“We are customer-first” – but are you?
“We are customer-first.” It’s a mantra that many companies use, but how do you actually deliver on this promise? Let’s dig into this topic to make sure you’re checking all the boxes.
When does the relationship begin?
Customers today have more choice in choosing solutions to their problems than ever before. They are also less brand loyal, more likely to rip and replace technology to get something better, and want to take the reins in educating themselves and exploring options. These factors can be scary for businesses selling their wares, but it’s a great opportunity for those that are willing to adjust to the new norm.
Investing in a true customer-first approach starts with building trust in the brand. Being reliable is of the upmost importance, but how are you making that customer feel? Are you clearly acknowledging the problems that they have and that you can help them solve those problems? Do your messages, your website, your content, reflect this mentality? Does it speak to them?
A great customer experience (CX) doesn’t begin when the contract is signed or end when the customer has been onboarded. Yet, these are the two areas that I see companies neglecting the most and are the most important to the customer.
The customer-business relationship begins when the customer first interacts with your brand. It could be at an event, seeing an ad on a website, reading an article where you’re mentioned. When they come to your website, does the narrative you started at those interaction points flow into the copy and content available there? I highly suggest putting on your customer hat and looking through your material with their perspective as your lens.
What do customers want?
If you know your business is 100% customer-first and you’ve done the work to insure it is, great. I applaud you. Truly. But if you’re unsure if your business is being perceived as such, here are some guiding tips to help you evaluate your current status and where to make improvements.
Educational content
Customers today are savvy and want to be in control of how they learn and evaluate products and services to solve their problems. They want to consume everything they can to be better informed and make initial decisions on their own. Yet, many businesses put the heart of this educational content behind a gate, requiring the customer to hand over a bunch of their own identifiable data before accessing it.
We know why companies do this. They need leads to nurture and follow up on. But, it’s also a way to alienate a customer who may be in the research phase but aren’t ready right this second to buy. Companies can spend months evaluating products, reading content, deciphering which may be the best solution for them. Give them more of that content for free so that you’re a contender.
You’re probably thinking “what? How am I going to get leads?” For very high-value, bottom of the funnel content, sure, gate that. But you should have a strategy for how to use this content. The ratio of free to gated content, should be 10:1, maybe even higher considering blogs, videos, snippets of content. If you’ve given them enough great value in the first nine pieces, the tenth item that needs a few fields of information will not be such a big deal to them. And make the number of fields you ask for reasonable. First name, last name, company, email. That’s it. Implement progressive profiling on your forms and when they come back, you get more of their information.
Make your content easy to consume
When I mention content to people in B2B, their mind goes straight to written content. But there are so many options now for content that doesn’t just revolve around the written word. We should be utilizing these alternate forms more often because everyone prefers to consume content in different ways. Or offer choices on how to consume it.
For example, I love to read, but I don’t love to read everything that may be of interest to me. Sometimes I want to watch a video, or listen to a podcast, or watch a webinar, or attend a live session so I can ask questions. Sometimes I just want to read an article because it’s going to be short and I know it’s going to highlight the most salient points. Offer options in how you communicate and you’ll get more traction with your audiences because you’re being inclusive.
Transparent Pricing
Oh man, this is a bone of contention for so many companies. I can hear the “buts” coming.
Pricing is a huge sticking point for customers. They want that information and they should have it. It’s part of their evaluation process. If you hesitate to publish it on your website, why? Are you not confident that it’s reasonable? Is it so complex that it’s hard to articulate on a website screen? Do you think that the competition will use it against you? Or copy it?
Whatever the hesitancy, I encourage you to dig in and address the issues. Find a way to solve it so that you can publish your pricing and feel confident about it. There are many ways to display pricing, so consider the options and choose one that will work for how you structure your business. Customers don’t want to find out about pricing after taking several calls with a sales team member.
Let the customer raise their hand
This concept goes hand-in-hand with the educational content section above. Customers not only want to choose how they learn about products or services, but they also want to be in control of when they talk to a salesperson or sales engineer (SE).
This is part of the reason they do not want to hand over their contact information in initial stages. They do not want someone to walk them through a process or handhold them to the sale.
Instead, give them the content they need to learn about you, in the form they want it. Allow them to come to you, to raise their hands. Leads will be better qualified, further along in the sales cycle, and they’ll be ready and willing to talk.
Trial or freemium – How easy is it to access?
More and more companies are offering a trial or freemium. This is a great way to give customers a taste of your product, get them hooked, and asking for more. But what does the process into that trial or freemium look like for the customer?
I ask because oftentimes, the process to get into the trial or freemium can be painful for the customer. You need to step into their shoes and test the onboarding process end-to-end, again with your customer hat on. To test this out (and you should be doing this before the launch anyway), clear out your cookies, go to the beginning of the journey and follow it as if you’re a net new customer. How many cumulative clicks, tab presses, or information fields were there? List out and count each one.
First name, 1.
Tab over to last name, 2.
Last name, 3.
Tab to email, 4.
Email field, 5.
And on and on. When you get to your final number, is it above 10? 15? Can you eliminate any of these fields? For every field or action you remove from this process, your conversion rate will go up. You can A/B test this and see how many people are abandoning the forms or process. Do not mistake people abandoning a form for laziness or not wanting the product enough. Customers today just don’t want to hand over as much personal information to maybe see some value. Take the bare minimum you can and ask for additional information later in the process, once they’re in the product and beginning to consume.
Listen to the customer
If you’ve read my previous blogs, this will sound repetitive: Listen to your customers. Talk to them often, ask them for feedback, heed their input. You don’t want the customer dropping you for a competitor and only finding out later that they would have stayed if you’d tweaked one thing in your product. Current customers are cheaper to keep, so invest in them.
The easiest way to do this is through a simple customer questionnaire. Ask them for their feedback on areas where you need to improve. Record their answers and share it with product and product marketing teams, with your GM or CEO.
Hold customer advisory boards. Structure these so that the customer walks away feeling like they got a ton of value and were able to contribute. These are a safe place to share your roadmap and get feedback from the audience. Ask them for their input on your product or service, improvements they’d like to see, marketing messages and channels, and customer service. Document this feedback, share it, and implement what makes sense. Don’t overlook the value of great customer feedback!
Wrap up
Being customer-first is a mindset and must be adopted across the organization. Marketing, sales, product, product marketing, customer success, finance, etc. need to live and breathe this perspective or the customer will see right through it.
Having a great product means nothing if customers are unhappy or dissatisfied with how they are treated. Word-of-mouth is more prevalent today than ever before with channels like Reddit, Stack Overflow, and Stack Exchange. Put the customer first in everything you do and you’ll be successful.
Have questions about this blog or my viewpoint? Then please contact me at rosa@rosalear.com or fill out a contact me form here.
