Customers have many choices for where and how they do their business today, and distractions are everywhere. Businesses who don’t adjust their marketing and processes may find themselves struggling for survival. Understanding how changing customer expectations affect your business is key to your future success.
Here’s what customers want from you right now:
Timeliness
Whatever patience we used to have, it seems to be gone now. Customers expect to find what they need — whether that’s in-store or online — quickly and conveniently. Orders are expected to ship immediately and arrive in a few days, if not tomorrow. (There’s an increasing expectation for it to be free as well.) Phone calls and emails are expected to be answered promptly and customer service issues resolved in one interaction.
In reality, many business processes can’t keep up with all these rising customer expectations. Companies that are really good at it have raised the bar for everyone else, including much smaller retailers with limited resources. If there’s anything positive to be gained from this difficult pandemic period, it’s that consumers and businesses alike have had plenty of time to practice patience. Whether the flexibility and willingness to accept delays required during the shutdown has long-term effects on expectations remains to be seen.
In the meantime, understand speed is a driving factor in how customers perceive your business. Examine each step of the buying process to identify opportunities to improve. However, make sure these changes are sustainable because once you’ve established a service level, customers won’t be happy with anything less than that.
Relevance
Customers are protective of their own time, and they don’t want to waste it looking at communication that isn’t relevant to them. Customer data — and the technology to use it — is vital in targeting products and information relevant to individual customers.
An Accenture survey found that 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands who recognize, remember, and provide them with relevant offers and recommendations. Tracking customer behavior and using past purchase information helps you identify which products and promotions they are most likely to be interested in. From a B2B perspective, understanding where your prospect is in the buying process is essential in order to deliver the most compelling content and build the trust required to move down the funnel.
Another key to relevance is how your website or retail store is merchandised. Are you making it easy for customers to find accessories and complementary products once they’ve selected an item? Customers expect to see recommendations rather than hunting for items. In fact, SmarterHQ reports that 47% of consumers check Amazon if the brand they’re shopping with doesn’t provide product suggestions that are relevant. That’s the last place you want to send your prospective buyers!
Speaking to your customers as individuals and demonstrating an understanding of their needs builds trust, increases engagement, and boosts loyalty.
Security
Personalization requires data collection and that opens companies up to potential breaches, including theft of customer information. It’s a tradeoff that can be challenging to manage. However, no amount of personalization is worth the potential loss of customers’ trust.
Unfortunately, data breaches are on track to set a new record in 2020. Social isolation and an increased reliance on online interaction have left many consumers and businesses vulnerable to cyber crime. Your customers and prospects may be increasingly leary of sharing their information.
It’s important to establish trust with those you’re interacting with. Building your brand awareness helps buyers become more comfortable with your company. Be transparent about how you use information. As much as possible, give customers privacy controls for how their information is used.
Above all else, invest in the necessary privacy and data security protections to guard this very valuable resource.
Choices
Customers want to choose how they do business with you…and they want all their interactions to be connected. If you serve customers through multiple channels, align their experiences and make sure your employees have access to the information. I worked at a company where different promotions and prices were available online than in the brick-and-mortar stores. This led to a great deal of confusion, anger, and frustration for both customers and employees. Get everyone on the same page!
Choices also include self-service and full-service options so customers can choose the best fit for each individual transaction. Online orders are expected to offer an expedited delivery choice, even if customers have to pay more. The decision is in the customer’s hands. Even Amazon Prime now comes with an option to delay shipping in exchange for a digital reward.
Customers expect a full product assortment to choose from, whether that inventory is all physically available in the same place or not. This means making access to online or catalog ordering easy and convenient. Remember customers’ expectations for timeliness, however; they may choose your competitor rather than waiting for delivery.
Listening
Customers are talking about you all the time. It’s your responsibility to be listening, and that starts with understanding where the conversations are taking place.
Research your customer base and potential targets to understand the social channels and other media they use regularly. Monitor these channels and when your company is referenced, respond appropriately. That means thanking and appreciating the positive comments and addressing the negative ones, moving the interaction to private channels as quickly as possible. Stay engaged in relevant industry and community conversations as well.
While social media gets a lot of attention, consumers are increasingly turning to live chat for customer service interactions. Research from Kayako finds 41% of customers say they prefer live chat, versus 32% telephone, 23% email, and 3% social media. This is a way to resolve problems and answer questions quickly and personally. Live chat customer service is also 17-30% cheaper than a phone call. Real-time, personal support at a lower cost for your company benefits both you and the customer.
Educate and coach your employees — not just your customer service team — in active listening skills. When your team listens with empathy and with a goal of truly understanding, they’re better able to take action to resolve issues and explore new ideas.
It takes technology, training, and the right team members to make the adjustments needed for you to stay relevant to your customers. As customer expectations have increased, so has the ease of moving their business elsewhere. Invest the time and resources necessary to ensure your business is keeping up.