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3 tips for closing the customer experience gap
On the brink of death, people in the Amazon original series “Upload” have the option of uploading their consciousness into a luxury-filled digital afterlife. Each then gets a customer service “angel” to tend to their every need, anticipated in virtual pop up ads. “The ads know us better than we know ourselves,” one quips.
Sound far-fetched?
Not really.
Digital afterlife aside, the internet knows you very well. Data you produce daily can predict your preferences, your mood, and even your level of impulse control. We have access to so much customer data, that we too should be able to anticipate (and fulfill) every need for our customers.
Here comes the “but.” (There’s always a but.) But a huge gap still exists between the business perception of customer experience (CX) and actual customer satisfaction.
Here’s a compelling statistic: 87% of marketers say they’re delivering engaging customer experiences. Juxtapose that with another stat: half (49%) of customers say that brands failed to meet their expectations. What’s more, two thirds of customers surveyed couldn’t remember the last time a brand exceeded their expectations.
Ouch.
This is the customer experience gap. We believe that we’re doing a good job, but customers beg to differ.
Compared to traditional forms of advertising, 91% of consumers say that the tailored ads they’re seeing are more intrusive, and 84% said overly intrusive ads give them a poor opinion of the business doing the advertising. The ads know us better than we know ourselves, and we’re not happy about it. Conversely, Millennials overwhelmingly reject traditional advertising and demand some level of personalization. What’s a business to do?
That’s the risk of approaching the customer experience the wrong way. Just because we have the technology to tailor ads does not mean they’ll always be welcomed. Even with those advancements, our work is not yet done. So how do we make sure we’re doing it right? How do we close the gap?
