Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business. You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Brands must provide customers with a online voice

Only 8% of UK consumers expect firms to run a Twitter account, whilst marginally more (14%) expect to be able to interact with brands through Facebook. However, 41% view an onsite facility to provide reviews of products and service as a standard element of any good corporate website. Indeed, more than half (54%) of consumers use such a facility when it is provided.

As expected, younger consumers are more inclined to demand a Facebook or Twitter facility of the brands they buy from than older groups. For example, more than a fifth (21%) of 18-24s expect companies to run a Facebook page, compared to only 13% of the 35-54 age group, and 7% of the over 55s.

These findings suggest a new direction for British businesses, which should now consider investing more resources in improving 'voice of the customer' initiatives and customer service performance.

According to Jo Causon, chief executive for the Institute of Customer Service, "Businesses must wake up to the fact that the relationship between companies and their customers has changed irrevocably. Customers now hold the power, and they expect to be able to make their voice heard by sharing their experiences with the world online."

Indeed, Causon argued, by denying customers the right to reply on an open platform, businesses not only risk irritating existing customers but they miss the opportunity to gain valuable feedback, leaving them unaware of and unable to rectify problems when they arise.

The research also found that much more work needs to be done to improve the dialogue between customers and companies when complaints are made online. While more than half (55%) of consumers expect a response to an online complaint the same day, only 29% actually received one. More worryingly, 12% reported having to wait at least a month for a response.

Causon concluded: "21st century consumers will post their concerns and experiences online, and if companies don't provide a facility to do this on their own web site, customers will turn to social networking sites to share their thoughts. If it is a complaint they have to share, their frustrations could be viewed by millions around the world, resulting in much more significant brand and relationship damage than was ever possible with simple word-of-mouth."

Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business.

You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy. Grab this goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, technologies, research, suppliers and partners, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid CX strategy.

While most marketers could list maybe a dozen key points for improving their brand's Customer Experience (CX), the researchers and writers at The Marketing Factbook have identified FORTY main 'CX Keys' which will help you drive your customers to new levels of delight, loyalty, advocacy and profitability.

The areas in which customers have direct contact with your organization are perhaps the most obvious places in which CX improvements can be made, and this report addresses all 24 of these 'Direct CX Keys', applicable to offline and online businesses alike.

At the same time there are many other areas that indirectly affect CX (such as the supply chain, policies and processes) in which every business can make simple but far-reaching improvements. This report guides you through the problems and solutions for all 16 of these 'Indirect CX Keys', many of which are often forgotten or under-played even in the best CX strategies.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)