Increase Revenue with Increased Experience

A recent Forrester Research report looked at 13 different industries and came to the conclusion that as a customer's experience (CxPi) with your company increases, so does revenue, specifically in the areas of:

• Incremental purchases from existing customers
• Retention
• New sales from word-of-mouth

OK, not really rocket science, but it shows that there is ROI in employee engagement.

According to Forrester, the banking industry was more effected by positive customer experience than all others in the area of retention. In banking, an increase in positive customer experience yields a higher rate of change in attrition than all other industries. In a time when customers are changing institutions at a significantly higher level - this becomes an important finding.

Want to put some hard numbers to customer experience? According to Forrester's report, the banking industry can expect a total annual impact averaging $21.20 per customer by improving your customer experience - with more than half of the impact coming from reduced attrition.

So, increased customer experience equals increased revenue - you can't argue with the logic. But we have some work to do. Credit unions ranked in the Top 10 of Forrester's 2010 Customers Experience Rankings with only 3 banks in the top 50. How do we improve?

• Create written Customer Service Standards for the entire company to follow.
• Relook at your sales process - do you speak "to" the customer or "at" them. Create a process that facilitates a CONVERSATION with the customer - then addresses their needs.
• Relook at your sales materials. Are they benefit oriented.
• Follow-up is key. Call it on-boarding, re-boarding or just doing your job. But the best experience a customer has with you can be out of your branch and in their home. Set standards and create a process to add value-based communication with your customers.
• Consistent training. Customer engagement is a culture, not a program. It starts with a new hire and continues every-day. Your staff must be engaged and understand that we are dealing with people's money. And when it comes to money, a little empathy, understanding and advise can go a long way!
• Talk to them. Before you make changes to your organization, talk to your customers and determine their needs.
• Let them have it their way. Whenever possible, let the customer create their own product. More and more institutions are turning to a build-your-own checking product. If not that, then package your products in a way that looks tailored to them.
• Measure your success. Start with baselines in: Attrition, services per household and average balances. Then track your progress regularly.

A positive customer experience can differentiate you in a competitive market place and generate incremental revenue. It can grow your institution organically and reduce attrition.

Want to chat about your customer experience culture? Call us.

Take care,

Eric

egagliano@MarketMatch.com

866-501-2233, ext. 106