Stephen LynchA survey entitled the Customer Experience Impact Report was released early in 2009.

The survey measured how customers engage with companies – and how both negative and positive customer experiences affect them.

Here are two important findings.

1. Customer experiences matter:

There is a growing trend for customers to stop doing business with a company because of a negative customer experience.

• 84% of customers who had a negative experience with a company said they had spread the word about the bad experience to others.
• 87% had stopped doing business with a company after a negative experience.
• 58% said they will pay more for a better customer experience.

2. How to create Customer advocates:

Positive customer experiences are the key to obtain more positive "word-of-mouth" recommendations.

• 58% of customers said that "outstanding service" is the number one reason they would recommend a company to someone else.
• "Outstanding Service" beats both "low prices" and "quality" for driving customer recommendations.

Many firms make the mistake of marketing the "quality" of their products and services. Research has shown that this "product-centric" marketing drives rapid commoditization and price competition in a category.

Likewise, promoting "low prices" is another marketing mistake – unless you can achieve the size and scale to be the most cost-efficient provider in your industry.

Questions for creating great customer experiences:
• How do you want your target market customers to feel when they do business with you?
• How can you communicate this feeling in your marketing?
• Does the customer experience you actually deliver match your marketing promise?
• How can you design your operations and train your staff – to consistently deliver an outstanding experience?

Stephen Lynch
Chief Operating Officer – Global Operations
RESULTS.com