CX tools are dominating the software space. In fact, according to Capterra, there are over 300 different customer experience tools currently on the market.
This isn’t surprising, considering customer experience is becoming a more important metric year after year. This is because, within most industries, customers have more than one (sometimes dozens) of similar options to choose from right at their fingertips.
More and more, customer experience is the differentiator that helps companies edge out the competition. In fact, 89% of companies report they are competing on customer experience alone. Investing in CX is a wise strategy. Unfortunately, too many companies make a critical mistake: They adopt more CX tools than they really need.
When you know how important customer experience is, it can be tempting to enlist the help of as many CX tools as you can. You might think that using all the latest resources will give you a competitive advantage. However, research has shown that the opposite is true.
Instead of using 10 or more CX tools, it’s better to go all in on a few that work best for your company. In this article, we’re sharing why a few CX tools are better than many.
Let’s start with the benefits of selecting a few CX tools.
1. You will become an expert on CX tools
When you focus on just a few CX tools, you can become an expert in each one. That means that you can take advantage of the tool’s lesser-known but exciting capabilities. When you have many tools in use, it’s probable that you’ll only use them at a surface level. Ultimately, the major adoption of a CX tool leads to higher satisfaction levels with the tool throughout your company.
2. Integration with company-wide systems will be easier
Constantly adding new CX tools to the mix makes it unnecessarily difficult to integrate them with your operational systems. This may mean that you’ll only use a tool for a single project or single team, instead of company-wide. That leaves your company less unified and more disorganized. With a few key CX tools, you can make sure that every department in your company has the same access to every software.
3. Onboarding new employees will be fast and cost-effective
Customer experience is so much more than just customer service. The customer experience happens at every stage of the customer journey, not just when the customer reaches out for help. That means that every employee has a role in customer experience, and they should all be trained in how to use your CX tools.
If you use 10 or more tools for customer experience, your onboarding process for new employees will be slower and more complex. This can lead to lower employee satisfaction—and a longer, more costly training process.
4. Customer communication will be more consistent across platforms
Maintaining a consistent voice and level of service across communication channels with your customers is key to cultivating a trustworthy brand. 60% of millennial consumers now expect consistency wherever they interact with your company.
For example, if customers find that they’re being communicated with differently on social media versus over the phone, it’s likely that they will lose some trust in your company’s authenticity. They might wonder which version of your company is the real version. When you implement dozens of different CX tools, a discrepancy in communication (and therefore in the customer experience as a whole) is inevitable. With just a few, you can easily monitor and correct for inconsistencies.
5. You will save money
According to Blissfully, the average medium-sized company spends $20,000 a month on SaaS. That can be a significant portion of some companies’ budgets. A major opportunity to reduce your software spending is to be more strategic about which CX tools you bring in. Using fewer tools that work well for your company means that you’ll be spending less overall and getting more function out of every dollar.
Which CX tools should you focus on?
Narrowing down from many to just a few CX tools can be a challenging decision. Here are two customer experience trends that should guide which ones you adopt this year.
Choose CX tools that can help you personalize the customer experience
The trend toward personalization in every customer interaction doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. 69% of customers prefer personalized experiences, but only 40% of brands currently offer any kind of personalization. That means it’s is a huge opportunity for your company to stand out when it comes to customer experience.
Just make sure you’re not too personalized, which can turn customers off. To avoid inadvertently alarming customers, rely on customer feedback to know when and how they want personalized communication.
Choose CX tools with chatbot technology
Use a chatbot elevate your customer experience. Chatbots can answer immediately at any time of day. That means no customer is left waiting for a response to their query. Chatbots can completely eliminate the need for most people to talk to customer service, saving them stress and anxiety.
Less is more for CX tools
As you’re focusing more on your customer experience, resist the urge to adopt more CX tools than you really need. At first glance, it might seem like you need many tools that each deal with a different piece of the customer experience puzzle, but if you take the time to explore a tool thoroughly, you’ll often find that it can handle a larger part of the customer experience than you expected.
As you’ve read here, there are many clear advantages to keeping your CX tool repertoire small. You’ll find that cutting back on the number of CX tools you use leads to a better experience, not only for your customers but also for you and your team members.
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