How a Customer Experience Audit Can Help Grow Your Business
Your customer’s user experience (CX) is one of the things that affects how they feel about your brand. It’s the experience they have when they interact with your product or service – and how well you meet their needs in the moment. A customer experience audit breaks down your user’s journey step-by-step – from the moment they first become aware of your offer, through to the point at which they may need help, service, or maintenance – and asks, “How can we make each step easy, helpful and enjoyable?”
Why perform a customer experience audit?
On a macro level, a good user experience increases trust in your overall brand. On a micro level, you can miss a sale because you didn’t provide an easy link, or asked your user to do too much to get to their goal. Multiply that by many users and you’ve got a bigger issue.
An audit of your customer experience can identify gaps in your processes, opportunities to increase sales, and help you grow a loyal customer base. Most people will choose – and repeat – the experience that is well-designed, enjoyable, and easy.
Lots of businesses conduct digital audits – website, social and newsletter audits – probably because the analytical tools are right in front of them, but auditing the entire customer journey (or buyer’s journey) means stepping into your customer’s shoes, testing the experience you offer at key touch points, and comparing your results to any industry benchmarks.
“CX means thinking about all of the ways a customer might use a thing or service. It’s your job, as a business, to provide a way for them to move forward.”
Start your CX audit with a map of your customers’ journey
To map your customers’ journey to see where it can be improved, you need to understand who your different customers are, the context in which they are coming to you (what are their pain points, needs, and goals), and where they are interacting with your brand. Visualize them searching for and using your product or service, and map each step they go through to get to their goal.
Plenty has been written on mapping customer journeys, but you can start just by thinking about these four questions:
Who are my different, potential users?
Why are they interested in this product or service / what are their goals?
What are the key touch points where they interact with my brand?
How can I make their experience easier, more helpful, and more enjoyable at each touch point? What do they need and value at each step?
How can I make their experience easier, more helpful, and more enjoyable at each touch point? What do they need and value at each step?
Test your customer’s experience at every touch point
The next step is to test the experience yourself. Start interacting with your brand, product or service at your customer’s first touch point – often it’s a Google search. See how easy you are to find, engage with the chat or contact functions on your website, and try buying your product online. Assess your communication: do you receive notices about items left in cart, delivery times or a thank you? Is the next step clear? Open your packaging, read the instructions, and try returning your product.
Go through the same “hands on” test procedure with anything that requires your target audience to apply, enter or register: classes, giveaways, contests, and employee hiring. Our pet peeves include asking users to do too much work (should I have to “comment” in order to get a link to buy?) and unclear calls to action (what do I do next?).
Check whether your online experience flows seamlessly to the on-site experience by becoming a secret shopper. For example, if you have an online ordering system with in-store pickup, is the fast, efficient nature of your app replicated in-store, or is pick-up disorganized and slow?
Building customer relationships leads to opportunities and growth
Thinking about the broader user experience can lead to opportunities. One of our homebuilding clients, Kemp Construction, puts QR codes on site signage where they are building energy-efficient homes. Curious passersby can scan the codes to learn about the projects. Relationship-building with a wider category of users has helped Kemp attract more potential customers to their website.
Our local sushi restaurant stores your most recent order so that you can quickly reorder the same meal. They also send you an email about a week after your last order, thanking you, and prompting you to order again when you feel hungry. They’ve thought about what’s involved in placing an order for sushi, made it as easy as possible, and invested in their customer relationships.
“Keeping information for your regular customers is treating them like a friend.”
Indalma can help you audit your digital and on-site experiences
We know how challenging it can be to apply your brand to its full potential across all customer and employee touch points. If you need help evaluating the user experience in any area of your business or organization, from your website and social media, to your external and internal processes, to the on-site customer experience you offer, please give us a call. As part of our brand consulting services, we offer brand, website and experience audits.
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