Because an inbound customer experience is the quality of interaction someone has with your brand online, surely there are few marketing efforts that are more critical to your success today. If you are in a small- to medium-sized business, the odds are that your website and social footprint are two of the most crucial branding and marketing tools you possess. So how important is your inbound customer experience?
On the inbound side of marketing, the impression your company makes is comprised of several components.
- Branding: What people see and believe about your company.
- Messaging: How well you communicate with your target personas.
- Content: What and how much you have to say, and how compelling it is.
- Value: The perceived worth of the products, services or content offered.
- Reputation: Generally held opinions about what it's like to do business with you.
- Convenience: How easy your website is to use, and how smartly you've employed custom apps.
A quality customer experience does not happen by accident, and unfortunately for small- to medium-sized businesses, traditional marketing and advertising agencies, and the vast majority of website design firms, don't have a clue how important it is. In Customer Experience Edge, authors Soudagar, Iyer and Holdebrand say that the customer experience edge:
- Differentiates a company from its competitors.
- Is difficult for competitors to replicate.
- Uses well-designed foundational and disruptive technologies.
- Accomplished its goals in a cost-effective, scalable, flexible, and sustainable manner that leads to profitability.
So how important is it to create an amazing inbound customer experience? In this experienced economy, in a world rapidly turning to the internet for decision-making information, it's the difference between failure and success—between surviving and thriving. The real question is: How much effort are you expending to make sure your inbound customer experience is amazing?
