Customer experience is officially the number one differentiator of any business landscape. Studies show that experience-driven businesses achieve more than 1.5 times higher year-over-year growth for customer retention, customer lifetime value, and repeat purchase rates.
At the same time, happier customers lead to improved brand reputation, a higher chance of word-of-mouth referrals, and a better chance of converting new customers. In the manufacturing industry, delivering exceptional customer experience can be complex because there are so many different types of consumers to consider.
Manufacturing brands frequently find themselves dealing with everyone from wholesale distributors to big-box retailers and end customers, and new go-to-market models are emerging all the time.
Fortunately, any manufacturing brand can generate incredible results by embedding CX solutions into their business strategy. Here are just some of the top use cases for CX tools in manufacturing for 2023.
1. Build Stronger Teams
Exceptional teams are the backbone of successful companies. If you want to ensure you’re delivering an amazing customer experience, you need to ensure your employees have all the tools they need to thrive in any landscape. Various CX solutions are available to help empower teams and drive improved performance today.
For instance, workforce optimization tools can help keep track of manufacturing engineers and specialists wherever they are, while CCaaS technology empowers these employees with the tools they need to reach out to customers and answer complex questions. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools can also help manufacturing teams to deliver a more personalised level of service to every type of customer in the manufacturing landscape.
A comprehensive set of CX tools, combined with the right training solutions, makes sure employees are engaged, well-supported, and ready to tackle any customer service challenge.
2. Provide More Personalised Experiences
Hyper personalisation is a crucial trend in every industry today – including the manufacturing sector. Around 91% of customers say they prefer to shop with companies that offer recommendations and offers relevant to their needs. To deliver this level of service, manufacturing companies need access to the right tools.
In a manufacturing landscape, where companies are usually dealing with valuable and lucrative long-term relationships with B2B brands, understanding the needs of each customer is crucial. A CRM environment where agents can track customer relationships over time will be crucial.
It’s also important to think about how your agents can personalise the experience for the customer by delivering service through their preferred channel (Such as video or chat). A CCaaS solution can help with this. The more information you collect about your target audience, the more you’ll be able to build a customized service and support strategies to suit their needs.
3. Explore New Sales Models
There are various ways for today’s manufacturing companies to take their products and services to market, from wholesale selling to direct-to-customer options. Around 40% of US consumers said they made Direct-to-Consumer purchases in 2020, and opportunities in this area are growing post-pandemic. There’s also the rise of concepts like manufacturing marketplaces to be aware of and the budding idea of “servitization” and maintenance as a service as an extra source of income.
All of these new revenue options can provide valuable opportunities for manufacturing brands to increase their profits and connect with new customers.