6 Ways to Leverage Customer Experience for Revenue Growth

The customer experience (or CX) encompasses all the interactions and experiences that customers have with your brand, right from when they make the initial contact to when all involved parties close the business deal in hand. For repeat customers, positive CX means delighting them every time they contact your business. It’s for that reason that CX, fundamentally, is more wholesome than customer service.

Modern businesses cannot do without a proper customer experience strategy. For starters, a good CX strategy can help you increase customer retention, build a loyal customer base, and consequently grow your revenue. Sounds obvious, right? Maybe not so much, but it will be once you follow these six tips on leveraging customer experience for revenue growth.

1. Customer service as a competitive advantage

Traditionally, businesses compete on two fronts: Product offerings (increasing product lines) and price points (mainly lowering prices). But there is one more tool that you can use to gain a competitive edge over your direct competition. That tool is the customer experience. Satisfied customers will become loyal and unpaid brand ambassadors and, with a little motivation, higher paying customers. Studies show that forty-two percent of consumers said they would pay more for a friendly, welcoming experience, and 52% would pay more for a speedy and efficient customer experience. That translates to increased revenue.

But how exactly can you properly treat paying customers?

By encouraging the three fundamental loyalties in people: Behavioral, rational, and emotional loyalty.

Behavioral loyalty emanates from the convenience you accord loyal customers when accessing your products or services. You can, for example, provide them with better after-sales services such as door-step deliveries.

You can inspire rational loyalty by starting loyalty programs that make your top customers feel special.

Lastly, you can leverage customer experience as a competitive advantage by aligning your brand mission, values, and culture with loyal customers’ values and aspirations. That breeds emotional loyalty, which makes them feel obligated to help you increase your profits.

2. Enhance employee engagement through customer reviews

Increasing employee engagement in your company can significantly improve productivity, sales, and profits. There are many ways of improving employee engagement, including sharing positive customer reviews and feedback with employees consistently. You can collect this feedback through online reputation management systems and then send it to concerned employees via email, or print and hang them in the office common areas such as the break room. This practice might help them feel appreciated. Use constructive feedback from customers when training employees on how to handle different kinds of customers. Note the employee behavior that most customers appreciate and standardize these attributes as the benchmark for overall customer service. That will help your staff members grow both personally and professionally, to the benefit of your company.

If you’re in charge of an international workforce, you may choose to have an international PEO (professional employer organization) manage these communications. PEOs can manage all aspects of internal human resources. Partnering with one can help international businesses seamlessly communicate to employees across languages and cultures.

3. Customer experience marketing

This strategy focuses on your customers and how they interact with your brand. Its premise is simple: When customers love your brand, they can quickly become its greatest advocates. They will refer potential customers from their social circles (both online and offline) to your business, increasing your customer base and, consequently, revenue. But you shouldn’t just wait for happy customers to campaign for your brand. Entice them into becoming your ambassadors by offering them incentives for the referrals they make. These include discounts and free products. You can also grow your customer experience marketing by mitigating negative reviews’ damage through prompt and honest responses to complaints from disgruntled customers. Most importantly, make positive changes to your products and services based on the pain points customers point out.

4. Prioritize CX to recover faster from crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught businesses across the world the need for an elaborate crisis recovery plan. Customer experience is at the heart of every successful recovery plan, as per the survey conducted by Zendesk. That is true because it is almost impossible for businesses to gain a competitive advantage from improved product offerings or price points. For example, it is economically unwise to lower prices after the prolonged coronavirus lockdown to compete; you probably are working from a deficit. If, however, you have a pool of loyal customers who can do anything to keep your brand afloat, including paying more for your products, your business may get back on course sooner than you’d imagine. See the research for how customer behavior is changing with the pandemic.

5. Improve and leverage customer reviews

Don’t wait for happy customers to give your business a thumbs up of their own volition. Actively push them towards that direction. You can do that by asking them, in person or via email, to spread the word about your brand. Follow your biggest customers on social media and tag them in professional posts you feel they’d enjoy. Ask them to follow you on social media and to comment positively on whatever you post. You can also put up customers’ pictures against their testimonials on your website and social media pages to spark engagement from them and their friends. Such photos also humanize your business, which can enhance its online brand credibility. These factors combined can significantly boost your sales and revenue.

 6. Use existing customers to update your product offering

Loyal customers can help you research, test, and improve new products before their actual launch. They will even give you clues to which products you can add to your product lines for increased sales. Through answering your questionnaires, loyal followers can help you decide on the offerings to eliminate to reduce unwanted overhead expenses. They can also help identify points of friction. All these added up will significantly boost your company’s profitability.

There you have it! If you have been overlooking customer experience, this is an excellent time to reconsider. And if you have an impeccable customer experience but you haven’t monetized that experience yet, put these six tips to practice and witness as fortunes turn in your favor.