Why everybody is investing in customer loyalty

The CX Network Debrief is the LinkedIn Newsletter from CX Network. Each week we share our take on a key development in experience management, with links to CX Network resources that can inform, inspire and help your organization’s response.

This week’s edition looks at how and why customer loyalty is rising up the priority list for CX leaders. The graph below shows where and how CX leaders and practitioners are investing to maintain or improve their customers’ experiences in 2023.

Sourced from our 2023 Global State of CX research it confirms that customer loyalty is the number one investment priority for CX practitioners and leaders over the coming year.

If we compare these results with those from our 2022 survey, it paints a clear picture of how CX is changing – and how organizations are responding. In 2022, the top five investment priorities were digital CX, CRM, customer insights, CX automation and customer journey mapping.

The reasons for this are easy enough to figure out: this year 35% of all respondents agreed their customers are more willing to switch brands if unsatisfied and a further 30% strongly agreed. That means 65% of our respondents have very fickle customers.

So, what are the customer demands that need to be met in order to keep them coming back?

• Convenience and instant service/ delivery: Often the result of automated experiences delivered via gig economy workers, customers love their experiences to be low-touch, quick and convenient – but they are often unwilling to pay more for it. This demands a focus on automation, AI and journey mapping to ensure demands can be met without increasing overheads or confusing customers.
• Ethical working conditions: Company values provide a source of emotional connection and therefore loyalty for customers. Our research found 61% of practitioners agreed or strongly agreed that customers are increasingly aware of ethical working conditions.
• Customer-centricity: For those who cannot act on the demand for instant service, customer-centricity can still win loyalty. Speed is important, but is a balancing act and should not come at the cost of the wider experience.
• Cohesive digital journeys: The increased use of digital channels is driving convenience and innovation across CX, but channel expansion is not a plug and play game. From social media shopping to mcommerce physical and multiple digital touchpoints must be integrated to create a cohesive journey that the customer is in control of.

Those are our tips and below are our three reads to inform, inspire and help you. But what we really want to know is how you are investing to foster and nurture loyalty across your customer base. Answers in the comments ??

Here’s something to inform you…

Here’s something to inspire you…

Here is something to help you…

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