For any scaling company, ‘customer experience’ (CX) has become a vital lever for delivering growth and profitability.
Whether selling to consumers or businesses, ensuring that your customers are engaged advocates for your product or service is critical to creating long-term success.
To help our portfolio companies to deliver value through CX, we hosted a recent workshop in partnership with Zendesk, the leading platform for managing customer experiences.
Our guest speaker, Jeremy Ambrose, VC and Startup Partnerships Manager at Zendesk, delved into how companies can think about designing CX strategies, the metrics and platforms to leverage, and the growing role of AI in CX.
Reflecting on the discussion, Harry Thomas, Portfolio Director at Beringea, has pulled together the key takeaways for growth companies looking to strengthen their CX function. For anyone looking to learn more, check out Zendesk’s CX Trends 2024 report.
Hints and tips: Building CX strategies for growth
Harry Thomas, Portfolio Director, shares insights from our recent Academy session…
1. Formalise a CX strategy (at any stage)…
Zendesk’s latest analysis of global CX trends found that 75% of start-ups and scale-ups have no formalised CX strategy.
While this may reflect the fast-paced reality of company building, many businesses will ultimately be leaving money on the table through lacking a clear strategy for engaging your customers — which in turn drives retention and upselling.
A formalised CX strategy ensures that customer interactions align with your brand’s values and goals. It involves defining clear guidelines for how your team engages with customers at every touchpoint. Key considerations for your strategy will be:
- Mapping out the customer journey from your first interaction through to after-sales support.
- Identify pain points during this journey and how to overcome them.
- Understand the data and metrics that you will capture and strengthen.
Ultimately, a well-structured CX strategy should help you deliver consistent experiences, build trust, and retain customers.
2. Know your customer journey: the questions to ask.
Any growing company that is serious about CX will need to develop an in-depth analysis of their customer journey.
This process will need to consider a series of key questions that underpin how a customer interacts with your business:
- Who is your typical customer?
- How would they initially discover your brand?
- How do customers research your product or service?
- What are the key drivers of their decision to buy or not buy?
- Who is the decision-maker in your sales process?
- What is your onboarding process for new customers?
- How do you track usage or engagement of your customers?
- When and how do active customers typically interact with you?
- Who do you compete with, and why do customers choose your competitors over you?
3. Get to grips with NPS and CSAT
Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) should be captured by every business, as these scores are crucial in understanding how satisfied customers are with the service they receive.
- NPS measures customer loyalty. It’s based on the question: “How likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend?”. A high NPS indicates satisfied customers who might become brand advocates.
- CSAT surveys provide insights into specific interactions. Use CSAT scores to identify areas for improvement. Remember, happy customers are more likely to stay and refer others.
4. Act on your data: CX reviews and training your frontline teams
Once you have got to grips with your key metrics, consider scheduling regular cross-functional meetings to discuss customer feedback. Involve representatives from sales, marketing, product development, and customer service.
Share success stories and learnings. Use these check-ins to iterate on your CX strategy. Remember, customer needs evolve, so adapt accordingly.
These learnings will also feed into the plan of attack for your customer service teams, who are always your frontline ambassadors. Train them not only to resolve issues but also to upsell and cross-sell. They can identify opportunities during interactions.
Encourage empathy and active listening. A positive experience with a customer service representative can turn a dissatisfied customer into a loyal one.
5. Quick wins: Develop self-help content for your customers
Creating a robust knowledge base or FAQ section on your website is a must-have for any company. Including troubleshooting guides, how-to articles, and video tutorials, these will be quick and simple libraries for customers to turn to when in need.
Clearly, you want to empower customers to find solutions independently. Well-organised self-help content reduces support ticket volume and enhances satisfaction.
Nonetheless, there will always be a time when customers need to speak with you directly — particularly if you are selling a complex or expensive product — so ensure that self-help isn’t the only help you offer!
6. Leverage AI: insights and efficiency
Artificial intelligence (AI) — particularly the new generation of generative AI businesses — can analyse vast amounts of your data. Use it to understand customer behaviour patterns. For instance, AI can predict when a customer might churn or recommend personalised offers.
Consider implementing chatbots or virtual assistants to handle routine queries. This frees up your team to focus on complex issues and relationship-building.
AI-driven automation can also streamline internal processes. For example, AI can categorise and route incoming inquiries, reducing your time to respond to queries. Be cautious, though, to balance automation with a human touch. Customers will appreciate being able to reach someone who they can speak with about their problems or queries.
