Total Marketing Solutions

As marketing consultants we’re increasingly in demand to help our customers improve the buying experience of their own customers. What started off as seemingly another fad from across the pond has in the past couple of years grown considerably in popularity. But can customer experience management really deliver results? In its early stages it was difficult to talk about any concrete ROI, the real value delivered by spending any money on looking at and then improving the “Customer Experience.” But now companies are more likely to ask how to get it right and do it cost effectively, rather than whether they need to do it in the first place.

So where to start? The obvious starting point is gaining a clear analysis of a customer’s relationship with the company at every point of contact, in other words to create a map of their journey. With a clear idea of how a customer buys from you, it’s then easier to look at how the relationship forms. And in order to build this relationship into a longer term, beneficial arrangement - rather than a one-night stand - there needs to be a shift away from a focus on the transaction to building a relationship with the customer. This is particularly true for businesses where technology, whilst speeding up the purchasing process, destroys all customer intimacy. Yet this is where an improved customer experience can have the greatest effect - both in terms of building a better relationship with your customers and of course - ROI!