<h2>How to improve your customer experience&nbsp;</h2>Improving your CX isn’t a quick fix — it’s an ongoing process which should evolve with your business. Here’s what we suggest you do to get the ball rolling.&nbsp;<h2>1. Map out your customer journey&nbsp;</h2>Before attempting to get any customer feedback, you need to get your head around the customer journey and identify all the relevant touchpoints. <a href="https://www.feefo.com/business/solutions/customer-acquisition/customer-journey-mapping-guide" target="_self">Check out our full guide on mapping out a customer journey</a>.&nbsp;<h2>2. Listen to your customer feedback&nbsp;</h2>Listening to the voice of your customers is key to improving your CX. Whether you generate feedback from customer reviews, surveys or even from your social channels, use what your customers are saying to identify key themes and figure out what your customers love, and where you could make improvements.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/eCNT6JY6YVw" target="_blank">Watch here</a><div></div>&nbsp;3. Create a strategy&nbsp;Once you know which touchpoints need some work, you can set some objectives and start thinking about what you need to do to hit those goals.&nbsp;&nbsp;At this stage, make sure you’ve included all departments, not just those who are dealing with customers on the frontline. Using feedback and insight from across the company means the whole business will be aligned, and the customer journey will feel nice and cohesive.&nbsp;<h2>4. Make small, measurable changes&nbsp;</h2>Improving your CX should be a constant focus, and the process will naturally evolve with your business. As well as making small, meaningful improvements over time, you should be regularly measuring and reporting on the results to help guide your strategy moving forward.&nbsp;<h2>5. Be consistent&nbsp;</h2>Customers love it when a company goes above and beyond to deliver an outstanding service, so it may be tempting to focus on creating ‘wow’ moments for your customers, but in reality, you can’t deliver these every time.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;What customers really want is consistency. By meeting the customers’ expectations every time they come into contact with you, you’ll build confidence with your customers, making them more likely to remain loyal to your business as well as recommend you to others.&nbsp;<h2>How to create a customer journey map&nbsp;</h2><h2>What are customer touchpoints?&nbsp;</h2>Customer touchpoints are the points of interaction that every consumer has with your business. This may be visual contact through advertising, digital contact via a web page or simply talking about a brand with peers. These points of interaction make up the complete customer journey and play a crucial role in customer experience.&nbsp;&nbsp;Let’s break it down so you know exactly what kind of customer reviews can go at which stage:&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>a) Before purchase&nbsp;</h2>If a customer connects with your customer service team with any question, ensure that they are provided with what they are looking for. Then ask them for feedback on the assistance they received. Use glowing customer reviews from existing customers as part of your marketing and advertising scheme to entice new clients with social proof.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>b) During purchase&nbsp;</h2>Incorporate product reviews within your product detail page if you are running a shopping website. You can also place client testimonials throughout your website to catch the user’s eye while they browse.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>c) After purchase&nbsp;</h2>Just because a transaction was successful doesn’t mean your customer’s journey is over. This is your chance to follow up by asking them to share their experience. Email the customer after their purchase with a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey to get more insights on customer loyalty and advocacy.&nbsp;

<h2>How to improve customer touchpoints?&nbsp;</h2>Before you can work to improve your customer touchpoints, you first need to identify which touchpoints your business has. When you set out to improve the customer experience for your retail business, you will identify several touchpoints that are critical to success. Here we outline some of the key customer touchpoints and how to use them to improve your CX:&nbsp;&nbsp;<ul><li>Website: To improve CX, your first stop should be your website as your company’s site will act as a hub for many different types of customer touchpoints. Your website is the central focus of your brand and identity, and it needs to project this to your audience accurately. Consider the functional and visual capability of your eCommerce site and review it consistently to ensure you are keeping up with the latest customer demands. For example, 79% of smartphone users made a purchase on their mobile in the last six months, so optimising for mobile is vital.</li><li>Email: Email has one of the highest ROIs when it comes to marketing channels, so while it might be a classic, email marketing is still a significant customer touchpoint. Email marketing is a proven strategy for converting browsers into buyers, and when looking to improve CX, you should always consider your current email marketing tactics. Remember, customers receive a huge number of emails every day, so it is essential that your marketing messages stand out from the competition. To improve CX, focus on email marketing campaigns that add value to your customers’ lives.</li></ul><ul><li>Chatbot: The number of chatbots you now see has increased dramatically in recent years, with more and more retail businesses adopting this technology. Most chatbots use artificial intelligence, or AI, to improve customer experience and streamline the customer journey. They are a critical touchpoint that can help convert customers from browsing your site to making a purchase. If you do not already have a chatbot in place, investing in one is an easy and effective way to improve CX.</li><li>Customer support: Customer support is obviously one of the most popular customer touchpoints in eCommerce and any commerce. Customer support is the bedrock of CX in retail, finance, health and any sector you can think of, so it is vital to ensure you are giving customers everything they need. Whether it is a real-time chat assistant online or a call centre, improving your customer support will dramatically improve customer experience.</li><li>Voice assistant: This is a rapidly developing customer touchpoint, with customers increasingly turning to Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri when making their purchases. Optimising your website for voice search and getting your business prepared for a rise in this channel will help to improve customer experience.</li><li>Text message (SMS): With an open rate of 98%, text messages are a powerful customer touchpoint. While many retail businesses are yet to use SMS as a marketing channel, incorporating this into your strategy can be a very effective option.</li><li>Social media: Social media is another channel that offers many different customer touchpoints. With social channels introducing new features all the time, it is a constantly evolving part of the customer journey. To improve CX for your retail business, make sure you are using social media effectively and efficiently</li></ul><ul><li>Influencers: Online influencers can work as customer touchpoints and improve customer experience by establishing trust for your brand. Influencers have the ability to reach a very large, very targeted audience, and utilising them in your marketing can be very beneficial.</li></ul>You can learn more with our <a href="https://www.feefo.com/business/solutions/customer-acquisition/customer-journey-mapping-guide" target="_self">customer journey mapping guide</a>.&nbsp;Hear from thought leaders from across CX to understand how Covid-19 has accelerated the customer experience revolution and how you can make the most of new customers and changing behaviours. Check out our exclusive webinar: <a href="https://www.feefo.com/en/business/about/events/whats-next-for-cx?hsCtaTracking=fb5dc933-3482-4716-831e-b849328f14d6%7C7f661ede-5b40-4591-b0a4-f756547dfd46" target="_self">What’s Next for CX?</a><div></div>&nbsp;&nbsp;

<h2>How to incorporate customer reviews into your CX strategy&nbsp;</h2>Customer reviews are more than just an important element of your trust signals: they can be used to drastically improve your CX now so future reviews are even more positive.&nbsp;&nbsp;Here’s how you can use your reviews to your full advantage.&nbsp;<h2>1. Launch a user-generated content (UGC) marketing campaign&nbsp;</h2>Brands like Daniel Wellington and Pura Vida Bracelets have been able to build a community following and social reputation by curating and sharing user-generated content (UGC) across their platforms, especially Instagram. Users are happy to share their positive feedback about the product for a chance to be featured on the brand’s page. It’s a win-win situation for you both, particularly when they're organic.&nbsp;&nbsp;Customer reviews in the form of user-generated content can be anything from videos and images to podcast shout-outs and how-to tutorials. Start by creating an easy-to-use and memorable hashtag that can be used during a variety of occasions like travel, eating out, family events and more. This will allow the content generated to be relevant across different situations and remain timeless.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>2. Create brand ambassadors&nbsp;</h2>You can take UGC one step further by actively seeking out like-minded individuals to collaborate with you. Brand ambassadors are customers that believe in your company’s vision, and who can effectively communicate this to others. When used efficiently, brand ambassadors can be the ones posting customer reviews that truly influence new clients to get on board.&nbsp;&nbsp;Use brand ambassadors to tap into a new audience base by partnering with someone who has more than one target audience. For example, a fitness influencer may also have a pet dog, for whom they can create animal-related content. As long as their reviews are real customer reviews, they will tie in both your brand stories.&nbsp;&nbsp;Another way to get started with brand ambassadors is to start a loyalty programme with rewards. For every successful purchase, ask that customer to leave a review for a chance to get a discount on their next purchase or a free gift. With a bit of nurturing these customer reviews will bring you repeat business, a growing fan base and organic referrals from their network.&nbsp;<h2>3. Incorporate customer reviews across multiple platforms&nbsp;</h2><a href="http://learn.podium.com/rs/841-BRM-380/images/2017-SOOR-Infographic.jpg" target="_self"> </a>It’s crucial that new users can find reviews of your business wherever they’re researching you.&nbsp;&nbsp;Pay attention to top customer review sites for your industry. Most companies now have Google My Business pages where customers can see ratings, contact information, location and photos of a business all in one place.&nbsp;&nbsp;With so many options, it can be overwhelming to keep track and respond to every review in a timely fashion. This is where Feefo’s tools come in. You can easily add customisable page displays that group together themes from customer reviews and help enhance the customer journey.&nbsp;<h2>Level up your CX strategy today&nbsp;</h2>Fully understanding your customers, the journeys they’re taking, and what they want from your business sits at the heart of every great customer experience strategy.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Here at Feefo, we have the tools you need to discover more about your customers, so you can start delivering an exceptional experience. To find out more about how we can help with your CX strategy, get in touch with a member of our team today.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

If you want a demo of how Feefo could work for you, or discuss our solutions and opportunities further, get in touch and one of our friendly team will be happy to answer any queries.

Want to find out more about Feefo? 

Fill out your details below and one of our friendly experts will be in touch to show you around Feefo.

Reviews are just the beginning. At Feefo, we build lasting relationships with brands around the world who choose us to help translate customer feedback into actionable insight. 

Start collecting trusted reviews with Feefo 

At Feefo, we help you choose with confidence because behind every right decision is a reliable review. 

Everything you need to know about customer experience (CX) — and how to get it right

Want to find out more about Feefo?