16 Reasons You Should Prioritize The Customer Experience

I recently had a bad experience with a rental car company. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say I’m not doing business with that company again. The experience got me thinking about the importance of good customer experience and personalized customer journeys.

Consumers have more information, choices, and power than ever before. And they are demanding personalized omnichannel experiences that flow seamlessly across all channels, throughout the whole customer journey. The customer experience matters now more than ever, which means that today’s marketers are now responsible for selling experiences, not just products.

Not only is customer experience the number one priority for marketers in 2016, companies expect to compete mostly on the basis of customer experience moving forward. Don’t just take my word, check out the stats below:

Consumers Expect a Better Customer Experience

1. 52% of consumers have switched providers in the past year due to poor customer experience, with banks, retailers, and cable and satellite television providers being the worst offenders. (Source: Accenture)

2. 83% of consumers are not satisfied when calling a business to make a purchase. (Source: Forrester)

3. Companies focused on maximizing satisfaction, with regard to the entire customer journey, have the potential to increase customer satisfaction by 20%. (Source: Mckinsey)

4. 86% of consumers say personalization plays a role in their purchasing decisions. (Source: Infosys)

5. In the last year, 67% of customers have hung up the phone out of frustration because they could not talk to a real person. (Source: American Express)

6. A positive phone experience can drive more than 60% of customers to spend more with a business, while 74% would take their business elsewhere after a negative call experience. (Source: Invoca)

7. 86% of customers will pay more for a better customer experience. (Source: Oracle)

Customer Experience Dominates the List of Priorities for Marketers

8. 89% of companies expect to compete mostly on the basis of customer experience this year, versus 36% four years ago. (Source: Gartner)

9. 65% of marketers have adopted a customer journey strategy and 88% saying it's critical to their marketing success. (Source: Salesforce)

10. 63% of CMOs are sinking more dollars into creating richer customer experience this year. (Source: IBM)

11. The top digital tasks for executives in 2016 are increasing targeting and personalisation (31%) and multichannel campaign management (24%). (Source: Adobe)

12. By 2017, 50% of consumer product investments will be redirected to customer experience innovations. (Source: Gartner)

13. Nearly 95% of leaders say providing a good customer experience is their top strategic priority, and three-quarters of them want to use customer experience as a competitive advantage. (Source: Forrester)

14. 74% of senior executives believe that customer experience impacts the willingness of a customer to be a loyal advocate. (Source: Oracle)

Customer Experience Leaders Outperform the Rest

15. Customer experience leaders outperformed the broader market, generating a total return 26 points higher than the S&P 500 Index. (Source: Watermark Consulting)

16. 81% of companies with strong capabilities and competencies for delivering customer experience excellence are outperforming their competition. (Source: Peppers & Rogers Group)

I know, that was a lot of numbers and it can be hard to digest. Just remember, consumers expect businesses to deliver a consistent and personalized experience. Harvard Business Review found that organizations able to skillfully manage the entire customer experience reap enormous rewards: enhanced customer satisfaction, reduced churn, increased revenue, and greater employee satisfaction.

If you’re want to see real-world examples of successful companies delivering personalized omnichannel experiences, check out our Ultimate Guide to Omnichannel Marketing.