The age of digital disruption has changed customer expectations, requiring companies to operate at a higher level of ingenuity and sophistication. Businesses today must focus on delivering an exceptional digital customer experience in order to outpace their competition.

While consumers are still performing the same basic activities during their engagement with a company, the channels available, the devices used, and the speed at which these activities take place have drastically changed. The 4 most common ways consumers engage with brands include:

• Gaining awareness of a product
• Researching and learning more about the product/service
• Using the product or service
• Asking for support

Technology has forever changed customer expectations of how everyone – friends, family, and yes, even companies should engage with them. Customers now expect convenient, effortless, and personalized experiences with brands whether they are asking questions and want speedy answers prior to buying, or they need step-by-step guidance to resolve their issue post-purchase.

Customer Experience challenges in the digital age

It is frequently stated that Customer Service is the only long-term differentiator in today’s world. Brand reputations are built or damaged based on the quality of service they provide.

In order to deliver world class digital customer engagement you have to differentiate from the average, not set it as the bar to meet.

While many companies recognize the gravity of the customer experience and the shift of customer expectations, many only look to keep pace with their closest competitor. In order to deliver world class digital customer engagement, you have to differentiate from the average, not set it as the bar to meet. Forrester reports that only 7% of companies are exceeding customers’ expectations and worse, 25% don’t feel they even meet customer expectations.

One of the greatest difficulties in delivering superior digital customer engagement is mindset. Intuitively, the entire company, from executive leadership to front-line employees, wants to deliver a consistent, best-in-class digital experience across all channels, but have a hard time differentiating it from traditional customer service.

It is imperative to recognize the gap that exists between traditional customer service and a digital customer engagement. As stated above, customer activities are the same (shopping, comparing, purchasing, seeking support) but usage and expectations are vastly different. Consumers no longer walk into a store to browse and talk to a sales person everytime they want to purchase something. They no longer have the time or inclination to pick up the phone or email to place an order or ask a question. The traditional channels are being eaten up by the digital channels. Phone calls and emails are being eaten up by the more convenient SMS/text messaging and web chat channels.

Some companies will use the fact that the activities are the same as an excuse not to implement more innovative means to enhance their digital engagement, or do just enough to keep up with the closest competitor. Those are the companies that will not succeed in the long-run.

Quiq’s clients are using digital customer engagement like text messaging, Facebook Messenger, and Web Chat, to set themselves apart within and outside their industry. These innovators know that customers want easy, convenient, and frictionless ways to engage with everyone – especially companies that have earned their business. What should companies consider when becoming more digital service savvy?

Mobile-first. Always.

Focusing on the digital customer engagement in an age, when everyone looks to their mobile device for research or to seek support from brands, means to adopt a mobile-first design for each interaction. Consider and evaluate how an average customer will interact with each of the digital channels, and clearly define what the ideal experience is.

Here are a few considerations:

• Make digital channels highly accessible
  • Lead with the channels that are preferred and most commonly used by customers to communicate (SMS, Facebook Messenger, Web Chat).
• Facilitate easy, seamless interactions
  • Information gathered from one channel should be used if and when the customer contacts you via a different channel. Selecting products that can integrate with your existing CRM system to leverage customer information across channels will support this goal.
• Deliver a visually consistent presence
  • Ensure your company’s branding, voice, and vibe are consistent across all channels. Customers don’t think about “channels”, they think about what they need in that moment and the fastest way to get it. Make sure your brand is consistently represented regardless of touchpoint.

In addition to the above, it is important to realize that customers are much more visually-driven then ever before – emojis, Pinterest and Instagram are evidence that customers are far more comfortable with taking, sharing, and consuming visual content. With this in mind, consider how each channel will use visual media to engage with customers or vice versa. For example, many Quiq clients encourage customer service agents to exchange emojis, videos, and pictures with customers, which is the way they communicate with family and friends and helps bring context into conversations. They also encourage customers to share photos and videos to more quickly help with purchases or problems.

Putting the Customer Center Stage

Consumers are constantly being bombarded with information and experiences online and off. This onslaught of information makes it harder for us to remember every detail and interaction with brands. While it would be impossible to remember every interaction, your customers will likely remember the first and last interaction.

Today’s digital customer is very likely to have that first interaction on your website or trying to contact your business to ask questions about your product or service from their mobile device. Armed with this information, you can design that first-touch experience with the customer’s ideal engagement at centerstage – making it convenient and easy for them, not you.

Enabling your landlines to send and receive text messages, for example, and having web chat active on your website supports these goals. Many Quiq clients are surprised that a lot of their customers are trying to text them on their existing landlines. Think of how surprised and delighted your customer would be to receive the post sale customer support by text message, the preferred means to contact a business, instead of receiving an error message.

Likewise, a customer’s last interaction may very well end with a digital engagement, whether that’s a mention on Facebook or trying to engage with customer service from their mobile device. Wouldn’t you prefer your customers to walk away from that first or last experience, thinking “Wow, that was easy”.

It’s Never Too Late to Transform your Digital Customer Engagement

As the inspiring wisdom of the old Chinese Proverb says:
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

You don’t need a crystal ball to tell you that a new digital customer engagement age is upon us and neither do your competitors. You can stay ahead of your competition and deliver an exceptional experience that exceeds your customers expectations by investing in technology such as Quiq Messaging.

Quiq Messaging helps businesses quickly and easily interact with customers, whether they have a question pre-purchase or post-sales. Schedule a demo to see how you can easily provide a digital customer engagement that will “wow” your customers and keep them coming back for more.

About Quiq
Quiq makes it easy for customers to contact a business via Messaging, the preferred channel already in use with our friends and family.  With Quiq, customers can now engage with companies via SMS/text messaging, Facebook Messenger, Web Chat, In-App,and Kik for help with their pre-sales and post-sales questions. Learn more about Quiq today at quiq.com.

Our hyper-connected culture has built a consumer eco-system where raving fans help bolster a brand’s reputation and new customer acquisition through word of mouth. In addition to that, there are a plethora of reasons that make a compelling case to focus on improving customer retention as much as, if not more, than customer acquisition.

By no means are we advocating that you ignore customer acquisition. In “Ways to Increase Your Customer Acquisition for Service Based Businesses” blog post, we talk about how important these efforts are.

The case for customer retention is pretty strong and demands attention:

1. It can be 5-25 times more costly to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing one
2. A business can boost profits by 25% to 95% by increasing customer retention by as little as 5% (HBR).
3. Existing customers spend 33% more than new customers

The math has been around for awhile, but few companies have solved the problem of keeping existing customers happy and coming back for more.

Service-based businesses are uniquely poised to create a remarkable experience that starts with adding value for the customer and keeping them engaged for additional purchases in the future. Quiq is helping companies do this every day by employing text messaging, opening a channel that is pervasive, comfortable, not to mention, the preferred method of communication for consumer-to-business interactions.

Improve customer retention with messaging

Whether the service is home security, lawn care, commercial cleaning services, or residential moving, consumers are placing trust in you, the service provider, to deliver the expertise that will get a job done right and at a reasonable cost. Sometimes initial consultations between the consumer and the company can get cumbersome and lengthy with multiple phone calls, emails, and scheduling. Many of the service-based businesses we work with are looking at Quiq Messaging to make communications with customers faster and easier.

Everyone has their phone with them all the time, but can’t always find the time to have a phone conversation. This is where messaging comes in. Text messaging conversations are better than phone calls, since they can happen asynchronously, at the pace the customer wants to have the conversation. Even better, photos, videos, and links can also be shared via messaging, unlike a phone call, making the conversation more fruitful. We’ve also found that consumers overwhelmingly prefer text messaging as a way to communicate with businesses.

Let’s consider that home security company for a second. A customer who has purchased motion sensing lights is having trouble positioning the lights around their home. That customer can start a text with customer service agent and send pictures and videos of where the lights are located and how they are positioned, giving the agent better context of how to solve the issue, all while the customer is still on the phone.

Providing real-time interaction through media rich text messages makes it easier to do business with your company and is a value add to your busy customers. We’ve witnessed customer satisfactions scores skyrocket among companies who have implemented Quiq. These companies are laying the foundation for engaged, satisfied customers to come back.

Grow retention through engagement

Companies are most successful increasing customer retention when they focus on excellent customer service and engagement. Encouraging customers to interact with your business 24×7 from anywhere, not only improves the customer engagement, but it also provides an unprecedented opportunity to enhance customer retention and loyalty.

Quiq clients have found consumer engagement and interaction levels increase across their clients upon implementing Quiq Messaging. Communication is more accessible for customers because conversations can take place anytime and anywhere they have their smartphone – which is always and everywhere.

Your business can also use outbound messaging to keep current customers engaged with you. Sending timely notifications can help keep your company top of mind when your client is ready to buy. Perhaps the home security company would like to send quarterly reminders to customers to check the batteries in their lights and cameras or recommend other products that may complement what they already have. This type of proactive communication anticipates the needs and wants of your customers and keeps the lines of communication open.

Dig deeper wells not higher fences

There’s a story about a traveler who visits an Australian outback cattle ranch and finds that there are miles and miles of farming country with no fences. The traveler asks the rancher how they can contain their cattle without barriers. The answer was simple. The rancher replied that they dig wells instead of fences. Why would the rancher need to fence the cattle in when they are highly motivated to stay close to water, a necessary and highly desirable resource?

The moral of the story: If someone has decided to do business with you, the chances that you can convince them to do more business with you are much more likely than convincing someone brand new. Use the tools and technology that create an exceptional experience to motivate them to stay.

You can dig a deeper well and retain more customers with Quiq Messaging, which provides an easy way for customers to contact a business via Messaging, the preferred channel already in use with their friends and family. With Quiq, customers can engage with service-based companies via SMS/text messaging, Facebook Messenger, Web Chat, In-App, and Kik for help with their pre-sales and post-sales questions. Learn more about Quiq today at quiq.com.

About QuiqQuiq makes it easy for customers to contact a business via Messaging, the preferred channel already in use with our friends and family.  With Quiq, customers can now engage with companies via SMS/text messaging, Facebook Messenger, Web Chat, In-App,and Kik for help with their pre-sales and post-sales questions. Learn more about Quiq today at quiq.com.

Usually, a buyer’s journey starts with an initial thought – a question that often begins something like “I wonder if…” “I wonder if I could add an alarm system to my home?”

From there, a buyer may start to passively look around to see if that “what if” scenario they’re envisioning could become a reality. “I wonder how much these new wireless monitoring systems cost?”

Sometimes, there’s a compelling event that motivates the buyer to search for solutions immediately. For the majority of purchases, the journey begins with a thought that eventually turns into actively looking for answers.

Our hypothetical buyer above will eventually want to ask questions, set up an appointment, and get quotes. Imagine when our buyer starts looking for options during their lunch hour and your security monitoring business pops up as a contender. Now imagine that instead of our buyer jotting down your phone number to call later, he sends a quick text message to ask if someone could come by and take a look at his home.

Later that day, before he’s even called anyone else, he checks his phone and sees you’ve responded. This conversation can continue as he goes about his day. Convenience – that’s just one of the reasons consumers prefer text messaging over calling to communicate with businesses.

As the number of consumers who are comfortable with the quick, efficient, responsive nature of mobile messaging continues to swell this method of engagement will continue to grow and scenarios like the one above will become commonplace. Many of the service-based businesses we talk to have already spotted this trend toward mobile messaging and are looking at Quiq Messaging to make the pre-sales process easier for customers.

Text Messaging opens a Sales Channel

In the report, “Customer Preference for Messaging,” we found that nearly half of the people surveyed “would choose one product/service over another based on mobile messaging availability.” Consumers are looking for products and services that fit into their busy lifestyles and clicking around a website or waiting on hold to get questions answered just doesn’t work for them anymore.

Consider our home security example above, today’s buyer interested in adding a security system to their home want to text in questions like “Do I need a landline to set up your system?” or “Do I need to sign a contract to get started?” Buyers today want to get those pre-qualifying questions answered on their terms – on the channel and at the pace they prefer. Later, our buyer, interested in getting a quote can text “When can someone come by to give me a quote?”. This kind of convenience can set a company apart from other service providers.

Text Messaging raises your Brand Perception

In this wired day and age, we’re finding more and more consumers are expecting the brands they prefer to provide exceptional customer experience across all of the channels they are on (web, social, text). While many companies are still trying to optimize outdated channels like IVR systems and email, others are looking for more innovative ways to set themselves apart from the competition.

Quiq Messaging allows you to add a level of sophistication to your communication channels that will raise the perception of your brand among prospective customers. Our research shows that a majority of buyers “would pay more for a product/service if it is supported by a mobile messaging channel.” This preference and willingness to pay a premium for the convenience of text messaging puts a spotlight on the high value placed on mobile messaging across all age demographics.

In addition to raising the perception of your brand, service-based businesses have the opportunity to amplify their word of mouth efforts. Now, more than ever, consumers are influenced by the recommendations of friends and family, and even social media.

Leaving customers happy and satisfied with their experience by providing a convenient, easily accessible way to engage with your business throughout the entire buying process will help support positive word-of-mouth for your business.

Raising the Standards for Customer Acquisition

Twenty years ago, banner ads could grab someone’s attention and get response rates north of 70%. Ten years ago, receiving an email from a company was an innovative way to drive a customer back to your business. Now, only about 20% of emails even get opened, let alone read. Today, those two methods have become what most people consider noise and are often overlooked.

Businesses must now think of more innovative ways to differentiate themselves and earn business. As research shows, buyers want and expect companies to provide them with personal, timely, and convenient communication to build a meaningful two-way relationship. Quiq Messaging is how innovative companies are making that happen.

Quiq presents a unique opportunity to open a new, preferred channel to customers by allowing consumers a way to contact your service-based business via messaging. The added ease and convenience will make your business the more attractive choice within a hyper-competitive market.

Quiq allows you to be where your customers are and enables engagement with service-based companies via SMS/text messaging, Facebook Messenger, Web Chat, In-App, and Kik for help with their pre-sales and post-sales questions. Learn more about Quiq today at quiq.com.

About Quiq

Quiq makes it easy for customers to contact a business via Messaging, the preferred channel already in use with our friends and family.  With Quiq, customers can now engage with companies via SMS/text messaging, Facebook Messenger, Web Chat, In-App,and Kik for help with their pre-sales and post-sales questions. Learn more about Quiq today at quiq.com.