Trend 1
Retain
Getting closer to customers and increasing your understanding about the types of people who patronize your brand — and why — should be an absolute business priority for the year ahead.
The best customer experience (CX) isn’t simply about attraction, it’s about retention, and — particularly in uncertain times — retention is the route to revenue.
Irrespective of market forces or economic conditions, CX performance should always be front of mind — 78% of consumers would quit a brand after a single negative customer experience.
In your customers’ eyes, CX is the ultimate point of differentiation between your organization and its competition. It’s what turns a product or service into a value proposition and over the course of 2022 and 2023, value has been fundamental to customers’ decision-making process.
The coming year will bring more uncertainty but not about CX. So don’t wait until there’s a risk of recession to finally discover if you can pass the test. Your CX should exist in a state of continuous improvement.
Without constant refinement and optimization, it’s impossible to articulate why your best customers are loyal to your brand or point to the factors that influence the decision making of those customers who quit your brand for another.
When brands don’t understand the root causes of either attrition or retention, how can they identify and act on opportunities to upsell or cross-sell or know when it’s time to engage with a customer who is at risk of walking away and convince them to stay?
During market downturns, identifying greater efficiencies, improving existing processes and capitalizing on existing customer lifetime value provides much-needed protection. And getting closer to your customers provides a competitive edge when conditions change. Understanding who your customers are and knowing how your products and services align with their needs and expectations makes targeting new customers easy.
