Customers today don’t want to run to the manager or the person in charge to deliver a complaint or provide feedback. Instead, they want to communicate with your organization in a way that is comfortable for them. Organizations at the leading edge of CXM are asking this of themselves:
How can we help our customers learn about us or experience us in a way that is comfortable for them?
(Are you asking yourself this?)
Let’s look at several organizations paying attention to CXM across organizations bursting with opportunity to maximize customer experience in both the hospitality and retail industries.
Hotels & Lodging:
Today’s customer would much rather check out Trip Advisor or Yelp than call your hotel and learn about you. Paying attention to customer experience goes beyond helping your customers find you, and even beyond the stay itself. Note how two popular hotel and lodging companies pay attention to customer experience from start to finish.
Ritz-Carlton:
Ritz-Carlton guests Chris Hunn and his family. When Chris, his wife and his two kids arrived home, they realised that a stuffed giraffe named Joshie was missing. But Joshie was no ordinary toy; Hurn’s son was particularly fond of it. Hurn wrote a blog post saying: “[My son] was absolutely distraught when faced with the idea of going to sleep without his favourite pal.” In order to calm his son, Chris said that Joshie took an extended vacation. Luckily, the Loss Prevention Team at the Ritz phoned the Hurn family that very evening and told them that Joshie was found!
“I came clean to the staff about the story I told my son and asked if they would mind taking a picture of Joshie on a lounge chair by the pool to substantiate my fabricated story,” Chris says. The Loss Prevention Team was on board. “I hung up the phone very relieved.” What Luxury Hotels Can Teach You About Customer Experience, 2016
Airbnb :
Airbnb is garnering a lot of attention these days as it is quickly becoming the play to stay of choice by traveling professionals. In fact, valued at $25 billion, Airbnb already outranked traditional hospitality brands like Marriott International in 2015, which at the time was valued at $21 billion. (Hoteliers should be concerned about Airbnb 2015)
What is Airbnb doing to provide channels for its customers to communicate with them? Here’s what others in the industry ought to notice and consider:
Instead of being afraid of Airbnb, hotels should try to be inspired by them. Go the extra mile to give your guests unique and local recommendations like cozy coffee shops and quirky Mom and Pop restaurants. Airbnb listers live and die by their reviews, so they are constantly engaging with their potential customers in real time. Prioritize social media and review websites to answer questions and build trust.
Ultimately your guests (especially Millennials) desire a one-of-a-kind experience. Go back to square one and take the time to really understand what makes your property and location special. Feature these highlights on your website and marketing efforts.
5 Surprising Facts on Why Hotels Should Pay Attention to Airbnb, 2015.
Retail:
Retailers are paying attention to customer loyalty like nobody’s business. From supermarkets to hobby stores to skin care retailers, leaders are looking for ways to leverage CXM. Consider these examples collected from National Retail Federation’s Store Trends 2016:
Wal-Mart:
Wal-Mart readies for the next generation of shopping and customer experience, it’s exploring the possibility of robotic shopping carts trolling its aisles. Wal-Mart is working with Five Elements Robotics to develop a shopping cart that will lead the customer to the items they’re looking for using an attached touchscreen. The robotic cart, called Dash, can map out the most effective route, follow the shopper on his journey, facilitate payment via the touchscreen — and then return itself to the store docking station upon completion.
Jerome’s Furniture:
This furniture retailer wanted to remove the guesswork for customers by helping them see whether or not their sofa, for example, would fit in the customer’s home. Here’s how the app works.
Jerome’s Augmented Reality allows customers to virtually place furniture in their home. It automatically scans the users’ room and overlays the products in realistic 3D, depicting the size and aesthetic of the furniture in that specific room.
“Furniture shopping and visualizing pieces in your home is difficult, which is why we saw the need to create a way for our customers to envision a piece in their home, make it their own and trust in their investment,” says Scott Perry, vice president of digital for Jerome’s Furniture. Jerome’s claims to be the first major traditional bricks-and-mortar furniture retailer in the United States to deploy an augmented reality tool for their customers.
Shiseido:
The Japanese skin care giant launched Rouge Rouge Kiss Me, which provides a real-time digital, human experience for customers looking to check out its lip color options. Born from a “desire to humanize technology while creating an interactive moment between two people,” the campaign hits customer experience on the head.
How does it work? A person who wants to virtually share a kiss needs to visit rougerougekissme-shiseido.com. Upon entering their name, a personalized link will be generated to send to whomever they wish to kiss. The recipient receives the link via text or e-mail and clicks it; once both the kisser and the kissee arrive at the site, they pick the shade of Rouge Rouge lipstick they want their kiss to appear in.
Then the countdown to the big moment begins. Once both parties “kiss” each other, the two lipstick marks are captured on-screen together. The partners can then design and personalize a “Kiss Monster” GIF to share via text, email or social media.
Give Your Customers a 2-Way Interface
This is exactly what Julien Meyer, CEO at BlurtBox explains to business owners contemplating the value of CXM. Providing a two-way communication system is exactly what customers today want. Click here to watch and listen as Meyer explains three reasons why you should be paying attention to these three letters.
As customer expectations rise and it becomes easier for customers to switch suppliers, it’s not enough to just watch what other hoteliers and retailers, for example, are doing. Now’s the time to look for ways to provide online tools for your customers to utilize.
After all, you want them to choose you, right?
