New Report Tells Retailers, "Value Your Customers, And They Will

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

InMoment’s 2015 Customer Experience Trends Report polled 644 consumers and 131 brand representatives and found that when retailers value their customers, the customers value them back.

The survey was launched in November 2014, in which participants were asked to rank six developing customer experience trends in order of importance. 

The top six CX trends were:

• Feeling trumps function. Thus, brand differentiation is often the result of relationships and the customer experience than product features or selection.
• Mobile first. 24/7 mobile support is crucial to address increasing mobile consumer habits.
• More reliable online reviews. Companies should help consumers see verified online reviews.
• Personalized experience. Brands need to use consumer information to better personalize promotions and messages.
• Shorter surveys and more listening. Customers want to share stories in their own words and companies need to make better use of social, voice, and mobile channels. One in five respondents talked about the need for more concise, clearer, and more relevant survey questioning.
• Transparency. Companies need to keep customers informed about the ways their feedback is being used.

One of the most important findings of the survey was that customers want to feel valued by brands.  One in three consumers either explicitly stated the importance of feeling valued, or mentioned the importance of specific acts that show respect to the consumer.  In fact, feeling valued is as important to consumers as getting value.  They want a reciprocal relationship with brands.

The survey also helped to identify three ways to demonstrate to customers that you are listening to their feedback:

• Inform them that their feedback has purpose.
• Acknowledge that you are listening to their responses.
• Take action, and make changes based on incoming feedback, and give credit to the sources of the changes.

As the report concludes, “Voice of Customer (VoC) in 2015 is more than an exercise in collecting insights; it’s an opportunity to strengthen loyal customer relationships and deliver key elements of your differentiated customer experience.”

And, the report stated, “When focusing on the end goal of ‘personalized experiences,’ brands need to first ensure they are actively listening to customers.  Only then will they truly understand customer preferences and have their trust, so personalization truly seems personal – not invasive.”