The Power of Customer Perception

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Anything that happens around the customer influences his/her perception.

We all understand that a perception influences directly on his/her opinions and decisions.

Opinions can be spread all around and influence others. Decisions influences his/her next steps in regards to continuing (or not) working with a company, in start thinking about change, in reinforcing the decision to have kept you as his/her supplier. It may make you a preferred supplier, it may make you the reference he/she will use when looking for other solutions and talk to others.

As you could noticed, all started from a simple perception and turned into a business mega influencer. 

For the sake of business sustainability, understand how you influence this perception is paramount.

Let’s dive on this subject.

A perception can come from everywhere. Going thru the customer journey we will see it being influenced all the way from when he is not even thinking about your product until he is using the product and experiencing all your support and services processes.

Mastering in positively influencing customer perception means deliver Excellence in:

• Product performance, reliability, operability and maintainability

• Customer support & services deliverables, processes, timing, quality, courtesy, empathy, etc

How can you make it happens?

Map customer journey. 

Understanding every moment he/she is interfacing with the company either via product, site, customer support team, sales, etc will help mitigate the risks of disappointing him/her, allow to excel in this relationship and build the “loyalty bridge”.

If the company feels truly responsible for each and every moment of experience between the customer and the company, it will naturally and thoroughly identify all these moments, dissect them and build strong processes and management around them with strong and effective metrics and build processes which allows the interface and relationship be personalized, unique.

The mapping will prepare the grounds for the processes review. You will be surprised with how many opportunities you have and how much you can do. You will be able to map real issues, customer satisfaction, pains, feelings, thoughts. You will also be able to already start the integration process with other areas and have them all sharing the same customer value. 

At the end you will have an holistic view of what the customer is going through. It will give a good view of where the problems are in the customer journey and give you the opportunity to improve.

Every single moment a customer is experiencing your product or is being served or supported is a “Customer Touch Point” and a “Moment of Truth” and will somehow influence their perception about your company. Some might be more impacting than others and that’s why they shall be all identified and understood and appropriate processes and procedures developed.

This is a very important exercise. You don’t need to do all at once. Go thru the customer journey and complete well each identified moment. Then go to the next. As we already demonstrated in other articles, we are talking about process review, meaning every involved player should be involved and feels responsible to clear that item.

To better understand about the importance of processes review and internal integration to excel with customers see the articles below:

Why Process Management?

Internal integration, path to excel with customers

No matter where you look, the customer support & services processes are heavily influencing your business and if you don’t act structurally they will negatively impact your results.

There is nothing new here, just saying, repeating the same stuff over and over. Focus on your Customer and your future is guaranteed !!

More about this subject:

Customer Experience is More Important than the Product

Listen to your Customer and Act Fast !

Customer Centered Organization, a Winning Strategy

Customer Journey Mapping

One check list for your mapping exercise:

• Identify different Buyer Persona

• Map out end to end customer journey

• Identifying probable negative and positive events

• Determine the probability of occurrence

• Quantify the impact =value of each event

• Forecast CX metrics for the current customer journey

• Review the processes and make improvements, where applicable and needed, and simulate the impact to CX metrics

Remember that the opportunities will be present during different stages of the interface of the customer with your company:

• Awareness – Customer searching and trying to find a solution/product. 

• Consideration – Is it valuable?  Evaluating

• Engagement / Acquisition – Choosing, buying, paying

• Utilization / Operation – experiencing/using the product

• Service / Support – Being supported, getting services

• Retention / Loyalty – Adding more products/services

Mapping the Journey means identifying critical and influencing points which I should look at and review. So, for each stage, mapping the following items will give you a good and clear view of the situation:

• Customer Goals

• Customer Actions

• Touchpoints & Channels

• Customer Thoughts / Feelings / Perceptions

• Overall Customer Experience

• Pain Points

• Opportunities to Improve

Once you have this map done, you are ready to review your process.

Don’t be shy, don’t feel limited, think outside the box, search for disruptive solutions, for non standard solutions, find a way to excel with your customer in every possible moment. Human being is unique, their perception will come from different perspectives and in unexpected moments and stages.

A process review exercise will only finish when you and your teammates are certain that the solution will deliver excellence to the customer. (remember to take the opportunity and go one step beyond getting customer satisfied, make him/her feel good, make him/her feel he/she is important and unique to your company, build one more pillar in the “loyalty bridge”).

People

As I keep saying People is the most important cornerstone in Customer Support & Services.

You will certainly have to work on your team.

The articles below will give you a better perspective of important aspects and how to approach them.

Team Management, path to Excellence in Customer Support & Services

Effective Communication, a Game Changer

Change Management, an important competence.

Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth.

Is Your Team Prepared to Excel with Customers?

Conclusion

When you are truly interested in the customer, you try to learn everything that involves his/her journey with your company, create unforgettable moments to demonstrate to him/her how much you care, how important she/he is for the company. Going the “extra mile” becomes part of the mindset of the team. 

No customer will dare to leave you and will share his/her experience with others. This becomes your most powerful propaganda strategy, your customer perception about you. 

Business will be secure if you treat them well and listen to his/her feedback.

Sept 2019