{"id":1678,"date":"2009-10-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bp.rajeshkurikayar.co.uk\/?page_id=1678"},"modified":"2019-12-03T07:49:11","modified_gmt":"2019-12-03T12:49:11","slug":"reducing-costs-additional-benefit-focusing-customer-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/reducing-costs-additional-benefit-focusing-customer-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Reducing Costs: The Additional Benefit of Focusing On Customer Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are You Reducing Costs Where it May Matter Most To Your Customer?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What better time to write this article than in the current economic malaise. Companies are cutting costs in response to the continuing economic downturn. It makes sense to tighten the belt when times are tough. And many companies tell us they are measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty as a means to determine when their internal cuts begin affecting their customer. Is this a reasonable approach? Well, in a word ALMOST. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Most companies are measuring the wrong factors when it comes to their customers.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Focusing only on loyalty and satisfaction scores does not tell you the entire story:
\n– what is causing downward data trending and customer churn, and
\n– what\u2019s most important to your customer and their business.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re only gathering satisfaction and loyalty metrics, you\u2019re missing a strategic ingredient \u2013 the \u201cwhy\u201d behind trending and crucial customer decisions.<\/p>\n

A Customer Guidance System<\/strong><\/p>\n

By focusing on your customer, and utilizing a comprehensive measurement program, you establish an effective guidance system for reducing costs without losing customers.<\/p>\n

A comprehensive customer measurement program should encompass:<\/p>\n

\u2022The key drivers behind your customer\u2019s purchasing and business decisions. The \u201cwhy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2022The key drivers behind loyalty (Likelihood to Recommend), satisfaction (performance), and competitive stance (how your company compares with the competition).<\/p>\n

\u2022The expectations of a customer experience<\/a> (both emotional and physical). Probing beyond the physical: products and services, and into the emotions and senses.<\/p>\n

\u2022The gaps between importance (to their business) and satisfaction (performance).<\/p>\n

The Emotional Aspects of the Economic Downturn Keep in mind your customer is facing the same ever-increasing scrutiny on their costs and spending. If you\u2019re worried, so is your customer. Anything you can do to:<\/p>\n

\u2022Demonstrate their investment will meet their business needs (ROI) to eliminate the anxiety and concern from their purchase decision, and<\/p>\n

\u2022Construct a purchase experience that your customer will find enjoyable and easy.<\/p>\n

To understand the customer experience, requires delving into customer emotional wishes, wants, and needs. And discern, before you lose a customer, what matters most to retain them as a customer. What\u2019s driving their needs and action?<\/p>\n

Are You Spending Money Where It Doesn\u2019t Matter To Your Customer?<\/p>\n

The guidance system enables you to clearly distinguish where you can shift emphasis. If you\u2019re thinking of cutting services or programs, first look at it from your customer\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

For many of our clients, identifying the gaps or disconnects between company and customer perceptions resulted in driving down costs and enhancing the customer experience. We discovered, by talking with their customers, clients were spending money on factors that simply weren\u2019t perceived by customers as valuable or differentiators. In many cases, reallocating resources to matters that were highly important, and leverage points for customers, was either an even trade-off or less costly.<\/p>\n

Is it Time to Invest?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, you need to be more in tune with your customers and put them at the center of your decisions to surgically reduce costs in ways that will not impact your most valuable asset \u2013 your customers.<\/p>\n

In closing, Colin Shaw, founder of Beyond Philosophy, advises: \u201cThis is the time to invest. This is the time to accelerate, not slow down. This is the time to put some space between you and the competition, as those businesses will be slowing down.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Sue Morgan
\nSenior Consultant with Beyond Philosophy.<\/p>\n

By Sue Morgan | Published: October 6, 2009<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are You Reducing Costs Where it May Matter Most To Your Customer?\u00a0 What better time to write this article than in the current economic malaise. Companies are cutting costs in response to the continuing economic downturn. It makes sense to tighten the belt when times are tough. And many companies tell us they are measuring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[83,101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-customer-experience-1","category-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}