Customer experience is at the centre of every marketing strategy in Singapore. Your goal as a marketer isn’t to sell products or services, but to deliver personalised experiences and meet customer expectations.
This demands that you understand your customers well enough to know what offers and experiences are most relevant to them. The point rests on gaining a more distinctive view of your customers.
You have to understand their journey as customers. You have to understand how they make decisions and rationalise their reactions to things.
There’s only one way to achieve this – and that is, by visualising everything. You should start by telling the story of your customer’s experience – right from the point where they discovered your website, to the point where they became your loyal customers.
You must be in a position to give critical information on the key part of the interaction that happened along the way.
This is what marketers refer to as customer journey mapping.
You’re simply keeping track of every major moment of a customer’s journey. You want to find out the specific details of what triggered a specific course of action.
What made them change their mind? What strategy did you use to nudge them and has it been effective on a series of other customers?
The process of mapping a customer’s journey isn’t an easy one when you think about it. That’s mostly because there’s no direct approach to it. And at the end of the day, everything still boils down to preference.
Many organisations prefer using general mind-mapping tools that effectively address their needs.
But there’s a section that still prefers using collaborative tools that they can use to include the anecdotal data that they have collected from various members of their team and other departments as well.
That goes without mentioning a list of companies that prefer the customer journey mapping tools they use to create visuals in the line of infographics that narrow down to the finer details of their customers’ journey.
How to Improve Customer Experience to Boost Sales in 2023 and Beyond
Mapping and analysing customer experience will enable you to create better marketing strategies.
Compare and contrast the features of each of the tools reviewed above to identify one that best suits your business. The reports generated by the tool selected will help you come up with ways of improving customer experience.
Why You Should Continuously Improve Customer Experience?
A positive customer experience is essential to the growth and competitiveness of any business regardless of the niche.
This is based on the fact that it’s easier to convert satisfied customers into loyal customers and brand ambassadors than people who don’t consider your products or services an authority.
Continuously improving customer experience will boost your revenue significantly. At first, focussing on customer experience may seem like an extra and unnecessary effort especially if you are already swamped up with other business obligations.
However, the results are worth it and will crank up your business to grow in ways that you never envisioned possible.
Photo Credit: Revechat.com
Concisely, putting in place measures for improving customer experience (CX) will determine your brand’s success rate in the market.
Three primary reasons why you should work on your business CX
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Increase Sales Conversions
Research shows that customers who had a previous commendable experience with a business spend 140% more than those who had a bad experience.
Eventually, a good customer experience results in high customer lifetime value (CLTV) and vice versa.
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Improve Client Retention Rate
Any entrepreneur who has been in business can attest to the fact that retaining customers is cheaper than acquiring new ones.
If you want to get ahead of the competition, you need to develop ways of retaining customers.
Offering a stellar customer experience will tremendously improve client retention rate thereby safeguarding the financial stability of your business.
You won’t have to constantly search for new clients, as the existing ones will retain the profitability of your business.
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Increases Customer Loyalty
Every online business works tirelessly to constantly increase customer loyalty.
It’s one of the most valued business assets in the current fast-paced world of business. It costs 7x more to acquire new customers than to retain the existing ones.
7 Surefire Tips for Improving Customer Experience Today
Let us shift gears and look at proven ways of improving customer experience without breaking the bank.
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Create an Omnichannel Strategy
The digital marketing landscape is dynamic and so are the customers’ needs and preferences. Creating an omnichannel strategy will help you get important insights into your target customers’ interactions with your business.
The strategy will also give you a clear perspective of how the customers’ behaviours at different stages of the sales funnel.
The strategy should comprise marketing campaigns, customer support, and sales.
Recent research shows that 9 out of 10 clients expect to get an omnichannel experience with seamless connection across different communication methods.
Photo Credit: Revechat.com
In short, an ideal omnichannel customer experience strategy is designed to offer a cohesive customer service on all channels that customers use to connect with your online business.
Here are two ways that this strategy improves the customer journey.
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- It enables customers to connect with businesses through their most preferred channels thereby achieving a smooth transition from one stage to another.
- It gives business owners a deeper understanding of the customer journey. More importantly, it helps them gather valuable insights about the target market that enable them to make informed business decisions.
- To foster teamwork and productivity, an omnichannel strategy streamlines customer interactions via one platform to ensure they get the best customer experience.
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Value Employee Ideas and Empower Them
A majority of successful businesses today win at customer experience by empowering their employees. Empowered employees feel valued and appreciated by the management team. As a result, they are naturally motivated to offer the best services to customers.
For example, imagine spending 15 minutes convincing a support agent to give you a discount.
The agent may want to approve your request, but if they have to first contact the manager the process becomes unnecessarily long and time-consuming.
It would be better if the agent can use their judgement to approve or disapprove the discount instantly.
So, look into your processes to identify what hinders your employees from offering a great customer experience. Use a survey to get responses from them and use the results to adjust your customer relationship strategies accordingly.
In addition, you need to value your employees to get ahead of the competition. Keep in mind that they are on the frontline every day engaging with your customers. They are the pillar that enables your brand to deliver on its promises and meet customer expectations.
Concisely, give your employees a voice and administer pulse surveys regularly to collect valuable feedback.
Establishing a clear connection between the information they offer you and the changes you are able to make as a result of the survey results will underline or show how valuable and important the employees are to your brand.
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Strive to Offer Exceptional Customer Service
Customer service should be mainly focused on the customer’s needs and expectations and not the company. It’s imperative to analyse every interaction that a customer has with your company to offer the best client experience.
Customer-oriented businesses are 60% more profitable than companies that pay little or no focus on customers.
Good customer services foster customer satisfaction. Customers who are contented with your products or services are more likely to pass the word about your brand to other people who need your services or products.
One of the sure ways of engaging with your customers better is by offering real-time support. Thanks to advancements in technology, there are many engagement tools that you can use to have interactive conversations with customers.
Below are three ways of using digital engagement tools to improve customer experience.
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- By installing live chat software on your website, you will be able to communicate with customers in real-time. Timely responses will ensure that you connect with potential customers when they are online and most likely to convert. Otherwise, if you keep them waiting for hours, they will move on to your competitors who respond instantly.
- When resolving complex issues, you can collaborate with the clients in real-time thereby reducing the total number of touchpoints.
- You can personalise your conversations by leveraging new generation video chat solutions. These solutions enable brands to pinpoint and resolve complex issues efficiently and faster.
Experiment with different customer support tools to identify one that matches your business needs.
Start with the free version to know if the selected tool delivers the expected results. Only upgrading to the premium version of the tool meets your expectations.
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Who Are Your Customers
One of the worst mistakes that you can make when doing business online is creating campaigns or any other business strategy without first knowing who are your customers.
You need to carry out extensive market research to know your target customers.
The research process also entails segmenting the customers into groups based on their unique characteristics such as age, location and social class.
Create customer profiles or personas then develop ways of communicating with each group of customers. Skipping this step will make it difficult for you to create customer-centric customer experience strategies.
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Put in Place Measures of Collecting Customer Feedback in Real-Time
One of the guaranteed ways of knowing the quality of customer experience your brand offers is by asking for feedback.
With competition for customers increasing every day, you need to capture feedback instantly.
Invest in a live chat tool to enable customers to communicate with the support team in real-time.
Go the extra mile and use post-interaction surveys and advanced customer experience tools to send follow up emails. Such tools will enable you to constantly communicate with customers.
If you deem it appropriate, make outbound sales calls to clients who shop on your website to get more insights about their shopping experience.
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Hone your Team’s Skills and Expertise through Training
Your employees are the first people who customers interact with before or after buying a product or service.
They create the first impression of your business and so they influence the customer’s decisions to do business with you.
Hone their skills and expertise by enrolling them on one or more online training courses. Set standards for customer interaction levels and processes to ensure consistent delivery of a stellar customer experience.
The training courses should not only be for just one department.
The sales, marketing, and support team all need to work in tandem to help your brand achieve the set goals. 88% of the most successful brands invest thousands of dollars every financial year on employee training.
Here are the two pillars of great customer service.
Product or Service Knowledge
Your products or services are the core of your business. Your staff need to have a deep understanding of them if they are to succeed in offering a good customer experience. Regularly do intensive product training to empower them with all information about your business.
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- The information will help them to understand the needs of your customers faster. Consequently, they will be able to offer the right solutions fast.
- It fosters confidence when communicating with prospects by timely responding to their questions/queries.
- A strong product and service knowledge will enable them to deal with complaints from customers appropriately.
Soft Skills
Constantly improving communication skills should be part of your primary company values. If they are unable to communicate with the customers effectively, your reputation and credibility in the market will be affected negatively.
When training them, focus on not only offering information about your products and services but also empowering them with valuable soft skills such as empathy and patience. Below is an overview of the benefits of having a robust support team with soft skills.
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- Reduces the number of touchpoints and friction points.
- Enhances the support team’s ability to understand the problems facing customers better thereby helping them offer quality support.
- Boost sales conversions and reduce the sales cycles by helping resolve customers’ problems in real-time.
- Foster customer loyalty and trust by personalising conversations.
Training your employees will significantly boost the quality of customer experience your offer. It will also enhance your credibility and confirm that your brand is an authority in the market.
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Use Artificial Intelligence (AI) Powered Tools
Customer management tools that are powered by artificial intelligence (AI) are the future. Supercharge your business growth rate and improve the customer service experience by using AI chatbots and other related tools.
Research shows that chatbots have the potential to reduce customer support expenses by up to 30%.
It achieves such results by lowering the response time as customers get instant responses, especially for frequently asked questions. Stop annoying customers by keeping them waiting in long queues to chat with a support representative.
Photo Credit: Revechat.com
Below is a summary of how AI-powered chatbots improve customer experience.
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- Unlike the human support teams, chatbots work round the clock and so customers are guaranteed a response to any question even past the normal working hours. The customers will never again be kept on hold in a queue to speak to a support team unless the chatbot is unable to adequately address their questions.
- By using chatbots as the primary customer contact, you will be able to easily net customer details such as email addresses and names for other purposes such as marketing.
- AI-powered bots can be scaled up during hours when your website gets an influx of inquiries.
Despite the main benefits of using AI chatbots, you cannot rely on them solely. Merge the chatbots with the live agents to offer personalised customer support, especially on complex issues.
Most of the bots are set to send an email notification to the support team in the event they are unable to respond to the questions asked. Be sure to respond to the emails first thing when you get online to avoid keeping the customers waiting.
Finally, monitor the results you get after applying the above tips to know which areas you should tweak.
Also, seek professional help from a reputable digital marketing agency, MediaOne Marketing, for more insights on how to offer a top-notch customer experience (CX).
Best Tools To Map And Analyse Your Customer Experience
Let’s just say you’ve got options aplenty when it comes to this. We’ll try to run down the very best of these tools so you can read through and pick one that you think best resonates with your business needs.
Here goes the list:
Smaply is not your ordinary customer mapping tool. It’s a customer intelligence solution that takes an entirely different approach. It’s focused on customer voice leads and how you can use them to improve your business strategies and decisions.
The tool offers text, survey, and sentimental analytics that marketers can use to make more informed marketing decisions based on the collected data.
It takes an omnichannel approach by collecting data from multiple places and sources before analysing this information to come up with useful insights that marketers could take advantage of today
This approach focuses on informing an organisation as a whole on the various data points that apply to all of its aspects. The end goal is to help you improve the experiences of both your current customers and prospects.
Key Features
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- Automatic graphs
- Drag and drop layout
- Freely arrange lanes
- You can add more lanes including storyboards. You could also add more text lanes to narrow your focus on specific topics and enrich the map.
- They have graphs that help you understand the customers’ journey much better.
- Visualise channel usage
Cost:
The tool comes with a 14-day free trial, with an option to choose between the four different pricing packages provided.
Their starter package goes for €25 per month plus VAT which varies depending on your country. This package can only sign up one user, with an option to only use it for a maximum of 3 projects. It comes with no option to add more users.
Next in line is their regular package which goes for €50 per month exclusive of VAT.
This package allows you to include up to 3 users. And there’s no limit as to the number of projects you’re allowed to run.
Third in their four-tiered pricing plan is their business package, which goes for a good €100 per month.
This option allows you to include three users with an option to work on an unlimited number of projects.
Lastly is the enterprise pricing plan. You have to contact them for a customised quote.
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TouchPoint
This is a collaborative customer journey mapping tool that you could use to get your teams to visualise the vital aspects of a customer’s journey. The tool also makes it possible to import existing customer data.
This allows you to embark on designing a more comprehensive journey map for your customers.
Arriving with the tool are the templates that give you a head start.
These templates also make it easy for you to edit data and share information around. And once you begin to run the testing maps; it lets you store the touchpoints.
These touchpoints allow you to determine customer impact, cost, and, most importantly, your return on investment.
Key Features
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- The tool allows you to create actionable maps that you could use to deliver targeted results for a more specific customer base.
- It gives you a more comprehensive understanding of your customers. You get to track them from multiple angles and discuss them with your colleagues and other members of your team in real-time.
- It’s a flexible and one of the most secure SaaS-based customer journey management tools you’ll ever come across.
- It’s a collaborative tool that allows you to bring other stakeholders on board via task management and initiatives, customer and employee feedback, and initiative reporting.
Price
The tool has no definite pricing plan. You have to contact Touchpoint for a quote.
Gliffy is a cloud-based editor for creating and editing diagrams. It’s more lightweight and therefore not suited for handling technical diagrams, particularly those that require your team members and colleagues to collaborate.
The tool offers plenty of simple features. For instance, it comes with organisational charts and Venn diagrams.
You also have an option to create a free account, with which you can create a maximum of 5 diagrams. And mind you, all the diagrams you create are public.
That means, if you’re planning to draw a confidential diagram, then you’re better off subscribing to one of their paid pricing plans.
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- The software is super-fast. That is because it’s designed to run on the HTML5 editor. It also allows users to create large-sized diagrams without wasting much of their time.
- It stacks a series of drag-and-drop shapes that you can incorporate into your project. That goes without mentioning their extensive library and their point-and-click formatting.
- It automatically stores saved diagrams that you can easily access and track your changes.
- It allows you to collaborate with whoever you want more easily. There’s also an option for you to share your projects with your colleagues and team members easily.
- Google Drive Integration.
- Import Visio documents
Price
They have a free plan that you could sign up for today. It’s to be however noted that this plan limits the number of diagrams you can create to five.
The created diagrams are also free. So if you’re looking to throw some confidentiality into the diagrams you create, you might want to consider signing up for one of their paid plans below.
Their professional pricing plan goes for $7.99 per month. This plan is billed annually.
Their team plan goes for $4.99 per month per every member of your team you bring on board. Again, this plan is billed annually and can accommodate up to 50 users.
For their enterprise, you have to contact the company for a customised quote.
Canvanizer is easy-to-use mapping software that boasts a wide range of uses, including mapping customers’ journeys.
The tool allows you to develop, structure, and brainstorm your concepts and ideas with your team and colleagues.
You could also use it as your daily task manager, where you’ll be using it to delegate tasks and keep track of the progress that you’re making.
It also arrives with loads of templates that you could use for different types of projects.
It’s also among the few tools that allow you to import spreadsheets directly from a CSV file where you’re not willing to start a new project from scratch.
Key Features
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- The tool allows you to refine your ideas and concepts.
- It also gives you a general rundown of your service processes.
- Service journey
- The pre-service period includes public relations, advertisement, word of mouth, expectations, and social media.
- It naturally supports design thinking
Pricing
Has a free trial that you could jump on straight away.
UXPressia is a web-based management tool for customer experience. The tool is designed to help your team share, visualise, present, and improve the various aspects of their customer journey.
It offers a series of features such as real-time collaboration, integration with various data sources, drag-and-drop edit, and a modern interface.
Other than that, the tool flaunts a flexible customer or buyer persona, impact map builders, and a long list of predefined templates.
You’re also allowed to build your own templates and share them with the rest of your team members.
Key Features
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- Flexible map layout
- 15 different sections types
- Emotional graph
- An option to import your maps in a high-resolution, printer-friendly doc file
- You could share maps with your colleagues or team members
Price
They have a free trial that you can sign up for today. With their free trial, you’re only allowed to create one project, one map, and one persona. You can also share the project with only one user. On the upside, this plan still comes with SSL security.
For their professional plan, you have two options i) to make a monthly payment of $24 or ii) to make an annual payment of $240. With this plan, there’s no restriction as to the number of projects you could create. You’re also not restricted on the number of maps, personas, and shares you could make.
For their enterprise plan, you’ll have to contact them for a quote.
OmniGraffle is a multifaceted diagramming with a broad use case. It can be used for interior design or wireframe design.
It can also create neat and more precise customer journey maps to be shared with your team members and colleagues.
Professional designers and artists can also use it to draw diagrams and casual maps. It’s also one of the easiest tools to use if you’re a beginner with absolutely zero experience on customer journey mapping.
Key Features
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- Non-destructive combination of shapes.
- Converts text to shapes and line to shapes
- Works on iOS devices and Mac only
- Allows you to organise details with Diagramming subgraphs and object notes
Prices
Has a 14-day free trial period that you could use to test the tool around before investing your cash in it.
For Mac, the tool goes at a one-time fee of $99.99 for the Graffle 7 license and $199.99 for their Graffle 7 Pro license.
For an iOS, the tool goes for $49.99 for their standard license and $99.98 for their pro license.
Optimove is a cloud-based customer marketing tool.
The tool is designed to allow for highly targeted communication that empowers online brands to grow through CRM automation. This tool allows you to plan, measure, execute, and optimise a highly-personalized marketing plan for your customers.
Key Features
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- Real-time hyper-targeting
- Predictive customer modeling
- Self-optimisation personalisation
- Multi-channel campaign automation
Price
The tool comes with no definitive pricing plan. That means you have to contact Optimove for a price quote.
This is the tool for you if you’re an automotive dealer or manufacturer and are looking for something that will help you increase your service revenue stream.
Xtime Spectrum is a fully-integrated system that’s based on the cloud.
It’s designed to help automotive dealers and manufacturers deliver an exceptional user experience.
It can track customers from the point where they land on your site to the point where they complete a purchase. In other words, the system offers comprehensive coverage on a buyer’s journey.
Key Features
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- Arrives with four integrated products – Invite, Engage, Schedule, and Inspect.
- The system runs on Xtime Cloud, which holds the entire solution for superior services and exemplary results.
- The system delivers a pretty consistent user experience, thanks to the single integrated Xtime platform it runs on.
Price
Again, you have to contact Xtime for a price quote if you want to use their system.
Asana is a task management web application. It’s designed to foster collaboration and facilitate team communication within your organisation.
There’s also an option for creating customer journey maps using the program. This allows you to track your customers every step of the way. Even better is the fact that you can add your team members to your projects and tasks.
The team also makes it possible for you to share your files with members of your team and communicate with them.
With every change you make, any users that you’ve signed up for the project will be notified via their inbox. This allows you to check the update right on time and make the necessary changes or leave a comment.
Key Features
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- One of the easiest tools around. Using it feels a lot like making a list.
- Come with Android and iOS apps that you can use for free.
- Features projects, tasks, conversions, and friendly dashboards that strive to make everything easy for everyone involved.
- You can see how your project is progressing without scheduling a meeting.
- Allows you to turn some of the conversations that you have into meaningful tasks.
- You can easily convert some of the tasks to projects with absolutely no strain on your part.
Price
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- The tool has a free version for customers that are just starting out. With the free version, you are allowed to create an unlimited number of tasks, projects, and conversations. You’re also allowed to add 15 members to your team. The only limitation is that it features basic dashboards and search features.
- The premium version of Asana goes for $9.99 per month, but with annual billing. You may be discounted depending on what time of the year you’re signing up with them. All the basic features that you’re likely to find in the free version of the tool are replicated here. On top of all that, there’s no set limit as to the number of members you can add to your team. This plan also comes with an advanced search, unlimited dashboards, task dependencies, custom fields, and a room to create private teams or projects.
- They have an enterprise pricing plan. But you have to contact them for a price quote. This plan features everything you can find in their premium package, but with more dedicated customer support.
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Mural
Mural is the tool you use to organise your ideas, identify problems, and define the solutions you have through visual collaboration.
The tool also makes it possible to collaborate with remote teams. You can also brainstorm and synthesize the ideas you have using workspaces that can visualise your concepts and inspire high levels of thinking.
It’s for this reason that the tool is ranked among the most effective customer journey mapping tools you’ll ever come across.
Key Features
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- Continuous collaboration during and after work sessions.
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- Suited for both individual and group work in their customer journey mapping process.
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- The tool inspires heightened levels of thinking. It does this by creating a visualised way of thinking. It also facilitates decision making through built-in frameworks and templates.
Price:
The tool has a 30-day free trial.
Their standard plan is priced at $12 per month for every member you bring on board.
This pricing plan applies for annual billings only. For monthly billings, the amount shoots up to $16 per month on every member you sign up for.
For their enterprise plan, you have to reach out to the company for a customised quote.
With this plan, you’ll be granted all the features you’re likely to find on their standard package on top of the power to scale up and manage a series of interconnected workspaces within your organisation.
UpWave is a super-advanced task management platform for small and medium-sized businesses.
The software stacks a vast array of unique features. Examples include the ultra-modern interface, which comes with detailed step-by-step tutorials on how to use it. It’s also one of the easiest interfaces to figure around.
With the tool, you can bring every member of your team on board to help you out with planning and sharing ideas and tasks through visual boards.
The tool is also designed in a manner that allows you to track your workflow and streamline your productivity.
Mind you, every single piece of information you use will be stored in the cloud. That means any member of your team can access it from anywhere so long as they have an active internet connection.
Key Features
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- With UpWave, you can describe tasks and ideas. It also has an option for adding comments, sharing subtasks, setting deadlines, and sharing your files with whoever you please.
- You can see the complete journey of your customers through visual boards. The tool also makes it possible to track your workflows.
- UpWave facilitates collaboration, engagement, and productivity across members of your team.
Price
The tool comes with a 30-day free trial that you can take advantage of today.
It’s also one of the cheapest tools around – with their standard package going at $4 per month. This package comes with unlimited boards, integrations, cards, premium support, credit card payment, and custom backgrounds.
For their enterprise package, you might want to contact them for a quote. This package comes with all the standard features but with the added benefit of tailored support.
The Final Thought
There’s no limit to the amount of data you can collect today. The sheer volume of it might be daunting.
But that’s no reason not to take advantage of the incredible amount of customer insights that these tools provide. Or isn’t that what you need to propel your business to the next level of success?
Do you want to find out more about customers’ experiences or how to integrate customer journey mapping into your next web project?
Well, shoot us an email at MediaOne Marketing — or better, consider calling us at +65 6789 9852, and we’ll be glad to chip in and help.
