Experience Matters – Here’s why
If I asked you to tell me about the best customer experience you’ve ever had, you probably wouldn’t think twice. You will most likely tell me about how helpful and respectful the support agent was, how quickly your problem got resolved, how easy it was to get in touch with them, or about other such factors that gave you that memorable customer experience. This holds good for recounting your worst experience as well–you’re bound to remember details and talk about it.
Ultimately, every experience sticks and every experience counts.
The experience is the most surreal part of a customer’s journey with any product or company and cannot be underestimated. A good customer experience can give you a customer for life, while a bad one can infuriate your customer into abandoning you without a backward glance.
In our case, a bad support experience lead to the birth of Freshworks (then Freshdesk).
Nearly a decade ago, our founder and CEO, Girish Mathrubootham, had a broken television and was trying to make a claim on his insurance policy with his insurance service provider. A terrible customer service experience later, he had a new television, switched to a new service provider, and founded a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, that would unfailingly provide holistic customer support. It was just one bad experience, but it had a massive impact on the company that faltered, on the customer, and on the world of SaaS.
Girish’s story is a testament to the fact that every customer experience matters, and ensuring great customer experience has been one of the founding stones of Freshworks.
Delivering great customer experience is critical because when you do so, you ensure that you put in place multiple things that are crucial for the growth and success of any company. Ensuring positive customer experiences will have ripple effects, and in addition to having happy customers, here are ways you will benefit from focusing on customer experience:
Gain customers for life
How you make your customers feel, and the kind of experience you give them every step of the way can make or break your company. The cost of acquiring a new customer could cost you five times more than it would to retain existing ones. Positive experiences lie at the root of customer loyalty, and by giving your customers great experiences, you can turn all your new customers (and existing ones) into loyal customers. Create a seamless experience for a customer across all channels or touch points they interact with you on, and you will gain a customer for life.
Increase customer advocacy
Acquiring a customer needs convincing. But once they join you, they will be the biggest ambassadors of your brand. Showing value, and delivering a seamless experience is key in retaining them and converting them into brand ambassadors.
Having your customer be a brand ambassador can help you in multiple ways.
Your customers all have one thing in common – you. They’re all using your product/service to better their business. So who better than them to validate you? And all this, for FREE. Imagine all the marketing $$s you’ll be saving.
If you’ve impressed your customer with the experience, they will speak about it. They’ve used your products and have experienced how you do business, and can bring you more business by referring your products to others.
Build trust by creating personal relationships
Show your customers you value them and their business – build a relationship with them.
In the social media storm we are caught up in today, it’s very easy for customers to take to various platforms to share their experiences, good or bad, at the click of a button. Consequently, brands are expected to interact with their customers on all forums and respond to them. In fact, customer experiences and the role of such personal relationships is gaining so much importance that it will pretty much decide whether or not the customer will buy a product or a service.
Gain an edge over the competition
It is getting harder and harder for businesses to stand out from the competition. Every product has competitive features and pricing. Every business markets itself creatively. How do you differentiate yourself from the competition? By tapping into human emotions. By delivering an experience that absolutely wows them. A customer will not only compare the product and price, but will also look at the service they receive post the sale. Customer experience can be the perfect factor to help you stand out from the competition.
An overwhelming majority of customers say they are willing to pay up to 25% more for a better experience. Businesses that invest in customer experience tend to see better growth and revenue, and also build a positive reputation. Given that this trend is here to stay, analyzing the customer’s experience with a product or service, and putting in the effort to make this experience pleasurable, is now a priority.
A customer-centric approach will define the direction your business takes and the growth of your company.
We at Freshworks put our customers first, and we have been working towards making it easier for our customers to deliver a ‘wow’ experience to their customers. We want to keep our customers for life and want to help them keep their customers for life.
From the genesis of our company and the way we build our products, to how we have built the culture of our company and how we care for our employees, this relentless pursuit of creating positive experiences has been core to everything we do.
Refresh, our annual global user conference, is the face of the story that emphasizes why experience has always mattered to Freshworks, and why it should matter to you and your business. It is only natural that for this year’s edition of the user conference – Refresh 19 in London in April this year – we choose to discuss this concept of WOW experiences.
As we cater to the dynamic needs of the CX industry, by providing simple yet advanced solutions to meet our customers needs, we never forget to stick to the roots of our company’s belief – Experience Matters!
