to also understand better themselves how they try to connect CX into their other business objectives. It might be as simple as bringing it together with the simple sales data and see some correlation or something a bit more complex depending on the industry. Still, for most companies in the market, there is still a lot of educating to do!
One of the best ways to harness CX data can be to link it to increased sales (NPS trend X sales trend), exposure (How much reviews are we creating?), and loyalty are as a predictor of future consumer behavior. This becomes increasingly important as promoters are extremely likely to recommend the company to others. In contrast, detractors are extremely unlikely to make recommendations and are responsible for 80% to 90% of a company’s negative word of mouth. This said I can also add that about 73% of the promoters spread positive WOM!! So in the end, the most important thing is that you ask yourself “How does this support my business goals?” and act accordingly.
The next generation of AI
Surprise! With the help of new technologies and AI, businesses are going to be able to take more action on their data – real actionable insights. Machine learning, AI, and heuristic neural networks are giving this technology the ability to combine scenarios, increase understanding, and make real-time predictive decisions but the most impact we will see when natural language processing and intelligence categorization are combined for the help data analytics. This development is still baby steps but crucial to get it right at first. If intelligent categorization does not work, it is merely impossible to move to the next step of predictive analytics.
With these, it is good to go towards the end of 2019 and full on to 2020 and rock your customer’s world even bigger and better!
by jaakkomannisto | Aug 17, 2019 | General
Whether your business is an online store or a storefront downtown, providing excellent motivation for your staff will determine if you succeed in the long run. In today’s economy, the businesses that will survive and thrive will be those that give each and every staff a better working experience than the competition. Win that battle. Grow your sales and your business by fine-tuning your staff motivation and we all know that motivated staff works better and harder. But how do we ensure we motivate staff? Here are a few tips.
Happy work force = happy customers
Offer a great environment to work in and take care of your staff the way you anticipate that them will take care of your clients. Why would it be a good idea for them to be pleasant to clients in the event that they are getting a crude work at works themselves? Keep workers cheerful by giving what they require in terms of training (soft aptitudes and specialized knowledge) and real backing with positive messages where proper and valuable criticism where development is required.
Manager feedback and conversation
You don’t have to spend a ton of cash to make your staff feel motivated and valued. Frequently phone call from a senior director complimenting a colleague on a ‘good week’ is similarly as compelling as an offer of an training course or gift voucher. It can be as simple as weekly a message saying “thank you” for answering the employee feedback survey. You can’t be seen to pull back investing in your people. Obviously, you may need to make choices to protect the profitability of your business that may not be well known so the messages you convey are critical. We should keep on celebrating achievement, mentor individuals on particular difficulties and address any troublesome issues they confront. In big picture and in a big company this might be complicated but there are also HR survey and conversation systems to help you.
A positive attitude
It is crucial that recruitment team managers realign their desires and mull over the economic climate when setting targets and goals. While I don’t trust it is all fate and misery out there, it is unquestionably harder to convert leads into sales and there are fewer opportunities. So, team leaders must urge their staff to raise their game and offer themselves out of the credit crunch. Even when giving feedback, you can be positive and constructive.
The right tools and skills for the job
Despite whether you are working amid a credit crunch or not – staff motivation is affected by the following variables: having the ideal individual in the who is fit for doing it; preparing them to carry out the job by giving them the right tools and support and finally setting realistic targets that they know can be accomplished. We have kept on investing into sales and marketing amid these troublesome times and have launched a number of new product lines. This shows our staff that we are reacting to the difficulties of the marketplace and supporting them in every way we can.
Using temporary workers
The advantage of having temporary workers is that the clients can flex here and there relying upon their necessity. So obviously in the course of recent months, we have seen a decline sought after for temporary workers across a number of our customers. Normally organizations are likewise hesitant to permanent recruitment and are even subject to headcount freezes.
Without good staff motivation, each working experience or transaction would be a boring monotony. Breaking up someone’s day by being friendly, open and creating an atmosphere that is somewhere they will want to do wonders for their attitude, which in turn does wonder for your sales.
If you want to hear more or discuss how you can also set up goals for your staff and measure them easily and effectively let us know! Hope you guys enjoyed!
by jaakkomannisto | Aug 17, 2019 | General
Customer Experience (CX) is not all about Surveys, but when measuring CX it is crucial to understand on what you measure and what you ask your customers. Regular customers is a one thing but what if the person is not your customer (yet)? We are regularly asked what kind of website feedback we should be asking for in user surveys and polls. Our answer: it differs. The website and eCommerce feedback you attempt to acquire are contingent on the user’s experience, and what you’re attempting to accomplish.
You should always have a clear goal of what you would like to measure and accomplish with the surveys you use whether it is ensuring the continuous experience level or very specific information. Either way, you might wonder how you can actually ask all this from your customer.
To help you get on the right path, we’ve assembled a list of questions we believe to be the most engaging with visitors – sorted by your type of business: E-Commerce, SaaS, Blogs and News websites. Suggestion – be sure to change-up your questions frequently. Your team should be reading a vast assortment of answers to questions in order to genuinely identify with your users.
Is your business type unlisted? Let us know and we’ll put it on our list! Hope this will help you with your inspiration and get you back on track!
E-commerce Feedback
Before Buying:
- What details are lacking, or can we make your choice to purchase easier?
- What are you most worried about regarding the item you intend to purchase?
- Did you achieve what you intended during today’s visit?
- If you didn’t buy anything today, what prevented you from doing so?
After Buying:
- In your opinion, are there any aspects of our checkout process that needs improvement?
- What are you most worried about with regards to buying a product from us?
- What would have convinced you to finalize the purchase of the item(s) in your cart today?
- What would you miss the most if you were unable to use [name] anymore?
More Interesting Questions:
- Do you have any questions prior to finalizing your purchase?
- Is there additional content you would like to see on this page?
- What 3 things convinced you to create an account today?
- Was there anything that almost prevented you from creating an account today?
- Is there anything that almost prevented you from purchasing from us?
- Did you consider other options before deciding on [name]?
- What would convince you to visit us more frequently?
- What was your biggest issue, frustration or challenge in locating the proper (product type) online?
- Are you open to referring us to a colleague or friend? (NPS question)
- What 3 things convinced you to purchase from us, as opposed to a competitor?
- Are there any products you would like to see in our inventory?
- Did you successfully find the content you were seeking?
- Are you satisfied with our support?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our service? (NPS question)
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our support? (NPS question)
- At this point, is there anything stopping you from buying?
Saas and Software
New or Trial users:
- Was there anything that almost prevented you from signing up today?
- What would convince you to visit us more frequently?
- Would you recommend us to a colleague or friend? (NPS question)
- Were our prices easy to locate? If not, what would you like to see?
- Was our pricing model clear?
Customers:
- What persuaded you to buy this service?
- What was the biggest reason you decided to buy from us?
- Can you name something you think is lacking in [name]?
- Are there any features you would like to see that would make our product essential for you?
- What would you miss the most if you weren’t able to use [name] anymore?
Ex-Customers:
- What is the primary reason you’re canceling your account? (please be specific)
- What is the one thing you would change about [name]?
- If you could modify anything about [product name] what would it be?
- Were you satisfied with our customer service?
More Interesting Questions:
- What 3 things convinced you to create an account today?
- What were the other options you considered purchasing before settling on [name]?
- What was your biggest issue, frustration or challenge in locating the proper (product type) online?
- What 3 things convinced you to purchase from us, as opposed to a competitor?
- Are there any questions you have prior to beginning a free trial?
- What convinced you to begin a trial?
- Was there anything that almost prevented you from beginning a trial?
- Which other choices did you ponder using before selecting [name]?
- Are there any other products you want to see us provide?
- Was this section helpful for you?
- Did this article help you?
- Were you satisfied with the help you received from us?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our service? (NPS question)
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our support? (NPS question)
- At this point, is there anything stopping you from upgrading?
- At this point, is there anything stopping you from buying?
- Is there anything on this page that doesn’t function as you needed it to?
- What do we need to change in order to keep you as a customer?
- If you did not upgrade today, what prevented you from doing so?
- Based on these options, what is the next thing you would like to see us create?
- Would you feel happy, sad or indifferent if we no longer continued this feature?
- What’s the next functionality or feature we should develop?
Blogs, Publishers and News sites
Enhancing Content:
- If you had the ability to modify one thing about [name], what would it be?
- What other types of content would you like to see us present?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this article? (NPS Question)
- In your opinion, if anything on this page needs changing, what would it be?
Subscriptions:
- What is your primary reason for unsubscribing? (please be specific)
- What 3 things convinced you to sign up for our list today?
- What prevented you from subscribing to [name] today?
- What persuaded you to buy this service?
There you have it. We hope this article helps you create new surveys and modify your existing ones. We would love to hear which questions you end up using. If you have questions of your own to share, list them in the comments below. This is, of course, specific for web and eCommerce but there are a lot of things you can do also in Brick & Mortar. More about those a bit later on!
by jaakkomannisto | Aug 2, 2019 | General
Great sales representatives and marketing managers understand the importance of customer feedback and how it helps them to build a brand, create loyalty, and make sales. But many of us tend to use positive feedback as a way to reinforce our decisions and look at negative feedback as an inherently negative force. Many don’t realize that, in a company of any size, both positive and negative feedback allows you to bring a huge amount of value to your company, so long as you know how to leverage it.
Organizations invest the lion’s share of their customer-service energy tending to client complaints. And of course, negative criticism needs to be addressed as a way to retain customers and prevent issues from happening again in the future. Positive feedback is often overlooked. “Hey, look at what this customer said about us. Good job guys” – and that’s it. This is a wasted opportunity.
But both positive and negative criticism can have a positive effect on your sales… If you act on them in the right way. The fact is that taking advantage of positive customer feedback that comes your way can yield incredible benefits. You can turn that positive client feedback or positive rating into new sales and income.
Give customers a way to leave feedback – and make it easy
The first step in turning positive feedback into dollars is to bridge the gap between a client’s compliment and your web site or retail stores. That may sound like an obvious step, but it’s often overlooked. Clients may enjoy your product/service, and they might glow with praise if only you ask them how they feel about it. But you have to ask. Give them some way to let you know, or the only profit you’ll make is the satisfaction of a job well done.
Making it possible for customers to pay you a compliment you means making it easy. Make the customer feedback process simple and convenient. Most customers don’t mind pausing for a moment or two to give you feedback if they truly had an exceptional experience. But if they have to jump through a lot of hoops or end up drumming their fingers while your system churns away for who knows how long—forget it. They will decide it’s not worth their time.
On the other hand, if you devote the necessary time and care into crafting a speedy, inviting, simple way for your clients and customers to leave input, odds are they will soon be supplying you with praise.
Ask Customers To Tell You What You Need Them To Tell You
With the goal clearly in mind of profiting from positive feedback, you should be able to obtain the kind of feedback you need, then use what customers tell you for all that it’s worth. All too often, though, companies do not design their online studies and polls with advertising and marketing in mind. So they call a golden opportunity to turn praise into profit at the drawing-board stage.
It’s fine to use what customers tell you to improve how your organization works so that you can better satisfy those customers. But instead of using all the information you gather only to tinker with your organization from within, use the information to expand its reach. Gather the kind of feedback that you can use to fortify your marketing campaigns—and then use it that way.
When customers tell you what they like about your business and its product or service, cite those statements. Repeatedly. Quote their eager endorsements again and again and again in your ad copy and other marketing materials. Make sure your current customers see those endorsements. Make sure prospective new customers see them.
Display Customer Feedback On Your Web Site
Whether it’s criticism about how your clothes fit or acclaim for an exceptional customer service experience, you need to show the world that your business is appealing, responsive, and easy to use. A persuasive way to do that is by posting customer reviews on your site.
A new buyer may doubt the copy in your product descriptions. But he’s more likely to give you a try if previous clients have been turning to you to solve their problems and credibly singing your praises.
Just as you post client reviews on your own website, so you should find ways to publicize the great things about your business on other sites. Review sites like Yelp and Angie’s List can be a huge help in boosting your sales. There are hundreds of industry-specific directories that you may find more useful for your specific company and even B2B directories like Capterra and Trustpilot.
Once again, enlist the services of your own customers as marketing specialists by encouraging them to be ambassadors. Research the different platforms that would be appropriate venues in which to discuss what your company does. Urge clients to leave reviews anywhere and everywhere it is possible to do so. Then re-post those reviews on your own website as well. This is a successful approach that has been proven to help drive sales.
Use Feedback To Explore New Opportunities
Your feedback collection should not be a series of unrelated tactics. It should be a strategy. Do you have organizational or operational goals? You should, and your customer feedback should help you get there more efficiently. For example, if you have an ecommerce store and you want to improve the conversion rate of your checkout funnel, you could sample users at each step of the checkout process and ask for workflow-related feedback via a website survey. You will get some great insight about your website that will translate directly into actions to improve the funnel.
This is a specific example, but the process can be applied to basically anything. Keep in mind a strategic goal, and create your customer experience strategy around a series of surveys to help you make the best decisions.
Harness The Megaphone Of Social Media
Does your company enjoy a favorable position in social media, and are you taking full advantage of it? Facebook is one way to exploit your positive feedback potential. Positive reviews are compelling on social media platforms like Facebook because such platforms so effectively harness the power of testimonial advertising.
Linkedin is an excellent place for B2B businesses to establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry. This can be combined with a publishing platform of your choice – like Medium, Quora, or your own blog. There are numerous examples of companies who produce and publish excellent and valuable content and use this as a means for lead generation. When it is done well – it works.
Social media is all about giving people easy and easily amplified ways to report what they do, what they think, what they buy, and what they think about what they buy—including what you are selling. The easiest way to get started is to regularly post customer feedback and reviews to your social media accounts. This way you will also create transparency, loyalty and, as a result, more paying customers.
Take the opportunity to create and support a public relationship with your clients. It will yield many dividends. When the client is your main focus, your business is on the right track.
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