The following article is by Nicolas Hammer, CEO, and Co-Founder of Goodays. The company was formerly known as Critizr and changed its name to better reflect its broader mission to deliver exceptional customer experiences. In today’s rapidly changing digital landscape, customers still want a personal, friendly, and empathetic service. Businesses that succeed in providing this will thrive, while those that don’t will pay the price, as over half of consumers walk away from a brand after just one negative experience. Authentically connecting with customers and managing their needs, both online and offline, while keeping up with the sheer volume of digital interactions they generate, can be overwhelming. However, Goodays has spent the last decade helping companies manage this challenge, and they believe the only way to build and sustain a better customer experience in modern business is with a full-company cultural transformation, which they call customer obsession. Here are the six key insights Goodays believes every successful company must live by to achieve this transformation:
1. Customers Are Everyone’s Business: When every team member understands the link between their role, happy customers, and good business results, positive things happen. A company-wide mission that makes everyone accountable for customers is a powerful, positive change that has a transformative impact on business performance.
2. Feedback Is a Gift: Successful businesses value feedback, whether it’s negative, positive, or indifferent, as every customer interaction is a golden opportunity to improve customer loyalty, increase spend, and build a more positive online reputation. Over 60% of Goodays’ clients’ interactions on their platform are positive, and many are used to motivate and empower frontline teams.
3. People Prefer People: Despite the hype around robots, chatbots, and augmented reality, human connections and real relationships still matter most to customers. People care deeply about how the businesses they spend money with treat them, and they want a sense of community, empathy, trust, and value. When technology is used to empower people in business, not replace them, brands can rest assured that customers are getting what they want, and satisfaction rates will climb.
4. Customer Data Is a Superpower (But Only If You Use It): The most successful brands unleash customer interactions and insights as a dynamic, daily read on what customers think, need and want. They’re responsive and use data to fuel quick decision-making and growth. They listen, understand and interact with customers and what’s happening in their world, not just in their boardroom.
5. Customers Want To Connect: In today’s messaging era, people want to connect with brands like they do with friends, using fast, personal, touch-of-a-button apps and channels to make life easier. When businesses blend and streamline the customer experience across online and offline, bringing the best of their physical and digital worlds together, they succeed.
6. Happy Employees = Happy Customers: Employees like to get it right for their customers. They’re motivated by positive feedback, and they thrive in a culture that values and celebrates customer experience excellence. A business team accountable and enabled to deliver their best for customers is one of the most powerful levers in modern business.
In conclusion, delivering exceptional customer experiences is vital for businesses in today’s rapidly changing digital landscape, and Goodays believes a full-company cultural transformation, what they call customer obsession, is the key to achieving this. By understanding and living by the six key insights outlined above, businesses can build and sustain better customer experiences that lead to improved business performance.
