Improve Customer Journey, Improve Customer Experience

These words talk about the customer from the company owner’s or company sales manager’s point of view. Instead think of the customer from his point of view. How to keep them happy and returning (frequently). Social Media has flipped the arrow. The customer has the power to choose whether he wants to buy from you or Amazon. The customer today chooses their journey, their experience. They decide what they will tolerate and what they will do without. I may be a small percentage of the market who has the mindset that if and when I feel for a frosty I ignore that craving and satisfy it when I land on the other side of the Caribbean Sea. I refuse to accept the customer service of the Wendy’s in Trinidad and Tobago. I have complained and it remains the same.

Why A Customer Buys From You? Do you know?

If you are in an industry where you believe customers have to come into your store to purchase what you sell. You are wrong. They are only tolerating you. They buy from you until they discover your competition or deny their desire. For the fellow citizens in my age group, we are about life. We are no longer about consuming commodities. What’s detrimental to you the business owner who once served me, is the fact that I will not be speaking of you to anyone. I will not recommend you. This of course applies to you if you have bad customer service or have not in the last 2 decades examined customer feedback to improve the process of purchase (i.e. what is the typical customer experience from initial contact to purchase).

A customer journey is more than just a sale.

Everyone in a company is a sales rep. Sales people should not be separated from the people they brought into your data base.  Sales and marketing teams can no longer exist in different silos of your customer journey. Understand that the customer does not care about your business model. They care that when they have an issue they have a reliable, empowered, trusted, and sincere CONTACT who will and CAN take care of their issue. Technology in the form of software apps can help in this regard. The problem I’m observing is companies in Trinidad and Tobago are purchasing CRM software and not using it to it’s full capacity. They have their reasons. They use the CRM software to keep track of their sales force and their activities. They use the software to continue business as usual. CRMs were created to allow teams to interact. To allow managers to get information in real-time. To allow a customer’s record (her customer experience) to be viewed and passed on from department to department seamlessly. Or if and when an issue arises… her record is in your data base and therefore can be quickly resolved.

We should no longer live in a world where a customer has to call and call and call again throughout the process of her purchase. I recently renovated sections of my home and each project (company) had the same repeated issues. My project kept falling off their calendar. I had to keep calling the company to see where they were with my project. So what’s my option. I won’t be looking at any more upgrades or “fixes” for at least another 10 years or never if I could help it. Your customer journey should be aided by easy to use technology solutions. It should give you more real-time customer data, better communication channels, and customers who happily tell their friends about you.

How can you improve your customer journey?

Companies in Trinidad and Tobago fail to realise the impact of a nation that loves to fly. Consumers know what it is like to be loved by a BRAND. They know how easy it is to find what they are looking for when they ask Google to direct them to the closest store that sells… They know the prices of their favourite and sometimes frequent purchases. When they enter stores they know exactly what they will tolerate (because they chose to buy the lowest priced item) or the kind of treatment they will receive from the store clerk (when they step into stores like Victoria Secret). Our commodity consumers are shopping online otherwise I would not see this pop-up – see image below

The international companies. The online companies know that Trinidadians shop online a lot. I’ll repeat my 3 tips if you missed it. 1) Think from your customer’s point of view and you will discover ways to improve your customer journey. 2) Gather customer journey information 3) Use technology and avoid unnecessary customer frustrations and keep communication channels open. Marketing in today’s digital age with systems and tools is bigger than advertising on Facebook. Marketing is caring for the customer before he knows about you, after he knows about you, and after he has purchased for the first time. Improve your customer journey and your sales will improve or be more guaranteed going into the next decade.

If you want to explore technology to improve customer journey, I’d be happy to have a conversation. Hit the chatbot circle (bottom right side of the page)