Customer Experience (CX) and the Small Business

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The most challenging thing about running a small business is enticing customers. Convincing people to buy from you will not be easy because they’re used to other brands. The good news is that it’s not impossible, although it's easier to convince them when you give them an exceptional customer experience.

What is Customer Experience (CX)?

When customers come to your business premises, how you handle them is part of the customer experience. It covers the buyer’s journey. Customer experience, also known as CX, is when you are targeting a prospect with ads and trying to persuade them to subscribe to your emails.

CX involves emotions. How the prospect feels about your brand before they subscribe to your services is part of that experience.

CX is all about how to communicate with the client both online and offline. Your goal is to make the clients feel good about your brand.

Why is Customer Experience Important for Small Businesses?

Small businesses compete with large companies for the same market. Unlike small businesses, big firms can afford to spend big on marketing. They can pay for billboards, buses, and any other public space to promote their brands.

It might seem counterintuitive to say small businesses have an edge over their larger rivals because of their size, but it’s true. It’s easier to manage everything in a small business. You can check the finances and manage them from one office, unlike big businesses that have multiple branches with independent managers. You can also personalize the customer experience for every client that you have in a small business.

Customer experience is important for a small business because it allows you to level the playing field. Big businesses are too big to personalize the experience for every customer. Their way of doing things is standardized.

Today, consumers are more concerned about what you can do for them and how you make them feel. If you can’t give them an experience to remember, they’ll go somewhere else. You might be surprised to discover that customers are willing to pay more if they’re appreciated. Therefore, a small business that concentrates on improving customer experience increases its chances of success.

Customer Service vs. Customer Experience: What’s the Difference?

The main difference between customer service and CX is the latter is more detailed and broad. Customer experience pays particular attention to the buyer’s journey while customer service deals with the interactions between clients and employees.

Customer service is more concerned with the human aspect of the business. Your employees have to know everything about the product so that they can answer client questions correctly. There’s a special department dedicated to customer service. They include front desk employees and managers.

On the other hand, CX encompasses both the human and non-human aspects of the small business. It can involve more than one department. For example, how the customer responds to automated replies is part of the customer experience. When a customer follows a link to your site, that’s part of the customer experience. When a customer walks into your store and randomly checks the items on the aisles, that is part of the customer experience. Customer service is part of the customer experience.

How Do You Define a Good Customer Experience?

A good customer experience is defined by the actions of the customer. If they come back to your shop, they enjoy the experience and want to get more. If they come back with a friend, they love the experience so much that they wanted to share it with someone they know. If the customer posts a positive review on your website or social media page, they loved how you made them feel. People will always appreciate a good customer experience by reciprocating with a good deed.

What Causes a Bad Customer Experience?

The main cause of bad customer experiences is miscommunication. For example, if a customer clicks on your banner ad, it may be by mistake, or they’re genuinely interested in the product. People hate being forced to do something. Since you’re not sure why the customer clicked on the ad, don’t keep displaying the same ad over and over again. If you do that, you’ll annoy the customer and give them one of the worst experiences. Take time to comprehend what the customer requires before offering anything to them.

How Do You Measure Customer Experience?

You can use customer experience analytics (or, CX analytics) to measure the client’s level of satisfaction. Collect data from your website and analyze it to understand customer behavior. Analyze the different touchpoints of the buyer's journey. For example, how can you entice them to checkout and pay for the item? How can you make your emails more interesting so that customers open them?

You can also measure customer experience through surveys. Ask your customers what they think about your brand. Are they satisfied, or do they want more? If they’re not satisfied, you need to improve the customer experience. If they enjoy the experience, maintain consistency.

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