The Future of Customer Experience is Agile
“Gone are the days when customers were at the mercies of businesses…”
Customer Experience Agility is the ability of an organization to quickly move and adapt a new or an improved approach while addressing the changing market environment and customer needs.
Agility is essential in today’s ever changing world. The modern customer is vastly empowered and their expectations keep on changing.
Therefore, in order to survive in these dynamic times, it is crucial for any business to quickly adapt to the ever changing needs of a customer and new technology.
The world is constantly changing and due to the digital transformation that has taken over the market place, the way that customers traditionally used to buy products and services has also changed over time. The modern customer is way knowledgeable and has more power than ever before.
When the Covid -19 pandemic hit, it completely disrupted the way we used to operate but even with the challenges, it presented novel ways of doing business as well as growth of different markets.
In Kenya, the businesses that were agile were able to continue running without serious interruptions. These are businesses that had taken advantage of technology and had incorporated systems that allowed them to carry on business as usual.
That meant that employees were able to continue working albeit remotely, either from home or elsewhere but they still had access to important customer data which allowed them to continue serving their clients and ensuring great customer experience.
Businesses that are able to collect customer data can draw great insights from this, enabling them to identify any existing challenges or problems in the foreseeable future and opportunities for development or improvement.
Customer Experience (CX) Agility; What Does It Mean for Your Business?
Customer Experience Agility requires a business to be on its toes, constantly looking out for any changes in customers’ expectations and preferences and quickly build and adapt to new ways of working in order to drive success for the company.
Let’s look at the Advantages of having an Agile Business:
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Competitive Edge
In today’s business world, companies have multiple ways of reaching out to customers This ensures that their customers have access to them whenever they want to interact with the brand and also through the channels they wish to use.
There is a lot of competition from other brands and delivering exceptional customer experience can be a challenging task. However, companies that are able to make quick pivots on their operations and processes in order to offer a seamless experience to their customers have a competitive edge over their competitors.
Agile businesses are not stuck with bureaucratic procedures.
They are able to grab opportunities as they present themselves and in case of any errors or setbacks, they are able to quickly make changes to correct this and ensure to stay on top of the game.
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Strong Customer Relationship
Agility allows brands to quickly adapt to the changing needs of their customers. Customers appreciate brands that are able to deliver products and services in a fast and efficient manner.
Gone are the days when customers were at the mercies of businesses. The customer today is empowered and has access to many more brands and multiple ways of interacting with these brands.
A business that attends to its customers’ needs and meets their satisfaction, is able to develop strong relationships with them and build customer loyalty.
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Revenue Growth
Customer satisfaction is an essential part of customer experience agility. As earlier on mentioned, customer expectations keep on evolving over time as they interact with a brand and as changes happen in the world.
An agile business is able to deliver what the customer needs and in the way they want it in order to satisfy the customer. Customer satisfaction is key in building customer loyalty because a repeat customer keeps coming back to buy from you contributing to the continued growth of the business.
A business that is able to meet and even exceed customer’s expectations, gain loyal customers who become the company’s brand ambassador. These customers offer free advertising by sharing their experience to their friends and family or leave a positive review online.
Consequently, this attracts new customers for your business who bring in additional revenue.
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Customer Retention
We know by now that the cost involved in acquiring a new customer is way higher than that of retaining an existing customer.
Say you have an eatery business in a quite busy region where most corporate offices are located. You have been running this business for a long time and it has been growing year on year because you ensure to meet your customers’ needs and exceed their expectations.
Now imagine this, we are back in 2020 and the Covid 19 pandemic has hit. The governments are taking measures to ensure there is no spread of the disease and so, sit-ins are not allowed anymore.
Usually, your customers would come by and get a cup of coffee or tea on their way to work or sit in to have their lunch but this is no longer allowed. Do you go agile or do you close shop?
The agile businesses quickly adopted technology if they didn’t have it already, enabled orders online via websites or via delivery apps to ensure that their customers’ needs were still met. They were able to retain their market share and possibly gain more from those that could not adjust to the new normal.
Additionally, with technology, a business gets consolidated data on their customers’ purchasing behavior and preferences which helps in delivering exceptional and personalized customer experience hence retaining them and gaining loyalty from them.
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Teams Collaborations
For a business to succeed in its agility strategy it requires for the various teams in an organization to work together. This allows for a conducive environment where employees are able to share ideas making them feel empowered in their work.
Agility in an organization can also help get rid of departmental divisions and allow for more information flow promoting innovation and creativity. Employees are then able to take accountability for their work, giving rise to more employee participation.
It is important to remember that…
As a business owner or manager, innovation and consistent adaption to the changing needs of the customer will help keep your business agile.
Now that we live in a technology world, it is necessary to embrace the right technology in order to keep up with the constant customer as well as market changes, for the business to remain successful.
Whilst adopting agility may be uncomfortable, every business should seek and promote the buy-in from every team member to ensure that the business is offering exceptional customer service and there is no loss of customers.
It is of utmost importance for a business to keep up with the changes in their customers, the industry and the world at large in order to keep their market share or even gain more from those businesses that are not agile. Employee training also plays a key role in keeping up with the times.
Only the businesses that stay ahead of the curve will prosper.
Over the last 16 years, Jackie has built a remarkable career in Customer Service in different capacities and industries.
As a Customer Experience Trainer, her mission is focused on helping businesses make more and retain more customers through unrivalled Customer Experience.
She has an in-depth CX understanding that stems from personal experiences, learning & research all fueled by my passion and commitment to see customers happy and organizations thriving.
She is the Co-founder, CEO, and Senior Consultant at Customer Centric Kenya, the consulting and training firm of choice.
Her tailor-made training-approach has been a key strength. The companies she has worked with have appreciated some key aspects:
→ The well-researched and packaged modules.
→ The depth of training and tailoring.
→ The applicability and follow up.
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One comment
Patrick kimathi mikwa
November 5, 2023 at 10:16 am
I commend you for your insightful in depth research .Organizations should aggressively embrace this transformative module to increase sales and spur growth.