Insight: 5 Ways to Deliver Exceptional CX

Not so long ago, business experts had a simple response when asked how to win and retain customers. “Deliver a quality product or service at the right price,” they would say. It was all about the two Ps – product and price – and many organisations invested plenty of resources into ensuring the perfect balance between the two.

Well, times have changed. In the past few years, customers have increasingly been drawn to another factor when choosing which companies to do business with. Customer experience (CX) is now pivotal to staying ahead of competitors, with studies finding CX has overtaken price and product as the key brand differentiator. This is supported by a 2022 survey of almost 2000 business professionals that asked for their top priority for the next five years. The result?

• Customer experience – 45.9%
• Product – 33.6%
• Pricing – 20.5%

It was the third time in a row that CX had beaten product and price to the top spot, reinforcing that a focus on customer service is a key step to boosting your business’s bottom line.

To help you do just that, here are five ways to improve CX for your customers.

Embrace technology – it is no surprise that the growing focus on CX has coincided with the digital age. The likes of AI and machine learning are tailor-made for CX experiences and have created an environment where businesses have never had faster access to customer insights and consumers have never received such high levels of personalisation and omnichannel support. From chatbots that can deliver 24/7 customer service to self-service options that are scalable and affordable, AI and related tech are changing the world of CX for the better.

Hire and train the right team – people remain the heartbeat of great customer service and that is why it is essential to attract the best talent. Amid an ongoing talent shortage, an increasing number of businesses are turning to on-demand talent platforms to source remote staff to complement their in-house teams. Remote staffing offers seamless and swift access to larger talent pools that boast pre-qualified candidates who can typically commence duties at short notice. Hiring offshore staff can also save up to 70% on labour costs, which can be redirected towards CX initiatives, while their ability to handle repetitive and time-consuming tasks means onshore team members can spend more energy on customer engagement.

Implement a customer-centric culture – Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sat down with 60 Minutes a decade ago and revealed what defined his mega-company. “Our big ideas, which are customer-centricity (and) putting the customer at the center of everything we do,” he said. Given Amazon’s success, it is no wonder countless companies have aimed to adopt a similar customer-centric culture and yours should be no different. Anticipate customer needs, collate and centralise customer data, prioritise customer retention and, most importantly, inspire your staff to put the customer at the heart of everything they do.

Listen to customer feedback – it is one thing to seek customer feedback. It is another to ‘listen’ to it. Too many businesses make the mistake of investing heavily in tools that collect and collate feedback but fail to take the next step of digesting and analysing what people are telling them. Customer feedback provides critical insights that help improve CX and allow organisations to measure and benchmark the quality of the service they provide. From social listening and third-party review sites to surveys, interviews and independent research, embrace what your customers have to say and, crucially, act on it.

Continuously improve and evolve – a recent study by PwC revealed the headline statistic that 68% of CX experts believe the expectations of customers are rising – but is that really a surprise? Customer expectations are forever changing and if your business is not changing to meet them, then you are doing something wrong. CX may be a relatively modern term but the pursuit of customer service excellence is nothing new and requires a steadfast commitment to continuous improvement and evolution.