The term “customer experience”, which we have been hearing too often recently, will most probably be more significant in the following days, and it seems like it will be a concept that will be included in the main strategies of the companies. So, what does this “customer experience”, which is vitally important for enterprises? Although there are many descriptions for this concept, the below definition is enough for its essence.

“ The total of the experiences that the consumers have during the relation they establish with the company they make use of its product/service.” Researches show that the most exciting opportunity of a business is the customer experience. The researches that are done by American Express reveal that the 60% of the customers are willing to pay more Money for a better experience. A questionnaire done by Bloomberg Business Week announced that “presenting an excellent customer experience” has become a strategic objective, and another up to date customer management IQ questionnaire shows that 75% of the leaders and managements gave 5 for customer experience on a scale of 1 to 5.

How different is customer experience than the customer services?

In most cases, the first contact of the customer with a company is by an interacting with an employee (This can be in a store or by talking on the phone). This can present a perfect customer service for your company, but the customer service is only an aspect of customer experience. While customer service generally contains standard characteristics, the customer experience is presenting something special to the person, taking the time into account, too. For example, while the sincere and helpful interest of a telephone agency when you make a bus ticket reservation is customer service; customer experience is to make a reservation from the frontmost seat for a customer who says that he/she has bus sickness.

In today’s severe competitive conditions, the sustaining and growing of the companies is directly linked with “ to what extent that satisfy the customers”, and this will always be indispensable. The customers prefer to evaluate their experience positively or negatively, apart from the price and quality of the product. At this very point, the aim should be focusing on welcoming the customer requirements, not selling product or service. A research done by the journal of consumer research reveals that more than 50% of an experience is based on emotions. This is significant, because emotions influence the decisions. Although the importance of this concept is known very well, the actions directed to increasing the desired loyalty and caring are not that emphasized. You make a discount and someone else makes more of it; you say that the product is of high quality, someone else say that he/she has more quality; you make an innovation and someone else comes up with a different novelty, and while the circle is going on like this, the recompense of the spent time and money cannot be received. At this point, we face with the term “employee experience(EX)”, which is something many companies miss out and only some of them can realize. The place where the customer experience grow and improve is the employee. If your employees consist of people who feel that they are respected and appreciated, if they trust their leaders to a level that they can dedicate themselves to their corporation, the customer experience occurs on its own. The best customer experiences only ensured with the experiences of employees, who can show empathy. If the subject in question is ignored, no matter how special software, internet tools and security equipment are used, they will not be enough for achieving and sustaining the customer experience. It is a high possibility that the perfect employee experience makes way for perfect customer experience.

In conclusion, we live in a time when the expectations of the customers are higher than ever, and the experiences are quickly spread by Word of mouth marketing. As the customer gets more powerful, the significance of the customer experience is taken to an indisputable level. The customer experience is an area that should be consistently cared and raised. Companies that focus more on this issue, will increase their incomes and get through the competition on a serious level. Let’s not forget that “THE HAPPY CUSTOMERS ARE LOYAL.”