Guest post by Anoush Dowlatshahi-Gordon , Vice President, Communications and Marketing Solutions, Global Document Outsourcing, Xerox
Customer satisfaction and loyalty are top of mind for every company, as well as public sector organizations, yet building and retaining brand loyalty is probably one of the biggest challenges they face. Research from NewVoiceMedia says that US companies lose an estimated $41 billion every year after a bad customer experience. Additionally, almost half of US consumers will take their business elsewhere after experiencing less than adequate customer service. Regardless of industry, consumers expect their interactions with brands to be painless, and if they’re not, they won’t hesitate to move on. This is especially the case with the millennial generation who generally have a much higher expectation for immediate results.
Exceptional customer service is a must, so what is holding companies back? One major challenge is the inherent differences that exists between the physical and digital touch points that impact customer experience and the way companies have attempted to implement corporate change.
We, the customers, are living in a digital age and are demanding companies do the same. As technology evolves, many companies risk being left behind by relying on outdated, paper-intensive processes. A Xerox Digitization at Work study revealed that more than half of respondents admitted their organization’s processes are largely, or entirely, still paper-based. Paper-based processes are manual and time-intensive, leaving less time to engage and grow existing customers.
As companies begin to optimize and improve their customer service, the best place to start is by digitizing and streamlining all forms of customer communications. Regardless of the channel – direct mail, email or social media – information needs to be consistent, relevant, and timely, and span a variety of channels to meet customer preferences to deliver an effective, memorable customer experience. Many vendors can help with these efforts, but Xerox’s holistic vision of the entire customer lifecycle journey – acquire, onboard, serve and grow – is unique and allows companies to engage with their prospective and current customers along every step of the way, whether it is to address effective ways to help them retain clients or acquire new ones.
Xerox has launched new suite of services to deal with the changing customer service landscape. The expanded portfolio of Communication and Marketing Solutions helps large enterprises create better customer interactions, increase brand recognition and gather important data to improve customer satisfaction and retention.
The seven new services cover all stages of the customer lifecycle journey which relate to customer engagement either during the pre or post acquisition stage of the lifecycle: Document Publishing Services, Collateral Management Services, Demand Generation Services, Inbound and Outbound Digital Services, Product Information Management Services, Multichannel Communication Services and Transactional Print and Mail Services.
By partnering with Xerox, the journey to rewarding customer service is within reach. These tailored and personalized services help companies identify and transform key communication touch points across each customer journey, and deliver a truly transformative service that will significantly improve business effectiveness, relevance and results.
Great post Anoush reinforcing that the customer experience is everything, and the value of the expanded Xerox CMS portfolio.