Browsing through my Facebook feed the other day, I came across a post that grabbed my attention.
It was written by a friend and colleague of mine, Angie Vendetti, an eminent restaurant consultant who serves the Philly region. She helps restaurant operators — of both startups and long-tenured eateries — navigate their way through challenging times, develop smart business strategies, increase profitability and find true work/life balance.
Anyway, here’s what she wrote:
“BOTTOM LINE: make it easy for people to find you online.” Allow me take that one step further: give people an intuitive, helpful online experience that solves their problem.
Customer experience is everything. And CX starts with knowing the customer.
As I wrote back in early 2018: “The key to reaching the customer is hidden inside the customer. Our first goal, as marketers, is to draw it out.” Over the last decade-plus, we’ve learned to mine data for that purpose. But data can only tell you the what; it can’t tell you the why.
All too often in this process, we fail to take a moment to consider the why (i.e., the reason/s customers make the decisions they make). We fail to imagine what they’re going through IRL when faced with a problem that you can solve.
Angie gave us that exact perspective, from the POV of a customer searching for dinner. But such empathy can, and should, be extended to any customer type in any context.
Consider the POV of your prospective customer in a B2B scenario. A person who is “in market,” actively and passively gathering information, wanting to be persuaded and given confidence in one brand over the others — so they can make an informed, inspired, confident purchase decision.
When they’re Googling an answer to a question … or browsing their LinkedIn feed … or searching for a new podcast to listen to … are they finding you? And, if so, what is their experience with your brand? Is it immediate, relevant, helpful and empowering — or is it frustrating, off-the-mark, confusing and disenfranchising?
If you’re not 100% sure of the answer, that should give you pause. Because if your brand’s online experience isn’t 100% perfect, that means you’re losing business. (In two ways, really: from new prospects who are digitally engaged and guided to your competitors, and from current customers who get curious about the cool new things your competitors are doing.)
Here’s the thing: creating a 100% flawless digital CX can be done. You just need the right people, the right process and the right tools.
If you’re a restaurant operator who’s struggling in the current crisis, or could use some excellent counsel of another sort, please reach out to Angie at hello@angelavendetti.com or 215-500-7650.
If you’re a B2B marketing leader who is second guessing the quality of your digital CX, and wants to learn how to edge out your competition, please reach out to us at info@ima314.com or 215-421-3034.
