Building Brand Advocates through Customer Experience Management

Holistic customer experience management systems are expensive to implement but organisations must become aware of the strategic role it plays. Post-GFC, businesses can no longer afford to lose customers due to a bad customer experience.

65% of all company revenue is generated through customer referrals and is an area that many businesses fail to address. Keeping customers is far cheaper than acquiring new ones, and should be the primary strategy for all businesses. It is also one effective strategy that can provide a source of differentiation. The "customer experience" plays a vital role in building brand loyalty and driving brand advocacy. Successful businesses invest in their customers to leverage their marketing dollars by helping customers move throughout four customer experience stages to ultimately become a brand ambassador.

New Customer
Satisfying customers' needs is the ultimate goal. Business need to engage customers on an emotional level. Customers Expectations play a vital role and businesses must exceed the expectations set upon them by their customers; the better the experience the more likely a repeat purchase. Employees need to be empowered to engage the customer and the organization needs to provide the structure for the employees to carry this out.

Repeat Customer
Creating a consistent and positive customer experience throughout all consumer touchpoints and channels is the key to building a superior customer experience model. It's ok for a customer to have a great first experience but what if this is not repeated the next time - will they buy from you again? Training and development of staff across all channels and customer touchpoints helps drive the brand value and will entice customers to move into the next customer experience stage.

Loyal Customer
Customers that consistently use your product and have an emotional attachment with the product now become a Loyal Customer. Loyal customers are easier to service, improve margins and drive your marketing dollars further through word of mouth advertising.

Brand Advocate
Customers are emotionally connected to the brand. These people have had frequent encounters with your brand and are ultimately helping driving both your brand value and bottom line forward.

Customer experience management plays a vital role in influencing the perceptions of the brand and thus investment in Customer Experience management can not be overlooked.

IQPCs 4th annual Customer Experience Management Conference 2011 in Sydney is your chance to get insight from across industries on the latest innovations and best practice strategies for all your customer touchpoints!

For more information please visit: www.customerexperienceevent.com.au, or email enquire [[at]] iqpc.com.au. Alternatively, you can call 02 9229 1092.