Guest Post: Customer Experience: Expectation vs. Reality

This week we feature an article by Tanya Ahmed, a Digital Marketer of Vantage Circle, a cloud-based employee engagement platform. She writes about what customers expect from companies in 2021 and what they actually get.

Consumers today expect speedier access to services than ever before. They count on meaningful interactions with service professionals who make them feel valued. Customers want their concerns resolved swiftly, without having to wait in line or being handed from one executive to another. 

A good customer experience (CX) begins with a 24-hours seamless website user experience, followed by top-notch customer care, and concludes with the receiving of the product/service purchased from you. 

Companies failing to meet good customer experience lose out on their customers (American Express Survey 2011). Estimations show that about 78% of consumers on a transaction did not choose to make an intended sale. 

In this post, we shall compare five customer expectations in 2021 to their reality. It will enable you in identifying the reasons behind high customer turnover and what you can do to address them. 

Expectation: Customers expect connected journeys with consistent interactions.

Reality: Customer Service generally feels like sales. 

One big mistake we see in customer service is the assumed customer journey. An expected customer journey reflects the commercial perspective on what works and what does not. But it doesn’t capture the customers’ views, customer touch-points, or emotional drivers.  

Assumptions can lead to unhappy customers, leaving them feeling disconnected. Here are five ways to turn disconnected customers into loyal customers: 

• Respond to customer concerns promptly.  
• Follow up with customers after-sales. It helps communicate to them that they matter. It also helps you identify poor customer experiences. 
• Speak to your customers in a conversational and personal tone. Try to avoid being transactional.  
• Prioritize your existing customers over the acquisition of potential customers. 
• Use customer surveys to improve customer insight and offerings. 

Expectation: Customers expect personalization and want companies to understand their unique needs.

Reality: Customers are generally treated like numbers. 

Personalized customer service is about treating people as individuals. Personalized customer experiences drive up customer loyalty. It also enables businesses to differentiate themselves and gain a sustainable competitive advantage.  

The following five-step plan will help you build a personalized customer experience: 

• Create a customer-focused vision statement. 
• Provide an omnichannel service experience. 
• Develop a self-service experience. It should include FAQs, explainer videos, and step-by-step solutions for common problems. 
• Provide employee feedback platforms that can help stimulate small changes. These changes can make a massive difference in customer experience. 
• Use customer feedback and craft an action plan that addresses what your customers want from you. 

Expectation: Customers expect innovation.

Reality: Digital initiatives abruptly accelerated after the Covid-19 pandemic making businesses unsure how to offer their products and services to maximize profit. 

Customers expect constant innovation. We are in an era where a company’s innovative experiences are as important as the quality of its products. New 2019 research found that 84% of customers consider these factors equally when deciding whom to buy from. 

Innovation is accelerating across industries with emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). In my experience, many companies lose their way when looking to enhance their brands through innovation.  

 Here are three ideas to keep innovation on track: 

• Innovation should be customer-centric. 
• Marketing teams should be experimenting with new tactics and not merely offering discounts every month. 
• Educate your customers about the new technologies so that they can easily extract value from the innovations.  

Expectation: Customers expect data protection.  

Reality: Customers feel they no longer have control over how their personal information is used. 

Privacy concerns are a result of consumers’ awareness of how companies are using their data. About 65% of consumers are concerned about how personal data is collected, according to the Internet Society and Consumers International.  

 These concerns highlight the importance of being open and honest with your customers. This is not simply a regulation to follow, but it is also an ethical thing to do. The more transparent you are with your consumers, the more trust they will have in you. 

Follow the four steps to keep your customer data more secure- 

• Only collect vital data 
• Limit access to data 
• Use password management tools 
• Avoid data silos 

Expectation: Customer service equals the staged portrayals in the commercials. 

Reality: There is seldom a gap between what is digital advertising and offline sales. 

Companies build high customer expectations through innovative advertising and word-of-mouth. But when over-promising in advertising does not match the actual deliverables, it creates customer service gaps. 

Recognizing and closing service gaps is vital as it offers high-quality customer service and customer satisfaction. It also helps product managers to maximize the company’s market position and financial results. 

Here are four smart ways to help you deliver a positive experience: 

• Know where your customers engage with your business online. 
• Use smart tools to understand the customer journey better. 
• Capture interest by personalizing and contextualizing digital ads. 
• Use cross-channel marketing to deliver connected brand experiences.  

Tanya Ahmed is a Digital Marketer of Vantage Circle, a cloud-based employee engagement platform. Her experiences range from various fields, including Customer relationships, Content Creating, Sales & Marketing.