An outstanding customer experience is vital for the growth of any business. Enhancing this is hence important for it can make a major impact on the company and the people you serve in general. Developing this however calls for patience, understanding, empathy, being adaptable and level-headed. Claver Burora, a marketing personnel working with a designing and branding company in Kigali says professional development in customer service can provide one with the tools to deal with difficult customers or help turn a customer’s negative experience into a positive one. In a nutshell, it’s believed that a remarkable customer experience is critical to the sustained growth of any business or organisation, he says. Customer experience, in simple language, is a measure of how customers are satisfied whenever they engage with your products or services. This is the reason why it’s essential for companies and organisations to invest heavily in improving their customer experience, particularly with the modern customer who is very informed and wants nothing short of a speedy and convenience. Market studies show that a business with a top-notch customer experience stands a 17 percent higher chance of growing consistently year after year as compared to those with a poor customer experience strategy. Other studies show that businesses whose online customer experience is flawless stand a 68 percent improvement chance in regards to its online reputation within a period not exceeding five years. Also, statistics show that customers consider a company’s customer experience first before making purchasing decisions, unlike before when quality and prices advised customer decisions. Why is this important? Josephine Uwamariya, a communication expert at Arch Grid consultant ltd, a company dealing with construction says positive customer experience promotes loyalty, helps an organisation retain customers as well as encourages brand advocacy. For these reasons, she says it’s essential to provide remarkable experience and make the client want to continue doing business with you because in the first place, they are a resource for growing a company’s brand awareness. Customer experience helps in increasing revenue. A satisfied customer will keep coming back for more of your products and services. Research shows that loyal customers contribute to a 300 percent revenue increase over a period of three years. Particularly bearing in mind that improving customer experience is a simple thing to do. A simple act of taking feedback from clients and then using them to improve your services is all you need to satisfy the customer. It is more about showing a genuine effort of going a step further in order to solve the customer’s problem. Also, delivering exceptional customer experiences ensures you high customer loyalty and customer retention. The higher the customer loyalty, the more purchases they will make an organisation. Uwamariya says that customer experience also improves advocacy of your business especially in this era where things are digitised and everyone is now relying on social media for the marketing of what they do. She says that in case of strong customer company relationships, it’s easier for the very loyal person to help out in marketing your product depending on the services they have received from a certain organisation or company. “Satisfied customers would talk to different social media platforms to praise a business, its customer services, and the quality of its services and products, which helps sell your products and build strong relationships with your targeted clients,” she adds. At the same time, she says when such clients haven’t been served well or received what they expected, there are also possibilities that they might spread negative reviews about a company and its products to the extent that many prospective customers might opt to shop or get the same services elsewhere.
