The Customer Experience Checklist for 2016: Take Our Quiz to Test Your Knowledge

Originally Published by The Capterra Customer Service Software Blog

Some 55% of customers would pay a premium if it meant guaranteeing better service, according to Defaqto Research. A CEI survey says that percentage is as high as 86%. That research is from 2011, but if anything has changed, it’s that customers are more demanding and expect faster service.

A great experience can create customer loyalty which can make or break your bottom line. Customer satisfaction drives repurchase decisions, loyalty, and NPS.

I’ve put together a checklist of customer experience necessities so you can go into 2016 strong.

Pop Quiz: What Do You Know About Customer Experience?

Here are a few questions that will help you identify whether or not you’re placing the right emphasis on customer experience:

Question #1: Fill in the blank: the Harvard Business Review called _______, essential in measuring the customer experience, the “one number you need to grow.”

1. Customer retention rate.
2. NPS, or net-promoter score.
3. Profit to earnings ratio.
4. Nielsen rating.

Question #2: Which of the following survey questions is the most effective way for you to gauge your customers’ experience?

1. How satisfied are you with (company’s) overall performance?
2. How much would you rate (my company/product) in making your life easier?
3. How likely are you to continue purchasing (products/services) from this company?
4. Do you feel (my company) sets a high standard in this industry?

Question #3: Which of these tools falls under the umbrella of customer experience?

1. Live chat.
2. Customer ticket management.
3. Post-purchase email marketing.
4. Product delivery.
5. All of the above.
6. None of the above.

Answer #1: 2, NPS, or net-promoter score. This number represents the net amount of customers you have as “promoters”–those who actively promote your company to friends and family–over your detractors. A higher NPS means more word of mouth, and with Nielsen rating the recommendations from friends and family as more trustworthy than other forms of advertising with 92% of customers, word of mouth still reigns supreme..

Customer experience helps you measure and improve your NPS. But what steps should you take to improve it? Harvard Business Review recommends starting with a thorough survey with that ever-vital question, “How likely is it that you would recommend [brand or company X] to a friend or colleague?” while resisting the urge to ask more questions on your survey. Since NPS is vital to the growth of your business, it’s where you should focus your marketing efforts in 2016.

Answer #2: 3, “How likely are you to continue purchasing (products/services) from this company?” While it might seem more logical to outright ask a customer if they had a great experience or if they’ll be loyal to your brand, you’ll get a far more accurate measure of your customer experience about the actions they will take in the future. According to the Harvard Business Review, only “How likely is it that you would recommend [company X] to a friend or colleague?” was more powerful in their survey.

Asking people about the actions they’ll take (recommending, continuing to buy products) helps get a gauge for trust and customer loyalty because you can only define the customer experience by the action steps your customers take. If a customer enjoys the experience but doesn’t continue buying products or doesn’t recommend your service to anyone else, then their true “customer experience” isn’t as a promoter of your company; they’re just a satisfied purchaser. But if they actively promote your company, your company stands to grow with positive word of mouth and a positive NPS.

When running surveys, stick to a few simple questions — the ones you read here — and measure how many customers are actually answering in the affirmative.

Answer #3: 5. All of the above. Customer service — which includes a help desk and live chat–email marketing, and more all fall under the umbrella of the customer experience. In short, if your customer experiences it when dealing with yourcompany, then chalk it up under “customer experience management.”

So many companies equate customer service with customer experience management that they forget to focus on other areas of the process, including everything from follow-up emails through email marketing to the physical environment of your retail space if you have one. Every once in a while, try to approach your own processes fresh and honestly evaluate if every step of your process is designed to give the customer a positive experience–or if it’s simply there to be efficient.

One thing that can help you provide a great customer experience is customer service software.

Here’s a Checklist of Software Features That Can Help You Improve Customer Experience in 2016:

• Built-in or plug-and-play integrations. You shouldn’t have to change the way you do everything simply because you bought customer service software. If you check out our help desk software directory, you can actually filter by features, including email integration and social media integration.
• Mobile-ready customer experience. Talking to customers on their favorite platforms is step-one to making them feel valued.
• Live chat or other real-time channels. Sure, it might seem ambitious for small websites, but customers are much more likely to abandon a purchase if they can’t get a fast answer. That means you’re going to lag behind the competition if you don’t offer instant interaction.
• Analytics. “What gets measured gets managed.” If you’re going to upgrade your customer’s experience, you need to define what the desired experience looks like, set actual achievable goals, and measure your progress. HBR recommends running surveys with basic questions like “how likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend?” and then dividing people into two categories: promoters and detractors. Anyone rated a six or below is a detractor; anyone seven and above is a promoter. Divide the promoters by the detractors and you now have a key measurement for NPS that’s completely actionable.

Conclusion

Whether you’re looking at FreshDesk or TeamSupport or a whole range of customer experience software options, keep our checklist in mind when you shop around for the best solution in 2016. Your customers won’t only express their appreciation for it, they’ll show it — by buying from your company.

One great way to improve your customer experience is to invest in customer experience software.

Let me know what else should be in this checklist in the comments!