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Customer experience marketing: 3 comms strategies for improving CX

by | Mar 27, 2023 | Public Relations

Up to 86 percent of customers will leave a brand they’ve previously been loyal to after just two negative experiences. That’s how important CX is to your bottom line.

However, PR pros and communicators often ignore customer experience when drafting marketing strategies. Consequently, it’s unsurprising that many brands aren’t using customer experience marketing (CXM) to drive product adoption.

Providing a top-notch customer experience is a prime marketing strategy, and the right approach can help you improve the purchasing journey. Here, we’ll explore how to go about CX marketing and the benefits it can bring.

Managing customer experience as a marketing strategy

Customer experience marketing means making customers the primary consideration in your marketing strategy and prioritizing their needs. The idea is to satisfy them so they’ll positively contribute to your marketing efforts with their feedback.

An excellent customer experience impacts a company’s reputation in a good way. Gone are the days when brands controlled the market narrative. Now, internet access, lots of options, and heightened awareness have shifted power into the hands of consumers.

Because they now have more choices and are more aware of their preferences, customers can discontinue their relationship with a brand at the slightest sign of dissatisfaction. Conversely, they’re also drawn to brands that provide the desired experience.

As such, creating excellent experiences for existing customers is one of the best ways to attract new ones. This could be through attraction (e.g. reading positive reviews) or referral (where an existing buyer recommends your business to someone else).

Customer experience marketing: 3 comms strategies for improving CX

Image sourced from revechat.com

Strategies to align customer service and marketing

The customer experience marketing framework is simple: satisfy your customers and make them your biggest promoters.

Consider the following tips for integrating customer experience components into your marketing strategies:

  • Evaluate and upgrade your brand’s existing customer service

Evaluating your customer experience metrics will give you some insight into which areas need improving. This should also highlight the best way to integrate CX with your marketing ideas.

Get input from customers to understand the aspects they want you to focus your efforts on. You can deploy technology like marketing automation to improve processes and upgrade your existing systems.

For example, consider using the ​​Jira integration with HubSpot to create automated visual workflows that make customer processes on the front end across your web store seamless. This will improve the user experience on your platforms.

This is one of the many ways you can use automation to improve customer experience. Enhance CX with adjustments to your existing systems, then work on highlighting this in your marketing strategies.

It’s a good idea to promote your brand’s superior experience as one of your customer deliverables. Consider including positive reviews and reports of your outstanding CX in the content of your ads.

Evaluating your customer experience metrics will give you some insight into which areas need improving. This should also highlight the best way to integrate CX with your marketing ideas. One way to integrate customer experience components into your marketing strategies is by leveraging virtual assistant services. These can help improve customer service by providing 24/7 support, instant responses, and personalized experiences, ultimately boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, virtual assistants can also assist in collecting customer feedback, providing valuable insights into areas that need improvement and guiding marketing strategies.

Another option is to post job openings on an Entry Level Job Site to find individuals who can provide exceptional customer service and help enhance your customer experience.

  • Manage customer expectations in marketing pieces

Customer dissatisfaction frequently results from unmet expectations. Consumers will often report displeasure with services because the offering doesn’t match what they anticipated it would be like. The more significant the gap between expectation and experience, the greater your customer’s disappointment.

You can prevent this situation by managing expectations in your marketing. For example, instead of exaggerating your VoIP solutions and what they can do, focus on authentic strengths in your content. This way, you’re guaranteed to meet (maybe even exceed) expectations.

  • Tailor marketing content to address customer pain points

Customers often judge their experiences with your brand based on the problems they wish to solve using your offerings and whether you deliver a sufficient resolution. As such, they’ll find it dissatisfying if your products fall short.

To exploit this in your marketing, tailor your messages to address customer pain points. By sharing what your products can do for them, you set buyers up for a satisfactory experience and win their trust, which will likely earn their loyalty too.

Customer experience marketing: 3 comms strategies for improving CX

Image sourced from gosurvey.in

The benefits of implementing customer experience considerations in your marketing strategy

Knowing the benefits of customer experience marketing helps you better understand its importance. Below are some advantages for your brand.

  • Customer satisfaction

Customer experience marketing is consumer-centric. It focuses on satisfying users while simultaneously achieving your marketing objectives. Taking this approach helps you fulfill your customers’ needs and meet your PR targets.

  • Customer retention

Sixty-one percent of consumers will pay up to five percent more if a company guarantees a great customer experience. They’re also more likely to stick around if you offer excellent CX (regardless of your rates). Providing a top-notch experience can thus impact your customer retention.

  • Excellent reviews

People like to talk about exceptional experiences. Providing review-worthy CX almost guarantees positive feedback.

Not only that, but customers will be more inclined to tell their friends about your products and services. This means you’ll get more than positive reviews for satisfactory customer experiences—you’ll also get referrals and more customers too.

  • Stronger social media engagement

Social media is a crucial aspect of your digital marketing strategy, which is incomplete without solid engagement.

A customer experience marketing approach makes your social media correspondence more than mere advertising. Your strategy should include addressing customer pain points and setting up a customer service outlet on social media. This way, your PR efforts and customer service can support each other.

You should take advantage of user-generated content to interact with consumers more organically. All these components will contribute to more robust engagement on social media.

A customer experience marketing approach makes your social media correspondence more than mere advertising. Your strategy should include addressing customer pain points and setting up a customer service outlet on social media. In addition, utilizing social listening tools can help you monitor and analyze customer feedback on social media platforms, giving you valuable insights into customer sentiment and allowing you to make improvements to your CX strategy.

One way to integrate customer experience components into your marketing strategies is to create business website customizations. A well-designed website can improve the user experience and make it easier for customers to find information about your products or services. You can also use your website to collect customer feedback and address common pain points. By incorporating customer feedback into your marketing strategy, you can continue to improve the customer experience and build a loyal customer base.

Customer experience marketing: 3 comms strategies for improving CX

Consider customer experience alongside PR strategies

Customer experience marketing is an excellent way to ensure that you provide the best CX while simultaneously achieving your PR goals.

Customers expect your brand to treat them satisfactorily—this is one of the primary factors they use to decide whether to continue their relationship with you. Providing excellent experiences guarantees long-term relationships.

Beyond that, customers will also likely refer your business to others and give it positive reviews that you can use in your marketing. All of this contributes to achieving your primary PR objective, which is to increase profitability.

Alwayne Powell
Alwayne Powell is Director of International Digital Marketing at 8x8. He is an experienced performance marketing leader with an extensive background in the digital space, working client and agency side to provide paid search, SEO and CRO solutions in the B2B and B2C sectors. They are the current Senior Digital Marketing Manager at leading communication platform provider 8x8. You can find them on LinkedIn.

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