I have been doing a lot of research lately in the customer experience and found that more than ever the experience is what differentiates our companies and our products from our competitors.
The first question to be answered is why the customer experience is so important. The fact is that the customer or user experience is the single most important differentiator and critical in today’s marketplace. There are many differentiators but as industries mature they become less important than customer service and the user experience. Your brands differentiation strategy should change and evolve as the market matures and competition intensifies.
Taking a look at some of the differentiators that have been used:
Product differentiation: This differentiation is not sustainable in many industries as the changes and improvements in product come along so quickly that your competitors can quickly outpace your abilities to change. And as quickly as it came your advantage disappears.
Price differentiation: You can be the lowest price, but that can destroy profitability and if another company comes along with even lower prices (think K-Mart vs WalMart) you are in an unsustainable battle.
The high priced differentiator of the luxury or ultra premium brands takes a large marketing and promotional budget to establish and cuts the size of your market quite drastically.
In addition, and most importantly, the majority of customers say they would be willing to pay more for a better customer experience. I am definitely one of those people.
Your customers have higher expectations of service than they used to and when they don’t have a good experience they do not go quietly, instead they turn to social media to give voice to the frustrations to a wide variety of people. Research has shown that more than a quarter of customers who have bad experience post their experiences of social media.
If you are not already focused on providing the best experience, now is a great time to shift you focus to a customer experience model by making the experience you provide personal and individual.
More about the customer experience in next week’s blog
A tip of the glass from me to you
E Column
by Elizabeth “E” Slater, In Short Direct Marketing
A recognized expert in the fields of direct marketing and sales in the wine marketplace. Slater has taught more wineries and winery associations how to create and improve the effectiveness of their direct marketing programs and to make the most of each customer’s potential than anyone in the wine industry today.
