The channels, touchpoints and technologies your target audience uses to engage with your company have fundamentally changed. As a result, companies must rethink how they develop and deliver customer-facing messaging throughout the customer experience.
The fact is, most companies do not have disciplined and repeatable processes in place to ensure a clear, compelling and consistent corporate story is being delivered throughout the buying process and customer journey. This results in a disconnected and inconsistent experience for prospects and customers as they travel from one touchpoint to another. This inconsistent story negatively impacts the customer experience and business performance in three key ways:
1 | Customer Acquisition
In the age of the customer, your target audience expects personal, relevant and consistent messages as they consume your story online and offline. Confusing and inconsistent messaging in the self-service and sales phases of the buying process significantly reduces audience engagement, slows or even breaks down sales cycles, and dramatically reduces customer conversion rates.
2 | Customer Retention
Once a prospect becomes a customer, they expect the promises made during the buying process to be fulfilled. However, if the customer service, support and delivery sides of the business are unaware or incapable of building on that promise and message — fear, uncertainty and doubt creep into the newly acquired customer’s mind — jeopardizing future purchases and share of wallet.
3 | Customer Loyalty
Loyalty is only achieved when trust has been earned with a customer. Trust is earned when a customer’s overall experience is consistent with their expectations — expectations that you set based on the messages they consumed in the buying process. From that point forward, every time an employee engages with a customer, the messages they use and actions they take impact loyalty. Inconsistent conversations and interactions with your employees break down trust and turn customer loyalty into a liability. This negatively impacts the lifetime value of that customer and the perception of your brand in the marketplace.
These are just three material ways your messaging impacts business performance. That’s why savvy business leaders are elevating messaging clarity and consistency on their 2021 priority list. They realize the difference between success and failure in the future — will be determined by their organization’s ability to deliver a clear, compelling and consistent story throughout the customer journey.
