Customer Experience: The Marketers Next Battlefield

In today’s era of immediacy, consumers are more demanding than ever. To keep up with customer expectations, it is imperative brands invest in Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs that employ a closed-loop action plan process, according to Qualtrics.

Bill McMurray, managing director, Asia Pacific and Japan, Qualtrics, said, “A VoC program delivers real-time actionable information from your customers about their experiences and expectations of your products or services and their future intentions to recommend or purchase.

“VoC programs are no longer seen as ‘nice to have’; it’s a critical program to differentiate an organisation from its competitors through the provision of superior service.

“Gone are the days when the customer marketing landscape was represented by a one-way dialogue for engaging prospects. Today, market leaders are shifting their listening and response mechanisms faster as VoC programs present a huge opportunity for driving loyalty and increased customer revenues.

“By 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. Positive customer experiences create higher value customers, more referrals, and lower churn.

“An effective VoC program will help drive increased revenues and can help marketers gain a seat at the executive table. However, marketers should be aware of the common pitfalls that could hold them back from executing an effective program.”

Qualtrics has identified five customer-centric characteristics of a highly-effective VoC program:

Connect multiple types of feedback across numerous customer touchpoints.
Use appropriate feedback measures across the various customer touchpoints. E.g. NPS (Net Promoter Score), CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) and CES (Customer Effort Score).
Incorporate the voice of your employees.
Leverage real-time stakeholder dashboards and reports that display information from multiple customer voices, regardless of source, survey, or time.
Evolve and adapt your VoC program as your markets, products/services and customers change.

Bill McMurray said, “VoC programs should be a priority for marketers looking to develop a strong brand and boost the business’s top-line. Organisations that use sophisticated platforms, like Qualtrics, can take ownership of their program and choose to extend it as they grow their customer understanding.

“This ensures they are engaging with customers with relevance and deriving tangible insights.”

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