Broadcasting
Three Reasons Why Customer Experience isn’t Just About Existing Customers
By Hyther Nizam, President MEA, Zoho Corporation
In today’s hyperconnected world, a bad shopping experience can drive a potential consumer to a competitor. While product and pricing used to be sufficient to separate a business from its competitors, this is no longer the case. Today’s consumers place a premium on speed, convenience, and professional and friendly service.
According to a 2018 PwC survey, consumers are willing to pay a premium for an amazing customer experience, and disgruntled customers are much more inclined to transfer their business elsewhere than to seek to remedy a terrible experience.
When people talk about customer experience, they frequently refer to existing customers. After all, it is substantially easier to market new products and services to existing clients than it is to acquire new ones. This is not to say that businesses should focus exclusively on existing customers. It is important for business growth to gain new clients, and customer experience (CX) plays a critical part in this process.
Optimise experiences for repeat customers
Remember that CX encompasses the totality of a customer’s journey (or journeys) with a brand or business. That means organisations have to understand what a customer experiences, right from the moment they feel the need to purchase and notice available options, to the subsequent research they do, zero in on your product/service, and make their final buy. Beyond this, organisations need equally to ensure that each part of the journey is optimised to draw in new customers and retain their loyalty post-purchase with a delightful after-sales experience that turns them into repeat customers.
A potential customer enters the experience economy the moment he/she feels a psychological need for a product/service and decides to act on it. For organisations, this is the first organic CX touch-point. In today’s digital world, this touch-point can take the form of online advertising, appealing SEO-optimised websites, video testimonials, live chat, and sign-up forms. It’s clear that a good CX begins with impact-driven content that helps prospects find their way to what you have to offer.
It’s additionally important to remember that, while we might once have thought of the customer journey as linear, it’s increasingly obvious that this is not the case. A potential customer may go on tangents, get distracted and take breaks, and change the channels they’re using for research or to sign up as a customer. Organisations have to be able to cater to this non-linear approach while providing a consistently good experience if they’re going to keep attracting new customers.
Consider the generational shift in CX plans
Organisations also need to be cognizant of the fact that there’s a generational shift when it comes to customer experience. A recent survey shows, for example, that 51% of the Gen Z respondents ranked social media presence as the second highest factor, after “providing superior product/service quality”, for brands to maintain relevance; on the other hand, only 13% of Baby Boomers listed social media presence; moreover, 78% of Gen Z buyers said they research or look at customer reviews most of the time before purchasing from a new brand. Gen Zs are also more likely to identify “not being able to find the information I need online” as one of the most egregious examples of bad customer experience. Younger customers are additionally more likely to use community forums, in-app messaging, and webchat.
It’s pivotal, therefore, for organisations to understand this generational shift and bake it into their CX strategies. This helps design a well-rounded approach that’s considerate of traditional practices but at the same time forward-looking, which ensures that organisations don’t get left behind. To achieve this balance, organisations should look to move towards a true omnichannel approach, which provides seamless, high-quality experiences within, between, and across channels.
Build exceptional digital experiences
Research from Gartner shows that today, nearly half of customers can’t tell the difference between most brands’ digital experiences (DX), and as a result, 58% of customers also believe that DX does not impact what they end up buying. However, according to Gartner, a course-changing DX can positively impact brand preference by 37% and behavioural advocacy by 54%.
Customers expect brands to meet them where they are and creating digital experiences enables businesses to engage with potential new customers in meaningful ways. Digital experiences can help companies stay ahead of their competition and thrive in an ever-changing environment by providing 24/7 customer service and support and tailored offerings and interactions.
Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) has established six committees to help strengthen and modernize the country’s broadcasting industry.
The committees will focus on content creation, skills development, digital transformation, sustainability, policy and commercial opportunities
The initiative aims to support industry growth and improve collaboration between broadcasters, regulators and media experts
The official launch recently, was led by Tony Akiotu, president, BON and attended by media professionals, program directors, former journalists and heads of specialized media organizations.
The event brought together several prominent figures in Nigeria’s media industry, including veteran broadcaster and trainer Bimbo Oloyede, Tony Uyah of M4S TV, Kingsley Uranta of Channels Television, Ismael Sani of Platinum TV and Ibrahim Shehu of Trust TV.
Together, they are expected to help drive innovation and support the growth of Nigeria’s broadcasting sector.
According to Akiotu, the committees are intended both to help shape industry policy and to provide a forum for dialogue between BON and broadcasting experts.
Akiotu said the ad hoc committees were intended to strengthen BON’s work and ensure that the umbrella body for Nigeria’s broadcasters played a more direct and meaningful role in developing the country’s broadcasting sector.
The six committees reflect the sector’s main priorities. The first focuses on collaboration and innovation to promote content creation.
The second is dedicated to training and talent development, while the third focuses on industry sustainability by improving the sector’s long-term financial viability.
A fourth committee will focus on digital transformation and work with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on regulatory issues.
The remaining two committees will oversee public policy advocacy and the development of sports and commercial rights to help broadcasters increase revenue and attract more investment. Together, the committees are expected to guide BON’s efforts to modernize and strengthen Nigeria’s broadcasting industry.
The committees, chaired by members of BON’s General Assembly and supported by the organization’s Secretariat, have an initial 12-month mandate that may be renewed if necessary.
They are required to submit a progress report within three months and implement approved recommendations within the following six months.
The arrangement is intended to ensure close oversight and the timely implementation of their work.
Akiotu also reminded committee members that Nigeria pioneered television broadcasting in Africa and urged them to carry out their work with greater effectiveness and efficiency.
Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) says it is investigating about 34 tertiary institutions over allegations that they failed to refund students whose tuition fees were paid twice under the Federal Government’s student loan scheme.
The Managing Director of NELFUND, Mr Akintunde Sawyerr, disclosed this during an interview on Arise Television.
Sawyerr said the agency had deployed a five-member investigative team, including operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and internal auditors, to examine the allegations.
According to him, the investigation was prompted by numerous complaints received from affected students.
“As of right now, there are 34 institutions that we are looking at closely with respect to this issue,” he said.
Sawyerr explained that the double payment issue arose because President Bola Tinubu directed that the student loan scheme commence in the middle of an academic session instead of at the beginning.
He said the decision compelled many students to pay their tuition fees to meet registration deadlines while awaiting approval of their loan applications.
“What happened is that a lot of schools got double payment; some from the students and some from us,” he said.
“The refund process is entirely out of our hands. It is the recipient of the double payments that is obliged to make refunds to the students.”
The NELFUND boss noted that many students had borrowed money from family members, friends and other sources to pay their tuition with the expectation of receiving refunds once the loans were disbursed.
He said while some institutions had promptly refunded affected students, others had failed to do so.
“Some have been very good at this. Others haven’t been so good at it,” Sawyerr said.
“I reserve judgement on the intentionality around it because, for some of them, they just didn’t have the process to make refunds.”
Sawyerr disclosed that NELFUND was exploring a tokenised payment system that would enable students to authorise tuition payments directly to their institutions, thereby reducing the likelihood of duplicate payments.
He said the agency deliberately chose not to disburse tuition loans directly to students to minimise the risk of fund diversion.
“Paying the funds to the students could really lead to the temptation for them to divert and do other things,” he said.
The managing director, however, acknowledged that NELFUND lacked the statutory powers to compel institutions to refund students or prosecute officials found culpable.
He added that many frustrated students had submitted complaints not only to NELFUND but also to anti-corruption agencies, including the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Sawyerr also expressed concern over increases in tuition fees by some institutions following the introduction of the student loan scheme.
He said NELFUND had declined to pay institutions that increased their tuition fees beyond acceptable levels.
“Some schools, because they get paid easily, started to put up their fees. We refused, point blank, to pay institutions who had hiked their fees beyond a certain level,” he said.
He reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to investigating every reported irregularity and strengthening the implementation of the student loan programme through continuous monitoring and internal reviews.
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