Customer experience is the most critical aspect modern businesses must pay heed to. As consumers are spoilt for choices, they have become extremely demanding. Numerous studies show that:

• Customer service will become the main brand differentiator in 2020.
• Close to 90% of shoppers do not mind paying more for excellent customer experience.
• While 87% of shoppers share their accounts of excellent experience with others, over 95% of the shoppers will share their bad experiences.
• Shoppers who have an emotional connection with any brand exhibit a 306% higher lifetime value.

Needless to say, these numbers are a matter of concern for any business. So, how can a business improve their service and keep their customers satisfied in the long run? Well, the answer is to blend the company culture and brand to boost customer experience. 

To do this, companies must have the necessary bedrock in place to successfully integrate brand and business culture. Here are 5 ways to do the same:

1. Create a culture based on empathy

Customer experience is all about expressing care for people. For the employees to display such care towards their customers, they must also be well taken care of. Thus the management must pay attention to their employees to create a caring workplace culture. This will, in turn, develop a team of professional and friendly customer service agents who will pursue customer satisfaction as their motto.

2. Please don’t force it

The integration of brand and culture must seem natural and forced. If not, the customers might feel that the experiences they are receiving are fake. Therefore ditch the script. Authorize the employees to make decisions on the spur to meet the needs of the customer. However, establish clear boundaries to ensure nobody gives away the whole farm.

3. Send out a clear message

The brand’s message must always be on point. The message must target the customers and the employees and people who wish to work for the organization. It must send out a message that the business cares for them and offers immaculate treatment.

4. Don’t go on an automation overdrive

While it is true that today’s businesses require automation to streamline processes, it is necessary to exercise restraint as it can hurt the customer experience. This is true because customers tend to establish a strong bond with a brand when interacting with the employees. They need to see and hear people. So please do not take this away from them by promoting excessive automation.

5. Integrate HR and Marketing

To maximize the impact of blending brand and culture, it is good to combine HR and marketing. Doing this will make sure that the whole organization is customer-centric. Moreover, it will help to implement the branding strategy more consistently and successfully. Appoint a customer-centric leader in charge and redefine the roles by incorporating HR and marketing responsibilities.

Conclusion Customer experience has become an essential factor for customers. It is what decides whether the customer will buy the product or not. Therefore businesses must take measures to blend their business culture and brand to increase their customer experience and emerge as winners.