What makes 86% of customers pay more than usual?

Think of the time when the shopkeeper wasn’t really nice to you, and you decided not to shop there again. What made you switch away from one store to another??

The customer experience!?

This has happened to all of us in real life: We have felt unwelcomed and unheard as customers and have not shopped there again. The same applies to all businesses, whether small or big—customer experience matters the most.?

Whether you run a coffee shop, a salon spa, or a gym, what keeps your customers coming is the experience. If they feel valued and welcomed at a place, they are most likely to return and even pay more than usual to your business.?

Customer experience (CX) has the influential power to make or break a business. The best thing one can do to outshine its business is to value its customers.

According to research by PWC, 32% of customers stop purchasing from even their favorite brands after one bad experience. Therefore, investing in your customers' experience pays off in the most rewarding and unexpected ways.?

Why customer experience matters?

Undoubtedly, one essential to all businesses is dealing with customers nicely. Besides all the cutting-edge technologies and advanced tools, what actually counts to your consumers is how you treat them.

The way you value and treat your customers is a significant part of the customer journey and fuels your business as well. Providing a good customer experience means strengthening ties with your customers in the long term.?

In the broader context, here is how paying more attention to customer experience can make your customers pay 86% more than usual.?

• Increased engagements

Engaging is the key to satisfied and happy customers. The more you connect and engage with your customers, the more closely you will know them. Customers like to be heard and valued; therefore, it is important to keep your business open to suggestions and feedback.?

Invest in relationship marketing to boost engagements and build long-term relationships with your customers. By engaging with your customers, you keep their eyes solely on your business. Doing so will keep them coming to your business, even if your price sounds a little higher compared to competitors.?

• Boost customer loyalty

Boosting customer loyalty is a two-way process. You give an up-to-the-mark treatment to your customers; they choose you over others. Additionally, boosting customer loyalty is not as simple as it sounds. It involves leveraging some tactics to boost and retain customers.?

Moreover, one of the best ways to boost loyalty is to know what your people really want. One of the best examples you could relate to would be visiting a coffee shop, where the waiter already knows your name and your coffee preference. It makes you feel special that the waiter remembers your name and choice among hundreds of customers.?

This is exactly how a nice interaction with customers boosts their loyalty. Empowering your frontline staff is important for this; on-time access to customers’ information can actually make a difference.?

• Better brand advocacy

If you think one or two bad customer experiences won’t affect your business, think again. People have so much power in making a business grow. The more you spend in giving a top-class experience, the more they will become your brand advocates.?

Businesses that have strong brand advocacy are the ones with the biggest and most satisfied customer base. Contrarily, 17% of people are likely to walk away just after one bad experience and 59% after several bad experiences. Therefore, customer experience matters the most in building brand advocacy.?

• Increases revenue and reputation

In a competitive industry, the most practical way to increase revenue and reputation is to improve the customer experience. Instead of investing in technologies to become more advanced, leverage technology to foster positive CX.?

No matter how big or small your business is, meeting the customers’ expectations is the key. When you offer them a more personalized connection with a brand, they easily overlook the price difference. After all, people don’t go for fancy and cutting-edge technologies; they go for places where they’re treated nicely.?

• Drives business growth

Happy customers mean people returning to your business over and over again. Once you have set their positive expectations, it is important to fulfill their demands every time they come. It not only retains them for longer but also drives business growth.?

In other words, providing consistent, high-quality experiences is key to winning in the market. According to eduMe, 81% of organizations find CX a competitive differentiator for business growth. So, improving the CX can significantly impact the business growth.?

Final Takeaway

The only thing 86% of customers are ready to pay more for is a better customer experience (CX). A customer experience involves the first impression of your business. It is the actual manifestation of your brand values. So, investing in your CX is 86% more essential to keeping customers coming.