Over the course of this recession almost every day there’s another report about a company cutting their costs and/or slashing their prices. But as the economy starts to recover, how will these recessionary strategies impact customer loyalty? A new study indicates that in spite of the current economic climate, consumers are not driven solely by price and that engaging customer experiences are being rewarded.
The survey, conducted by Strativity Group (http://www.strativity.com/products/2009-08-04.aspx) suggests that companies who have been simply focusing on reducing their internal costs – and prices – during this recession may have gained some short-term revenue through acquiring new customers, but most likely at the expense of building long-term, profitable customer relationships.
Companies that spend the time and effort to build exceptional customer experiences emerged with longer-term customer relationships, a larger share of wallet and consumer willingness to pay a price premium. The top customer experience drivers were the ease/simplicity of the experience as well as employees’ ability to resolve problems effectively and exhibit common sense.
Strativity’s study confirmed two common findings from Synovate’s own customer experience research that frequently surprises clients (especially the bean counters) - (1) price is typically only a low level driver of loyalty compared to other touchpoints in the experience; and (2) customer-facing employees almost always play a critical role in creating emotionally engaging experiences with customers.
Contributed by Sean Clayton, Senior Vice President, Synovate
Comments