expert opinion
EXPERT OPINION
Michelle de Haaff Vice President of Marketing Medallia’s new ebook author Michelle de Haaff leads marketing at Medallia and has 20 years of experience working in customer experience related software and services companies. Before Medallia, she was CMO and VP of Products at Attensity, a voice of the customer analytics company. Previously, she worked at AdSpace Networks as the VP of Marketing, at Blue Martini Software leading Product Management, at Levi Strauss & Company as the Director of eCommerce and as a Manager in Ernst & Young’s CRM Practice.
Higher retention - defraying the cost of acquiring new customers Even the best companies make mistakes in how they deliver their customer experience. If these mistakes go unnoticed for too long, even the smallest are enough to make customers leave for good. And those customers might share their bad experiences with others. But if you’re able to identify problems and respond quickly to resolve them, you’ll be able to improve customer retention — meaning marketing and sales don’t have to eat up your entire budget in an effort to bring on new customers to support net growth. Your customer acquisition plan can be more strategic, focusing efficiently on the untapped segments that are most important to you instead of keeping a “leaky bucket” full.
Higher profitable revenue growth Across industries, happy customers tend to spend more. This trend seems obvious for subscription-based companies, where happy customers are likely to stay around for longer. But transaction-based companies enjoy the same benefits, with the happiest customers spending as much as 140% more than the least satisfied ones, according to a recent Medallia study.
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Happy customers are often driven towards higher-margin products as well. For example, a gym member who’s happy with the service she’s getting would be much more likely than a dissatisfied member to sign up for extra classes and personal training — which are more profitable for the gym than basic membership.
Lower costs to hire and train new employees Employees on your frontline enjoy their jobs more when they deal with happy customers. Happy employees stay with your company longer, meaning you spend less time and money hiring and training replacements. But if employees feel weighed down by inconsistent or ill-considered customer experience rules, their dissatisfaction will make them move on sooner — and in greater numbers. These customer experience benefits will resonate long after you’ve finished pitching your CFO. If your data and proof points are truly relevant to your organisation, your CFO might not just sign off on them. She might become your biggest customer experience champion of all. To learn more about the financial benefits of customer experience—and how some of the world’s leading brands are realising them right now—download Medallia’s ebook:
ISSUE SIXTEEN • SEPTEMBER 2014