How to Grow Your Tech Company
Startup companies looking to make their mark on the industry need to look no further than empowering their customers. It’s the age of customer empowerment, and companies that can put their customers’ wants first are going to win business against their competitors.
The longer a business spends at the top of the industry, the more complacent it becomes. They dominate market share and stop feeling the need to make their customers feel like they come first. That makes them vulnerable to upstart companies that are ready to shake things up and respond to changing behaviors and demands from consumers.
These tips will help your organization respond to what consumers today want and how you can empower them.
Identify Changing Expectations
Customer expectations are constantly changing, but the evolution of technology and the aftermath of the pandemic have dramatically accelerated what customers expect from the companies they decide to spend with.
Modern-day consumers have plenty of choices, and they want both simple and fast service. Companies that can satisfy their higher expectations are going to rapidly gobble up market share.
Use Technology to Put Customers First
Consumers today want tech-enabled solutions that make their lives easier and put more power in their hands. They expect answers without having to wait and often without having to ask. They also want technology that’s going to speed up the process, save them money, and help them make more informed decisions about their spending.
Look no further than real estate startup Nobul for a great example of new technology putting more power in consumers’ hands. The company is a dynamic digital marketplace connecting home buyers and sellers with real estate agents. Nobul has turned the power relationship on its head, using a model where real estate agents send proposals to prospective clients who then get their pick of agents, choosing service levels and fees that fit their goals.
Founder and CEO Regan McGee says of how the platform puts consumers in the driver’s seat, “We created the world’s first open and digital marketplace where every real estate agent from every agency can compete against one another to represent buyers and sellers.”
In an interview with Yahoo! Finance, McGee explains that “if you’re looking to buy or sell real estate, you could come on our platform, put in some basic information about yourself, and agents from all the different brokerages will compete against one another to represent you.”
Useful, Easy, and Enjoyable Customer Experiences
There are three pillars to creating a customer experience that will win over business:
- The experience is useful and addresses real customer needs.
- The experience is easy, with no frustrations or pain points.
- The experience is enjoyable and emotionally engaging.
As customer expectations increase, it’s more important than ever that startup companies strive to always revolutionize that journey.
As customers become increasingly used to a better experience, the innovative becomes the status quo. Expectations change, and that puts the onus on organizations to always improve the process they created.
When customers feel as though their expectations have been met, it pays off. PWC found that a great customer experience puts a 16% price premium on products and services. Customers were far more likely to wind up spending money with companies that made them feel valued, while bad experiences drove customers away far more rapidly than most businesses anticipated. Over half of all customers were willing to walk away after more than one bad experience.
This article has been published in accordance with Socialnomics’ disclosure policy.
