How Customer Experience Helps Shape Your Growth Strategy

Customer experience is the lifeblood of any business.

And it’s no wonder why – great customer experience can lead to increased sales, higher customer satisfaction and loyalty, and even improved employee satisfaction.

But, as an experienced business growth strategist, I often tell my clients a far greater reason to focus on customer experience than just meeting their bottom line: business growth!

Yes, many businesses don’t realize that customer experience can also play a major role in shaping your company’s growth strategy. How?

Let me lay it out for you.

What Is Customer Experience, and Why Should You Care About It?

Customer experience is a customer’s overall experience with your company, from start to finish. This includes everything from their initial interactions with your brand, to their purchase journey, to their post-purchase experience.

Customers are more connected and empowered than ever in today’s world. They have access to an unprecedented amount of information and can easily share their experiences with others through social media and online reviews.

This means that businesses must focus on delivering an exceptional experience at every touchpoint to stay ahead of the competition.

Hence, businesses should care about customer experience as it is one of the most critical factors impacting their growth.

The Different Aspects Of Customer Experience

Many business owners and managers mistake customer service or support for the experience. But customer support is just a tiny part of it. Here are different aspects of customer experience: 

1. The quality of your product or service: This is the most basic element of customer experience. If your product or service is not up to par, your customers will not be happy.
2. Customer service: Customer service is the experience that customers have when they contact your company for support. This can include everything from calling customer service to interacting with support on social media.
3. The brand experience: The brand experience is the overall feeling customers get when interacting with your brand. This includes everything from branding and marketing materials to how your employees interact with customers.
4. The company culture: The company culture is how your company conducts itself internally. This includes everything from the way you treat your employees to the way you handle customer complaints.
5. The customer journey: The customer journey is the overall experience that a customer has with your company, from start to finish. This includes everything from their initial interactions with your brand, to their purchase journey, to their post-purchase experience.

Now that you know different aspects of customer experience and its impact, let’s see how it can help your business grow.

How To Create A Growth Strategy Based on Customer Experience?

Having worked with multi-million dollar businesses and listening to their “growth issues” first-hand, I have seen how most businesses think about growth. They want to grow their top line (revenue) as quickly as possible without thinking about the long-term effects of their actions.

This “growth at all costs” mindset often leads to short-term strategies that are not sustainable in the long run.

What’s the right approach to creating a growth strategy, then?

Here’s my take on this:

Understand Your Customers’ Needs And How To Meet Them:

The most logical part of creating a growth strategy based on customer experience is to use it to better understand your customers’ needs and how to meet them.

This can be done by conducting customer research and surveys to get feedback on what they want and need from your product or service. A very straightforward approach is to reach out to your existing customers and ask them what they like and don’t like about your product.

Tip: You can also use customer research to segment your customers into different groups so that you can tailor your product or service offerings to meet their specific needs.

Identify New Growth Opportunities:

Customer experience also highlights opportunities for growth if you look in the right places. By “places”, I mean specific areas of your business. Here’s an example to understand it better.

Let’s say you run a successful e-commerce store, and customers love your product. But, there still will be some areas where you’re falling short.

Maybe your website’s loading time is slow, or the checkout process is not up to the mark. Or, the customer may not like the way your product is packed or how it gets delivered. These are hidden opportunities for growth that you can identify by using customer experience.

How?

The most effective way would be to go to your “reviews” section and read 1, 2, or 3-star reviews. This is where you’ll find your customers’ “pain points” and your opportunity to improve.

Remember, it’s not about getting rid of all the 1-star reviews; it’s about taking those criticisms and using them to improve your product or service.

Build A More Customer-Centric Culture:

Creating a customer-centric culture is another valuable step you can take for your business. It’s essential for long-term growth because it ensures that your entire team is focused on meeting your customers’ needs.

A customer-centric culture starts with leadership and trickles down to every employee in the company. So, your leadership needs to be committed to putting the customer first in everything they do. Every decision made should be based on what’s best for the customer.

This can be a difficult task because it requires a complete shift in the way you think about your business. But it’s a necessary change if you’re serious about growth.

Attract And Retain The Best Talent:

The best talent wants to work for a company that puts the customer first. They want to be a part of a team that’s passionate about creating a great customer experience.

So, if you want to attract and retain the best talent, you must focus on building a customer-centric culture. You need to create an environment where the best talent can thrive and be a part of something special.

Create A Competitive Advantage:

In today’s competitive landscape, customer experience is the new differentiator. It’s what sets you apart from your competition.

Businesses with better customer experience tend to get free “word of mouth” marketing, which is the best kind of marketing. People are more likely to buy from a company recommended by a friend or family member.

So, if you want to create a competitive advantage, focus on customer experience. Deliver an exceptional customer experience and watch your business grow.

Bottom Line

In a world where customers are more connected and empowered than ever, it’s never been more important to deliver an exceptional experience at every step of their journey.

By taking the time to improve customer experience, you’re not only making your customers happier – you’re also setting your business up for long-term success.

So, if you own or manage a business, now is a good time to use customer experience to shape your growth strategy.

I can share my case studies about how I helped businesses capitalize on customer experience and scale to new heights.

Who am I?

I am Dotun Adeoye, a Business Growth Strategist & Author of the 5 Pillars of Business Growth. 

I’ve built up my experience via serial entrepreneurship, consulting leadership roles in business growth, business development and product innovation in large companies worldwide in the last 29 years.

Today, I consult with large businesses on how to sustainably grow their businesses, sustain infinite growth, ensure business continuity and achieve a legacy.