QUESTION: What are the 3 Invisible Elements Your CX Strategy Needs to Achieve Success?

Most of us who appreciate music think it’s all about the sound.

But think about the silence between the sound. Doesn’t the absence of sound complete the structure of the music?

Without the silence, you only hear dozens of notes bumping frantically against each other, causing a racket.

Implementing a CX strategy is a bit like writing a song.

You may believe that Customer Experience is only about the experience the customer has during the time he/she uses the product or service. If so, you are forgetting about critical, elements that affect whether or not the journey even begins or will continue on post sale.

Most customer experience professionals start with the customer journey that begins on their company’s website. They map out the website user experience, putting different color sticky notes on large white sheets of paper to callout user sentiment, and then analyze where areas of improvement can be made to ease the checkout process.

Most prospects, however, start with reading customer reviews on other review sites skimming madly through what others have to say before they even begin the ‘customer journey’ on the brand’s website. And if the brand’s reviews are poor, well then, the ‘customer journey’ never takes place.

When crafting a CX strategy, consider utilizing the three invisible elements a CX strategy needs to improve the user experience and achieve success.

1. Customer Reviews

How important are customer reviews?

You’ll be amazed at how many customers decide whether or not to continue the buying experience simply based off of customer testimonials.

Really? Yes, really.

Let’s imagine there are three main reasons why someone would be hesitant to try your product or service.

Well, do you have three customer testimonials? If so, each of those reasons can be covered in the review itself. And a customer testimonial carries much greater impact than any sales copy ever can.

To collect these customer reviews, ask your customers to describe why they were initially reluctant to try out your product or service. You can let your customers tell you other reasons why they enjoy your product, but at the end of your review request strategy, you’ll have three customer testimonials covering each reason.

And see, that seems like an invisible customer experience strategy, right?

When constructed carefully, testimonials can create an enormous impact. And if you use a risk reversal review, the testimonials will be even stronger.

You can elevate the effectiveness of your customer reviews by adding photos, titles, and locations. These little things make prospects skip the main text on your page and slow down to read the reviews every time. Even if they don’t read all of them, they will read a handful and decide whether or not to continue the journey.

Which brings us to our second important, invisible element…

2. Incoming Feedback

If I were an employee, I’d have a pretty good idea of what kind of performance evaluation to expect at review time because of the monthly check-ins and consistent feedback I’d been receiving from my manager on an ongoing basis. That way come review time, there is no anxiety or surprises.

Just as ongoing feedback improves employee engagement and motivation, an important driver of improving the customer experience is incoming customer feedback. In today’s competitive marketplace where customers evaluate and appreciate the customer experience more and more, incoming feedback is the solution to replacing the quarterly or annual customer satisfaction report companies have been using for years.

Incoming feedback allows you to get instant feedback from your customers. Ask your customers directly through a quick popup question on your website what issues they are having with your product or service and what they’d like you to improve. This removes the reliance of CSAT and NPS surveys. I like to use Hotjar’s incoming feedback widget at the bottom of the screen on my company’s support page. Visitors can easily leave a comment and choose to receive a follow up by entering their email address. It’s easy to setup and I gather unique insights that generally don’t come in from your standard CSAT surveys. Click here to learn more about Hotjar and get a free 90-day trial.

3. Unique Post Sale Experience

Although you’ve convinced your prospect to buy a product or a service, you haven’t convinced them to be a loyal customer and become a repeat buyer.

If there is another service or product out in the marketplace that is perceived as equal value at around the same price, the customer may see no difference in choosing you or a competitor.

But a unique post sale experience is a strategy that changes everything.

If you continue to engage with your customer after the sale and provide value added post sale information, then you set yourself apart from the competition.

Most brands just send out a confirmation email that provides a receipt and confirmation that the product has been shipped for delivery. However, by adding a unique post sale experience, you create loyal customers, increase repeat purchases, and drive organic growth with referrals.

Appreciate the silence

You’ve just been introduced to the three important, yet often invisible elements a customer experience program needs:

1. Customer Reviews

2. Customer Feedback in Real Time

3. Unique Post Sales Experience

When most of us think about a customer experience strategy, we think journey mapping, NPS, voice of the customer. Yet, a customer review request strategy, customer feedback in real time, and a unique post sales experience are additional ways to increase customer loyalty.

They seem obscure, almost invisible, and yet it’s the silence between the notes that makes up the music.

Hi, I’m Eric Melchor, the founder of ElevateMyCX – your source for help with developing and implementing your own killer, more repeat sales getting, transform into loyal, more referrals, better customer reviews, CX strategy.