01 Sep Creating Value with Existing Clientele Through Experience-led Growth
When faced with intense competition from large and growing companies, what should be a company’s response: trying to grab new customers or looking at the existing customer base?
When Salesforce introduced its Einstein capability in 2017, it reinforced the company’s commitment to improve its customers’ #CRM experience. In 2023, it released a newer version called Einstein GPT, a generative AI platform that creates AI-generated content across every sales, service, marketing, commerce, and IT interaction, at hyperscale.
Like Salesforce, several companies are investing heavily in creating exceptional experiences for their existing customers. And why not?
A recent McKinsey study shows that the value of losing one customer can be made up by acquiring three new customers. Also, 80% of value creation achieved by the world’s most successful growth companies comes from their core business—principally, unlocking new revenues from existing customers.[1]
Leveraging on the fact that satisfied customers are repeat customers, experience-led growth (ELG) is emerging as the key business strategy for companies, who are focusing on cultivating growth from existing customers by getting them to use more of the company’s products and services in the long term.
This has increased focus on creating unique customer experiences (CX), and CX is now finding itself at the front and center of business operations, particularly given the level of influence exerted by customers, who are taking to posting and researching reviews online before making any purchase.
Several companies are following the ELG strategy. They are implementing “listening programs” that survey customers, conduct interviews, and track social media mentions to better understand customer needs and are accordingly modifying products and services, adding new features, and improving customer support systems.
Every touchpoint along the customer’s journey reflects the company’s commitment to providing exceptional experiences. Right from using an omnichannel approach to implementing customer relationship management (CRM) and customer experience management (CXM) tools, such companies are investing significantly in CX.
Companies that have implemented successful ELG strategies by increasing customer satisfaction by at least 20% can deliver a range of significant financial benefits, such as increasing cross-sell rates by 15-25%, boosting companies’ share of wallet by 5-10%, and improving customer satisfaction and engagement by 20-30%.[2]
Business transformation can come about when the company redesigns customer journeys, products, services, and business models. Microsoft, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Slack, and Monday.com are great examples of companies that have enabled transformation through disruptive customer-centric innovations.
Often such companies’ CX efforts are based on a long-term vision. They identify a vision—such as improving customer retention by X percent, becoming a player of choice among competitors, improving share of wallet, as well as increasing repeat purchases or net revenue retention—and design customer experiences to deliver the outcomes.
Experience-led growth is increasingly being seen as a better way to yield long-term financial and business returns, rather than acquiring new customers. Using data and analytics and focusing on continuous improvement, companies can create exceptional customer experiences and increased satisfaction, all of which lead to sustained profitable growth even in the face of mounting competition.
[1] https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/experience-led-growth-a-new-way-to-create-value?cid=other-eml-alt-mkq-mck&hlkid=19a4fdf708d745f8ae68fffc25c5dda1&hctky=13419004&hdpid=2f8bda9b-759b-4f07-aa9a-1535168436a4
[2] https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/experience-led-growth-a-new-way-to-create-value?cid=other-eml-alt-mkq-mck&hlkid=19a4fdf708d745f8ae68fffc25c5dda1&hctky=13419004&hdpid=2f8bda9b-759b-4f07-aa9a-1535168436a4
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