[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/11\/21\/how-brands-can-attain-digital-success\/#Article","articleBody":"In an incredibly crowded marketplace, what\u2019s the key to digital success?\u00a0\nConsider the difference between a brand you find on Instagram, then browse their site, and a brand that you tell everyone about \u2013 a brand makes you feel genuinely better after spending your money with them. This is the difference between thoughtful customer experience and obliviousness.\u00a0\nIn our #CXTweetChat on Friday, October 25, 2019, one thing was made abundantly clear: the details matter, and customer service is only one part of a complete customer experience strategy.\u00a0\nI like to think of customer service as a component of customer experience \u2013 a very important one. Customer experience also includes other touchpoints with a company including and sometimes starting with sales reps. #cxtweetchat https:\/\/t.co\/pr56InrSpy\n\u2014 Jennifer Kling (@JenKling1027) October 25, 2019\nThe best example may just be your favorite wine shop.\nA6, have you walked into a really good wine shop? The music that's playing? The displays? Which wines are displayed where? Yea\u2026 that's really good pre-sale CS right there. #CXTweetchat https:\/\/t.co\/hU8XqAMfrL\n\u2014 Vincenzo Landino \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9 (@vincenzolandino) October 25, 2019\nEvery detail is thought through. The music guides you\u00a0subconsciously into nostalgia. The organization of the wines takes you on a tour around the world. The sales rep, walking the aisles looking like anyone else might, has such deep knowledge about the wines that their first question isn\u2019t \u201cWhat are you looking for,\u201d it\u2019s, \u201cWhat do you like?\u201d\nCan that experience be mimicked online? Can a brand pull on the senses and our favorite experiences to give us an altogether new experience that we come back to again and again?\nSome might say Amazon has done just that.\u00a0\nA4c. I recently wrote about Amazon\u2019s customer service tenets for Forbes. It is clear that this company\u2019s culture is to always put the customer first and do everything in its power to create loyal fans. #CXTweetChat https:\/\/t.co\/66zwW45Tct\n\u2014 Dan Gingiss \u2013 The Experience Maker (@dgingiss) October 25, 2019\nBut they aren\u2019t the only ones. Rising stars (often dubbed digitally native vertical brands, or DNVBs) like Chewy, Yeti, or DryBar have also figured out a way to give customers experiences (and service) that build unprecedented loyalty.\u00a0\nIt starts with internal culture, though. Customer service that lends a hand to excellent customer experience is a philosophy, not a fluke.\u00a0\nA3, CS is a philosophy, not a department. Hiring a culture and personality fit is more important than anything else. #CXTweetchat https:\/\/t.co\/OS8mXuNhef\n\u2014 Vincenzo Landino \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9 (@vincenzolandino) October 25, 2019\nAnd, if CX is a philosophy, not a random outcome or a grassroots initiative within the organization, that means that there\u2019s one department outside of customer service, or marketing, or even sales that needs to be involved: Human Resources.\u00a0\nHiring well, and hiring those who have customer service in their DNA, is how a brand lives out the philosophy of a high bar of customer experience.\u00a0\nVery important. People either have this skill or they don't. You can't really teach it. #CXTweetChat https:\/\/t.co\/svw8Lgdh7S\n\u2014 Dan Gingiss \u2013 The Experience Maker (@dgingiss) October 25, 2019\nWhether that\u2019s hiring folks from the hospitality industry, former teachers or nurses, or even former cosmetologists, like Vincenzo Landino himself, the ability to read between the lines of what people want and what they need is a crucial skill that can rarely be taught by a business.\u00a0\nAs a licensed former cosmetologist, I understand the people side of #CX. They're doing it right. #cxtweetchat\n\u2014 Vincenzo Landino \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9 (@vincenzolandino) October 25, 2019\nAfter all, customer service doesn\u2019t end when the clock strikes 5. \nSocial media channels are some of the biggest, and more immediate, customer service channels \u2013\u2013\u00a0and brands need to be nearly always on. There\u2019s a real cost benefit\/loss to negative responses, tone deaf responses, or even no response at all.\u00a0\nAnd customers seeing others post about no follow up on social breaks down trust and costs new sales. #cxtweetchat https:\/\/t.co\/lKgCE7RL8A\n\u2014 Jennifer Kling (@JenKling1027) October 25, 2019\nThis need for always-on customer service is challenging, and presents the opportunity for robot-enhanced service.\u00a0\n#cxtweetchat in a world where there's more and more automated services, an actual human contact customer service experience can be a highly-differentiated, make-or-break tipping point\u2026\n\u2014 Timo Elliott (@timoelliott) October 25, 2019\nEmployees can\u2019t be expected to be always-on, which represents a lack of service and experience for the internal team, one that would surely be shown to customers during interactions later.\u00a0\nWant to have great customer experience and service? Start with your employees \u2013\u2013 or perhaps even how you engage with the gig economy.\u00a0\nA1 Consider leveraging the gig economy to scale and provide real-time service like on-demand field service with freelance experts #cxtweetchat https:\/\/t.co\/sNMBGLmSSr\n\u2014 Volker Hildebrand (@vhil11) October 25, 2019\nThe fact of the matter is this: consumer expectations and shopping habits are changing. \nMillennials, the generation holding the majority of the wallet in the U.S. right now, prefer direct-to-consumer brands (think Chewy, for example) only at a margin of 4% to legacy brands (think Nordstrom for example).\nGen Z, the up-and-coming consumer, prefers DTC brands by a margin of more than 40%.\u00a0\nA7: Get Z prefers DTC brands to legacy brands by 40%+. Millennials only prefer DTC by a margin of 4%. What makes DTC brands stand out is their engagement w\/ customers, and Gen Z expects it. Expect new forms of CX like what @OutdoorVoices does \/ their events #CXTweetChat @SAP_CX https:\/\/t.co\/uUO0E22BSc\n\u2014 Tracey Wallace (@TraceWall) October 25, 2019\nThose are huge differentials, and means that Gen Z is highly influenced to buy from brands not because of their name \u2013\u2013 but because of their experience.\u00a0\nRecently saw a comment from a non-customer of a brand advertising on @instagram about how impressed they were at response time and quality from the brand to every single comment left on the ad. #cxtweetchat\n\u2014 Z Johnson (@zontziry) October 25, 2019\nThis means that brands will have to choose to compete on one of two fronts moving forward: a pricing race to the bottom, or a customer experience race to the top.\u00a0\nIn fact, you can already see this playing out in airlines.\u00a0\nI think most airlines are competing on one of 2 measures, either cost (race to the bottom) or customer experience (race to the top) and I have usually recieved superior service from @British_Airways #cxtweetchat\n\u2014 john heald (@JohnHeald72) October 25, 2019\nAmong those in the TweetChat, the preferred airlines were Southwest, Delta, British Airways, and American Airlines. It was clear that folks who have a preferred airline don\u2019t just love that airline \u2013\u2013\u00a0but even put up with customer service mistakes because of a long personal history with good experience with the brand.\u00a0\nThis is so true, Jenn. I feel this way about @SouthwestAir. I'm oddly able to look past their service failures because I'm loyal to this brand. (Hey, @SouthwestAir \u2013 don't get any ideas. I'm kinda tired of those creeping flight delays I've experienced lately!) #CXTweetchat\n\u2014 LeslieO (@LeslieO) October 25, 2019\nThis proves something incredibly important: brands, like people, don\u2019t have to be perfect. What matters most is speed to respond, and a deep well of empathy.\u00a0\nThe arts matter \u2013 and by 2028, emotional intelligence will be the most sought-after job skill. #CXTweetchat\n\u2014 Jenn VandeZande (@jennvzande) October 25, 2019\nAfter all, your customer wouldn\u2019t be complaining if they didn\u2019t care. They would\u2019ve already moved on to your competitor. Instead, you\u2019ve built an expectation, perhaps one that has been broken with this individual experience, but one that can certainly be mended.\u00a0\nBUT It\u2019s a highly important touchpoint. In particular, research shows that it\u2019s a tipping point. If I have a good customer service experience \u2014 even for a complaint! \u2014 I\u2019m likely to increase my chances of recommending the product\/service to others\u2026 #cxtweetchat\n\u2014 Timo Elliott (@timoelliott) October 25, 2019\nWant a few more brands to look at in terms of great examples of customer service and experience? Our #CXTweetChat had them in spades!\u00a0\nNordstrom:\nA4. Nordstrom is known for its customer service. I've heard other brands' return policies referred to as \"like Nordstrom's.\" Similarly, Amazon is known for its CS as a differentiator, and their CS isn't even always involving human 2 human interaction. #cxtweetchat\n\u2014 Z Johnson (@zontziry) October 25, 2019\n\u00a0\nDropBox:\u00a0\nA4: I just had a great experience with @Dropbox who followed up via email on a #custserv chat we'd had. The #omnichannel agent clearly continued the discussion in a second channel. #impressed #cxtweetchat\n\u2014 LeslieO (@LeslieO) October 25, 2019\nTo wrap up, hire for empathy, build customer service into your internal culture, and bet on the future generation caring more than any other on how they are treated online.\u00a0\nA2c. Remember that people complain because they care. They want a resolution. If they didn\u2019t, they\u2019d already have moved on to your competitor. #CXTweetChat https:\/\/t.co\/5EoLScJIal\n\u2014 Dan Gingiss \u2013 The Experience Maker (@dgingiss) October 25, 2019\nYour customers are managing 85% of their relationships online. Learn how omnichannel CX can provide everything they want \u2013 and more \u2013 HERE!","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/11\/21\/how-brands-can-attain-digital-success\/#Article_Person","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/11\/21\/how-brands-can-attain-digital-success\/#Article_Person_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Tracey-Wallace-150x150.jpg"},"name":"Tracey Wallace","sameAs":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TraceWall","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/tracey-wallace\/"},"dateModified":"2021-08-04T22:20:36+00:00","datePublished":"2019-11-21T09:00:00+00:00","description":"To attain digital success, brands must understand that the details matter, and customer service is only one part of a complete CX strategy.","headline":"Digital success options: Price war to the bottom, or 5-star customer service to the top","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/11\/21\/how-brands-can-attain-digital-success\/#Article_ImageObject","height":"630","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/thumbnail-dadf6e7b08c00e8c4cbb74380b995557-1200x630.jpeg","width":"1200"},"mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/11\/21\/how-brands-can-attain-digital-success\/","name":"Digital success options: Price war to the bottom, or 5-star customer service to the top","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/","additionalType":"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q1193236","description":"Relevant, timely information & analysis on commerce trends, both consumer-facing and B2B.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","height":"96","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","width":"500"},"name":"The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/a-call-for-a-better-experience\/id1479742201","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FutureOfCEC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4844282","https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/feed\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/11\/21\/how-brands-can-attain-digital-success\/#Article"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2019","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"11","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/\/11\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"21","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/\/11\/\/21\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Digital success options: Price war to the bottom, or  5-star customer service to the top","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2019\/11\/21\/how-brands-can-attain-digital-success\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]