Ease the customer down the aisle

New research looks at how consumers rate nine grocery retailers in terms of ‘effort to shop’ and finds that the easier the experience, the more likely customers will remain loyal.

The more effort a customer has to put into a dealing with a brand, the less likely they are to be a loyal customer, according to new research. Customers reporting ’low effort experiences’ are more likely to go out of their way to keep using a brand.

Research agency BDRC Continental generated a Customer Effort Score for nine retailers by asking 1,000 customers to rate the ‘effort’ of an experience on a five point scale, where one equals very low effort and five equals very high effort.

Customer effort? Help or hype?

Customer Effort: Help or hype? from BT Let's Talk

Avaya Customer Effort Impact Study Reveals the Cost of Inconvenience

• Customer perceptions shaped by the amount of effort required to obtain service
• Repeated, high effort experiences are more damaging to brand and revenue growth than good experiences are helpful
• 66 percent of customers say they are likely to leave a company after high effort experience

Santa Clara, CA — Avaya today announced the results of a Customer Effort Impact survey that highlights how the amount of work a customer exerts to obtain service affects business priorities of revenue and market growth, brand loyalty and operational margins. The results reinforce the value of a customer experience characterized by a holistic, low-effort, personalized approach to fulfill customers’ needs.

Customer needs and company objectives often appear to be at odds when it comes to the customer experience.  Consumers seek excellent service across all divisions of the company; companies look for revenue and market growth while controlling costs and increasing efficiency. To manage this dichotomy, companies need to define efficiency from the customer’s point of view, simplify the effort required and optimize each interaction for an engaged, long-term relationship that multiplies customer lifetime value.

Myth busted: Why content isn't king

In our rich multimedia world where content is abundant, the marketing industry so often says, content is king. After all, great content is needed to capture and engage audiences. Big bold creative concepts with integrated campaigns are exciting and sexy. The internet has made the circulation and delivery of content so cheap that everyone is now a publisher. The ability to find appropriate content through search engines, social networks and content curators gives consumers valuable information and entertainment. What’s more consumers expect content at a very low cost or even free. Given the abundance of content, the real demand is for high quality content.

Customer effort score: The truth about the controversial loyalty tool

MyCustomer.com caught up with Professor Moira Clark from Henley Business School and BT's Dr Nicola Millard to discuss customer effort score and asked is it help or hype?

Customer effort score may be the new kid on the block but just like other loyalty measurement tools such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction score (CSAT), it sharply divides opinion.

​Is Customer Effort an appropriate measure?

Is Customer Effort an appropriate measure to consider as a customer metric for businesses that are committed to developing a customer-centric organisation? Does it deliver financial benefits to those that invest in it?

The answer to both questions is yes; but only once its role as a performance measurement tool is understood in the context of other key customer experience measures.

http://www.gfk.com/uk/documents/thought-pieces/customer-effort.pdf

Customer experience questionnaires: What's the secret sauce for super surveys?

Industry experts outline what to ask customers in your survey and how to encourage engagement.  

As more businesses are joining the trend to redefine themselves as customer-experience driven, understanding customers and what satisfies them has become crucial for success. Customer feedback surveys, thought to retain customers and drive revenue, continue to be used as the main tool to measure experience. Is there any better way of gaining insight into how your customers feel about your brand, products and services than by directly asking them?