Our customers are the reasons for being in business with the simple goal of providing satisfaction. This satisfaction is no longer in the purchase of goods and services alone, but it is dependent on the experience the customer has gained during the process of purchasing the goods and services.
However, from personal experience and customer study for clients. There is a direct relationship between customer experience and how purchase decisions are made by the customers, and it is based on human emotional connection.
Any customer experience can be carefully planned out from a strategic point of view by considering the following fundamental factors of customer experience Safety, Comfort, Ease, and Speed, and it is the combination of emotional and functional.
Safety (First-party data privacy concern)– The customers need to know their information will be secured with your organization and it can be used only to their advantage
Comfort as an Emotional element – The customers need to find your business reliable at all points no matter the unseen situations. It is important to anticipate the change in customer behavior then prepare for them to your advantage
Ease as a functional element – The customer must also find the functionality of the product or service easy to use. Simple is the new functionality when products or services are designed to meet a need or want of the target customers.
Speed as an Emotional element – This considering effectiveness of a product time of delivery plays a major role in solidifying the experience of a customer.
Speaking of the process of giving your customer a unique experience the initial step is first getting to know who the customers are;
1, They are humans, based on that fact, they do have emotions and logical reasoning.
2, Ensure you have information about your customers – As a business, you need to collect the structured and unstructured data of your customers for personalization purposes which are interpreted as information and this information has to be constantly updated. Even though this is important it is more important to find creative means of helping the customer provide the necessary and correct information using the principle of Safety, Comfort, Ease, and Speed.
3, Focus on the consumer Journey – It is not enough to have only their information there is also a need to work with digital tools that integrate the psychology activities and information that focuses on the identity of the customers across key touchpoints. The benefit of this is to help businesses understand the customers’ decision patterns and influence before developing products or services. Once this is done properly communication can be tailored to cause a connection between the customers and businesses or brands.
4, Build a relationship – This is easier said than done because and it is one of the most difficult stages of knowing a customer and it is a long-time strategy there is a need to constantly developing and delivering value. This value has to be relevant and relatable to the current happenings in the lives of the customer. Before a relationship can occur the parties in the relationship need to know the reasons for being together and it has to be mutually beneficial.
5, Customer – Business communication has to be a two-direction method – There is a need to get direct or indirect feedback from customers and it is best when they are in real-time with the use of technology (digital platforms) that integrate different touchpoints from Social media to email. It is also important for a business to communicate back to its customers this simply means that businesses need to respond to feedback from the customers.