Do you remember your last visit to a Starbucks outlet before the coronavirus scare took over the world? You walked into the store, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee welcomes you. The silence except for the small humming noise of the coffee machine makes you feel elite and important. You look around the cafe and you see the familiar green colour everywhere that you immediately associate with Starbucks. The chairs, the cushions, the tables seem very comfortable and cosy. You walk up to the counter looking at the beautiful photos on the display menu behind and the barista greets you with a smile and asks you for your preferred beverage. Then after a small waiting period, the same barista calls out your name and you get your drink just as you like it. To add to this, the eco-friendly cup that you just got served in has your name written on it with a small smiley next to it - a picture-perfect moment that you want to share with your friends and family on social media.
Does reading this make you crave for your Starbucks coffee already? That's because Starbucks as a brand is an epitome of Customer experience management, and their ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index) rating for the past 15 years is the proof for it. So what exactly is Customer Experience Management (CEM)?
CEM is a marketing tool used by most industries these days to create interactions between an organization and its customers over the duration of their relationship. CEM can both be applied physically (the Starbucks example) and digitally (marketing, communications, website, apps, etc). This interaction is made up of three parts: the customer journey, the brand touchpoints a customer interacts with, and the environments the customer experiences during their experience. Customer experience implies customer involvement at different levels - such as rational, emotional, sensorial, physical, and spiritual. A good customer experience leads to more engaged customers, brand loyalty, and brand advocacy in their customer base.
So how can your organization apply CEM? What's the best way to develop brand loyalty and advocacy among your target audience? How do you build brand awareness, create effective marketing campaigns, and communicate better with your target audience?
We’ll answer these and many more such questions in the coming weeks in our blog.
Who are we? We are Zlingit, a next-generation marketing platform that enables Companies, Organizations, Events, and Sports Clubs to build stronger relationships with their target audience through the power of engagement. Thanks to personalized communication, gamified marketing, and incentivized-driven activities Zlingit helps brands increase marketing efficiency while generating more and happier customers.