Customer Experience (CX) has become the defining competitive differentiator shaping how customers choose, stay, and advocate for the businesses they buy from. But here’s where most companies miss the mark: they treat CX and marketing as two separate efforts. The businesses pulling ahead are the ones that recognize CX isn’t just part of the brand – it is the brand. So how do you begin to reflect that in your marketing efforts?
In a survey of 15,000 customers, PWC found that 73% of customers cited Customer Experience as an important factor in their purchasing decision. The data is clear, so why is it that many companies fail to align their customer brand promise in marketing initiatives with their CX? In this article, we’ll delve into the ways businesses can avoid this misalignment, reasons businesses should integrate CX into their marketing strategies, and a few immediate actions your company can take to stay ahead of the game.
Be A Market Trend Leader
95% of a customer’s purchase decision-making happens subconsciously. You’re likely surprised by how high that percentage is. While we’re not suggesting that you completely overhaul your marketing tactics tomorrow, it’s important to consider how large of an impact an online review or a friend’s recommendation could have on a future customer – whether they’re conscious of its influence or not.
Still not totally sold on changing your company’s marketing approach? Here are three reasons to change your mind:
- It’s free: Now there’s a caveat to this. Word of mouth marketing is free if your customer’s experience was positive and memorable. Otherwise, you’ll be spending big dollars to change the narrative and reverse the damage caused by a negative customer experience. Customers tell an average of 9 people about a positive customer experience, so to leverage “free marketing” effectively, your company needs to outperform on genuine connections and meaningful actions that are so impactful they have major word-of-mouth potential.
- Unsolicited opinions: What people say about a company online has become the single biggest influencer on that company’s brand image. In fact, 66% of global consumers indicated they trust online reviews from strangers when making purchasing decisions. As a result, what your past customers say about your CX stays online forever and influences your future customers. That raw and unedited language can either hinder a purchase or hyperactivate it!
- More bang: Have you ever wondered how many customers come to your business as a result of your marketing efforts? Your answer should be “not enough!” Consumer trends are constantly changing and if your marketing tone and tactics don’t adapt in real-time, your marketing efforts may be unintentionally alienating the very customers you are trying to attract. It is crucial that your company understands its customers’ sensibilities and reflects these in your communications. By doing so, you’ll be able to improve your company’s CX, reach more potential customers, and drive revenue without changing your marketing budget.
By doing some of the tangible things outlined below, you’ll be steps ahead of your competitors and frankly, your customers will take notice when your company’s strategy focuses on improving their experience.
How Can You Integrate CX Into Your Company’s Marketing Strategy?
Incorporating CX into marketing strategy doesn’t necessarily mean that a company has to do a full 360 and redevelop its marketing tactics and budget allocations. Just by virtue of bringing a customer experience orientation to your current efforts, you can begin to critically filter your initiatives and refine your implementation.
Companies can immediately take these three simple steps to integrate CX and give them a leg up in driving sales, growth, and brand loyalty.
1. Understand Your Customer
How can you market effectively if you don’t take your customer’s perspective into account? Understanding your customers goes beyond providing a generically “good experience” for everyone and delves into the nitty gritty of what truly delights your customers and sparks emotive reactions. Personalization is the new key success factor, with 63% of consumers agreeing that personalization is now part of the standard of service they expect. As a result, a personalized focus in both marketing and customer touchpoints is an accessible application of CX integration that will allow your business to tap into potential synergies. This can be as simple as greeting a regular customer by name or ensuring that your remarketing efforts acknowledge a past purchase by a customer who has already bought your product.
If you’re wondering how to know exactly what your customer desires, we challenge you to consult the customer metrics your business keeps track of. Do these metrics give you insight into building out accurate customer personas for your customers? If your business doesn’t collect customer data or feedback, perhaps now would be a good time start. Or, to make things even simpler, just ask your customers! According to a survey done by Brightlocal, 68% of customers will leave a review when asked by a local business, so why not just ask?
2. Focus On Alignment
Your marketing team is likely at the core of drawing customers to your business. The marketing team offers customers a promise of excellent products or services and yet, more often than not, this team has no role in the follow through on this brand promise. In fact, only 27% of companies’ customer experience teams actually report into the marketing division. This disconnect can lead to customer letdown and tarnish your company’s brand image.
This organizational model presented by Forrester, integrates the brand, customer experience, and marketing teams under one structure to maintain alignment between all streams and teams. While this cross-functional model may be a longer-term organizational design consideration for your company, in the short-term, encouraging open communication between teams will foster better alignment and ultimately lead to a better experience for your customers.
3. Do Proact; Don’t React
Rather than thinking about your brand’s reputation reactively, we want to challenge you to consider your company’s reputation proactively. A company’s brand reputation is entirely in the hands of its customers and no amount of marketing spending can control the voice of the customer. As such, the only way that you can influence the voice of your customers is through the experience, good or bad, that your company provides.
The instantaneous nature of social media provides huge potential for far-reaching marketing initiatives, but can also ruin a company’s reputation. Less than 24 hours after a video of a passenger being dragged off a United Airlines flight went viral, the company lost $1.4B in value, and the public’s opinion of the airline was catastrophically shattered. It took years of deliberate investment in customer experience, premium cabin upgrades, and operational improvements for United to rebuild trust and brand loyalty. The lesson isn’t just how fast a reputation can be destroyed – it’s how much time, effort, and capital it takes to earn it back.
If a negative customer experience can ruin a brand’s reputation, why don’t more companies focus on a positive customer experience to build a great brand reputation? Because it takes discipline. Here is some provocative thinking: Warren Buffet said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” Again, while you can’t force a customer to leave you a good review, the experience they have with your business and how they feel after the experience is entirely in your hands.
Closing Thoughts
Customer Experience isn’t a marketing trend, it’s your most powerful growth lever. Understand your customer, align your brand promise with the experience you deliver, and be proactive about protecting your reputation. The companies doing this well aren’t just retaining customers – they’re turning them into their most effective marketing channel.
At Stack’d Consulting, we help leaders design experiences that delight their customers and drive lasting loyalty. For more information on our services and untapping your organization’s potential, contact us.
