The new "flighty customer"

As we all know, creating happy customers has never been more important than it is today. With near-universal communication over digital networks, customers have a vast range of choice, and they are quick to abandon organisations who don’t offer a unique value proposition. In the ‘Age of the Customer’, digital technologies and economic changes have combined to put customers in charge of what they buy, when they buy it and from whom. Less attached to particular service providers, this new ‘flighty customer’ has been shaped by a combination of changes, only some of which are linked to technology:

The wider availability of information means that customers are more likely to be aware of competing offers, either through competitors’ online activity or through social media.
New suppliers in many fields are less burdened by the cost of running a bricks-and-mortar channel. They can undercut incumbent providers and differentiate themselves by bundling products to appeal to different segments of the market.
The availability of online sales and service has made it easier to switch and has even created an opening for specialist brokers to help customers identify and locate the services they need.
Competitors have reduced the quality gap, providing more affordable items of similar or slightly reduced quality at a more attractive price point; as well as appealing to a wider range of people.

As I discuss in my book Good to Great CX, with the advent of the digital and economic changes in the ‘Age of the Customer’, doomsayers predicted the end of world as we know it, instead what we have seen is an evolution in the marketplace, with some organisations adapting and flourishing, while others struggle to embrace the new environment. A common theme across businesses flourishing in this environment has been a holistic approach to a consolidated roadmap from business and technology focusing on meeting the needs of both parties and delivering Good to Great Employee Experience and Customer Experience (EX/CX) outcomes. After the successful feedback we received from the launch of our first series of Good to Great CX training across Australia, we are pleased to announce that Exceed Global will be running a series of new workshops on customer experience for leaders in 2017. For more information, refer to our training article.