Your customer experience, whether you are aware of it or not, is what has kept your customers coming back, or pushed them to a competitor. Having the essentials of a great customer experience is what will keep your customers loyal. They could even tell their friends about your brand, an added advantage.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. We suspect that you are wondering, “What exactly is this customer experience that you are talking about?”

What is customer experience?

Simply, customer experience (CX) is how your customers feel about your brand through the various times they have been in contact with it, whether it was while searching for a solution, seeking information, using your product or talking to customer support.

And while we are on this, customer service and support are a small part of the customer experience. The overall customer journey through long-term interactions and relationship is the customer experience.

I just own an SME. Why should I care about customer experience?

Do you care about losing one-third of your customers? We don’t think so. Because that is how many customers say they would stop doing business with a brand after only one bad experience.

In addition, there is a high chance that there are more than a few companies that offer a similar product or service that you do. As an SME in Malaysia, you are competing for customer attention with multitudes of other companies — some small and many of them already established brands.

And with access to the Internet, you are competing against many more other brands from around the world. The one way to make a difference is through great customer experience. On average, 67% of customers in Asia make buying decisions based on customer experience.

Wow, interesting. What makes a great customer experience for my SME in Malaysia?

knowing your customers and what they need is crucial. This knowledge of what matters to your customers helps make them feel appreciated.

And when that happens, these customers are more likely to recommend your brand to their friends, subscribe to your newsletter, sign up for your promotions, make repeat purchases and endorse you on social media — free marketing for your brand!

Other factors that make a great customer experience are convenience, consistency, speed, friendliness and having a human touch. All of these components work together to create the ultimate customer experience.

Convenience

On-demand services like ride-hailing and food delivery are big businesses for a reason. Consumers want their business with you to be easy and accessible, i.e. convenient. Make it easy for your customers to reach your business and products, when they want to and how they want to.

Consistency

Ensure that the way you deliver customer experience across the different channels — online, social media, email or physical store — that your SME uses is standardised. This includes details like the message, branding, colours, offers and promotions.

Speed

How fast can your customers access and use your products or service? According to PwC’s Global Consumer Insights Survey 2018: The Malaysian perspective, 44% of Malaysians are willing to pay more for same-day delivery.

Friendliness and human touch

While technology promises to automate almost everything including customer service, 43% of customers want to continue to have a human touch in their experience. Not just any human experience, however. Your staff and employees must be friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable about the product or service.

However, technology — like the unifi SurePay POS — can help your business provide better-than-expected service to your customers. SurePay allows you to track and manage your sales anywhere and anytime.

As consumers continue to demand more from brands and expect their expectations to be exceeded every time they deal with the brands, the more important creating a remarkable customer experience is for your SME.