Creating a customer experience that keeps customer loyalty results from the magical combination of three elements: products, shops, and above all, people.
By people, we specifically refer to collaborators and employees whose everyday work enlightens and makes sense of the organization’s corporate mission. There is no pure chance that what we have traditionally referred to as “Human Resources” has now acquired a more progressive designation by being called “Human Capital.”
Based on the premise that whoever nominates, dominates, it would be right to understand that linguistic shift as the utter rejection of the possibility of considering the workforce as one more resource; on the contrary, the underlying concept now suggests identifying employees as the true human capital, paramount for the development and growth of the organization.
Paradoxically, this focus shift leads to a deeper concentration on customer/company relationships also known as KYC. Starbucks Coffee Company simplifies this through the following statement, “we’re not serving people in the coffee business; instead, we’re serving coffee in the people business.” It is worth asking, then, how can a company’s human capital become a strategic asset, able to offer memorable experiences to customers?
Is it possible to ensure the staff will cater to those experiences in every interaction with customers, i.e., when serving coffee, indicating certain procedures, or answering questions? What should customers receive and/or perceive when they visit a company’s premises so they recall that visit and wish to return?
Resuming Starbucks Company’s case, in the section “The Employee’s Role in Customer’s Experience” from The Customer Experience publication, the specialist Beatriz Navarro states that, “people come [to our shops] because of our coffee, stay because of our warm-hearted environment, and return because of our human connection.
It is thanks to this that we can prove that good and valuable experiences do not depend 100% on the quality of products and/or services but other aspects concerning the commercial interaction.
What Shapes the Customer Experience?
Apart from our human condition, the other distinctive feature that makes the current contemporary society out is that we all are -or have been, at some point- customers. Perhaps, we unconsciously go through more emotional processes rather than rational processes during our shopping experiences which inspire either positive or negative feelings that in turn, bring about the wish to return –or not- to a shop, company, or organization.
It is due to the everyday rush that many experiences take place unnoticeably, but they do occur and the result is definite.
Plenty of research shows a multiplicity of factors that are involved in customers’ experiences, and that significantly condition the decision-making process.
As stated by the Argentine consultant Luciano Pazcel, a lecturer in Marketing for SMEs course at the National University of Technology, per a case study, 68% of people switch brands due to a company’s indifference, i.e., they feel served and treated like everyone else. 14% of customers switch brands because they are dissatisfied with the product; whereas only 9% move away from the brand and opt for the competitor.
The Role of Technology
These figures prove the competitive value of placing emphasis and focusing on offering memorable experiences to customers through the human capital of the company. Companies that adopt advanced solutions are likely to remain customers’ favorite. Solutions like digitized payments and online booking make the customer journey easier.
The customer experience Besides empathy, aptitude, and efficiency; what sort of innovative solutions may the staff make use of to offer the services as well as the quality of attention capable of adding distinguishing value?
In the field of innovation and cutting-edge technology, there exist companies fully devoted to the ongoing construction and optimizations of customers’ experiences in the service area. Wavetec is a leading company that provides technological solutions to other companies worldwide by offering essential holistic training to employees that enables them to feel confident and at ease with their work tools, and so helps them get the most out of each interaction with customers.
One of Wavetec’s solutions involves real-time assessment of the service quality offered in the customer service area. Then, it is also possible to organize, manage, and measure the influx of customers in a shop, thus ensuring on-time attention and exceeding expectations by taking into account those small courtesies that make customers feel valued.
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