5 Reasons Why Managing Customer Experiences is Important in the Digital Age

Saphyte Team

3 min read

Updated: April 27th, 2022

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

-Warren Buffet

Managing customer experience has become a priority in the digital age. With the emergence of new and innovative digital technologies, customer behavior has been continuously reshaped, making it harder for companies to predict and proactively respond to customer needs and demands. 

When the customer expectations are unmet, customers begin to question the credibility of the business they regularly interact with and turn to competitors for better service. 

To avoid this, businesses must understand the important factors that comprise customer experiences and manage them. They can do this by mapping the customer journey, identifying gaps across the different stages of the customer journey, and optimizing the journey to enhance the customer experience.

From complete strangers, customers can become your brand representatives who will actively advocate for the use of your products and services.

Why Managing Customer Experience is Crucial

Managing customer experience is crucial and relevant in the digital age. Among the reasons are the following:

1. Because customers are different now than they used to be

Earlier businesses operated purely on a brick-and-mortar model that engage with their customers and earned sales and profits. 

But this model has been disrupted by digital innovators that contributed to the birth of the digital age. Nowadays, businesses are offering and delivering online services. 

This has shaped and reshaped consumer behavior. With fast internet connectivity and availability, customers now want complete product information at their fingertips as they go about their daily lives. 

They’re also caring less about which channel they use to communicate— they can browse business websites through their PCs, make purchases on mobile devices, or even check your products in-store and make purchases online.

Because of new consumer behavior and emerging technologies, customer expectations are changing. They now hold businesses at higher standards when it comes to their online and offline shopping experiences. 

Moreover, the wide availability of information and quick access to competitors’ channels have also made them now more demanding in terms of quality service. They can make quick comparisons, provide public feedback, and influence other consumers’ purchase decisions which empowers them to make demands from businesses.

This is why consumer experience is crucial in the digital age. A bad experience can leave a bad taste in the mouth of customers and negatively affect your business reputation.

2. Because businesses can easily lose leads along the way

The availability of multiple channels also makes it difficult for businesses to track where their leads are coming from and what types of customers they have. 

This lack of customer information makes it easy for businesses to lose them along the way. To sustain customers’ interests, businesses need to send relevant and useful information to each customer. But this seem impossible without knowing the customer first.

3. Because future customers may avoid your business upon hearing about bad reviews

As mentioned above, the wide access of information and connectivity between users makes it easy for consumers to influence each others’ purchase decisions.

When a customer leaves a bad review due to a bad experience with your business, it may deter others from purchasing too.

4. Because customers’ entire purchase decision may rest on customer experience

This is a business nightmare. All the stages in the pipeline may go smoothly— from the acquisition of the lead and to the first contact with the sales team— but a little inconvenience or, for example, a lack of integration of payment solutions on your website can make a customer decide not to push through with the purchase.

A customer’s entire purchase decision may rest on the entire experience, which is why it’s crucial in the digital age.

5. Because customers may become brand advocates due to quality experience

But when a customer’s experience is smooth, it may be the first thing that comes into their mind when hearing about your brand.

It may lead to loyalty. And loyalty can make customers become brand advocates— recommending your brand to others whenever a need arises.

How CRM Helps Improve Customer Experience

A CRM can let companies track millions of consumers and address gaps in service instantaneously. They also make the communication process between the customer and the business smoother and more efficient.

With a CRM, busineses can provide customer feedback loops, quickly interact with customers at each stage of the pipeline and discover bottlenecks and key issues along the customer journey. 

Along the way, they can discover the customer’s state of mind at each touch point, develop a better understanding of each customer’s needs and expectations, and drive improvements to deliver the best customer experience.

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