You know when you read a blog and you think "yup, you've hit the nail on the head!"? That's exactly what we thought about MarketingProfs article - Three costly customer experience mistakes to avoid. In the article they explore three mistakes that businesses must avoid when crafting their customer experience strategy. 

1. Treating Customer Service and Customer-Centricity as the Same Thing

MarketingProfs explain the difference between being proactive and being reactive when it comes to communicating with your customers. There are many businesses who have customer-centric mechanisms in place, such as call centres which strive for quick responses to high NPS ratings , but to create this opportunity they're waiting for the customer to take the action. Of course it's important to give customers a great service, but businesses shouldn't treat this as being customer centric. Being customer centric is about being proactive and as MarketingProfs put it - "intentionally designing your programs, content, technology, and even supply chain around customers and what they mean to you."

2. Focusing on Transactions Instead of Transformation

We're definitely a fan of this point! MarketingProfs explain how customer service is transactional by nature but does little to create those long-lasting #RewardingRelationships and brand advocates.

What encourages loyalty is transforming that transaction into repeat purchases, and those customers into brand evangelists. People who will shout about your business to all their friends and family. People who will constantly buy from you and are never tempted to go elsewhere. Why? Because they're invested in your brand, and not just the transaction.

Having a customer loyalty programme will help do just that! By recognising and rewarding desired behaviours, such as repeat purchases, businesses can motivate and encourage customers to keep coming back for more, again and again (and again!). Businesses can also use their loyalty platform to educate their customers on product information, as well as their brand values and beliefs, and can even reward them for taking the time to educate themselves. 

With 75% of consumers saying they favour companies that offer rewards, it's certainly worth investing time in a rewards and recognition programme. Book a chat with us if you're interested in finding out more on how you can increase customer loyalty.

3. Putting Tools and Processes Above Dedication

MarketingProfs final customer experience mistake to avoid is all about focusing on processes instead of dedication. They explain when businesses decide to revamp their customer experience strategy, they tend to adopt processes and tools that promise a better experience. Although technology plays a huge part in making customer experience more seamless and streamlined, it cannot replace or alter having the right mentality to truly serve the customer. If businesses want their customer experience to be sustainable, everyone in the business needs to be committed and it needs to remain a consistent initiative. 

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