Businesses put a lot of budget and time into their marketing and acquisition of customers but fall behind when it comes to looking after the customers they have converted.

So much pressure is put on marketing teams to acquire new customers that they are lost as soon as they spend any time interacting with a business beyond the initial purchase because of the lack of available tools, negative experiences or personalisation of a service. 

• 49% of consumers have left a brand in the past year due to poor customer experience Emplifi

• 85% of brands believe they offer personalised customer experience, but only 60% of consumers agree Twillio

Providing additional care in customer experience can be achieved through properly thought out (with user research, testing and design) digital products and services.

For example, there is a growing trend that customers prefer to have a self-service option to find information they need without having to interact with a team member. Have you got such an option in place?

• 75% of consumers find it important for brands to offer them a fully self-service customer care option to answer their questions Emplifi

Investment in these products is budget and time well spent as it has such a wide impact across a business. Even if digital plays a supporting role rather than leading role, it is a solid way to build value in your business as well as showing you value your customers:

Retain more customers

A consistent and great digital experience stops customers looking for an alternative solution. Quality products show investment and that you value the customers time and money. A slapdash approach to a product which is ‘good enough’ without a clearly communicated roadmap of how the product journey will improve is a quick way to lose customers.

• Customer experience (CX) drives over two-thirds of customer loyalty, which represents more than brand and price combined (Gartner, via CMSWire)

Attract new customers

•  83% of consumers are willing to refer after a positive experience Texas Tech University

People want to share their great experiences. They are waiting and more willing to refer their solution when something works well or beyond their expectation. This can be reflected in reviews on your website, third party platforms like Trustpilot and most importantly peer to peer.

Increase revenue

• 61% of consumers will pay at least 5% more if they know they’ll get a good customer experience Emplifi

Great products and experiences allow you to increase prices for access or licences. People are willing to buy value over a quick cheap solution which is going to take them an age to learn and set-up. Evidencing your top class user experience via those already using will support the argument for a higher access fee. 

Even if digital plays a supporting role, for example a membership organisation or community, showing the value you can offer in other areas for their membership fee is going to help secure more members.

Create opportunities

A thought out product or process can open up new opportunities not seen before. A product built well can easily become scale-able and saleable. Providing another revenue stream for a business which may have never considered taking a product to market. Once you have made the investment up front, it’s easy enough to duplicate and target new markets with their own set of use cases which cross over with the initial consideration for developing the product or service in the first place.

In conclusion

Investment in products and services will pay back across different areas of your business. It’s not just about the impact on a single user using a platform or providing a solution which helps their day-to-day. It is about building valuable products and assets which are bespoke to the business that can make the difference to your competitors. Differences which can be measured and compared during the decision making process of customers when looking to invest their own budgets and time.

Need some help with your digital product or service? 

Book in a FREE 30 minute session with our UX Director, Jason Hancock