In a globalized world, companies have to be aware of what their customers want and need in order to stay competitive. A good customer experience is essential for a customer-focused company.
In Asia, you can find many countries where the population is booming and there is a growing middle class with higher purchasing power. They are also a generation that has been exposed to Western lifestyles from an early age. In this article, we will explore how customer experience can be an asset when it comes to Asian markets, and show you how businesses can use the information they collect from their customers in order to improve their experience.
Customer Experience in Asia
Asian customers are taking the lead in the way they approach businesses. They are becoming more demanding in their expectations, and also more trusting of businesses to take care of them.
In the past, they preferred to interact with local businesses in their country. But today, their priority is no longer the geographical location of the business but the fact that the company and the service provided meets their requirements. For this reason, it is essential for businesses to know what their customers want before the business begins the sales process. Customer data is a big part of every business, but it is also the lifeblood of every customer relationship. It’s important to find out what motivates your customers and find a way to satisfy them.
When you focus on customer experience, you are able to meet people where they are and provide them with an enjoyable experience when visiting your website. Customer experience starts with a firm understanding of your target audience. It requires a lot of research to figure out what your customers need and what motivates them. With customer experience, businesses are able to create a personalized experience and develop personal relationships with their customers.
A lot of Asian companies are already doing this because they have a solid customer base, but they need to improve on their customer experience. They need to adjust their business practices to be mindful of what their customers need and to provide them with value.
Culturally, the differences are quite huge when it comes to Asian markets. Japan, Taiwan and Korea are all countries with a very unique way of doing business. Businesses must have a clear understanding of their target customers and adjust their business model accordingly to their preferences.
There are clear differences when it comes to online or offline, and although these are minor, when you look at this across the entire Asian market, you will notice that there is a definite gap in some sectors.
In Japan, businesses have been able to successfully adjust to this gap in the markets by offering both online and offline services.
Why are Asian customers so important? While global and western customers are largely similar in their tastes and preferences, it is their regional preferences that make the difference in customer experiences. For instance, Japanese consumers are very particular about the information that is conveyed in a product, while the Chinese customer is more about the design.
Building a culture within your customer experience starts with understanding your customers. Understanding your customers’ culture begins with listening to them. Listen to how the customers describe their experience. Are they asking for more or are they frustrated by the process? When you ask the customers for feedback, do you get these things right?
The reason why customer experience designers should focus on customer preferences is because the way customers make choices, the intent behind them, is different than what we are used to.
When a customer has an intention to buy, or when he/she are using the product or service, the intent drives the purchasing decision and most of the times, the purchasing decision is subconscious.
When customers use products, they use it for their purpose.
A simple visual redesign of your website or mobile app can result in a significant improvement in the overall user experience and customer satisfaction. Take the airline travel portal Orbitz, for example, which has been evolving its interfaces to reflect modern and futuristic designs over the years. While this means frequent interface refreshes, it has resulted in increased conversion and revenue. For all of this, it needs to focus on its customers – the ones who are on the frontline of acquiring air tickets.
This sort of continual evolution in customer experience and design has helped companies like Flipkart that invested heavily on improving its customer experience. It rolled out a simplified delivery procedure to ensure that they can deliver their products in a hassle-free way.
Create Content That Showcases The Region
Take a look at how GSK discussed their products in the brochures. The company was able to appeal to its Chinese customers by avoiding the use of English words. Even though Chinese customers preferred the English word, Chinese speakers will understand the wording better if the words are in Chinese.
In the same way, brands should create content that highlights local trends and tastes. The marketing strategies such as influencer marketing should be used in such a way that it aligns with local tastes and preferences. Make sure your content isn’t just another ordinary campaign. It must be relevant to the region and must be done in a manner that won’t make customers feel like an outsider.
The Internet revolution has unleashed great potential for companies in Asia. More consumers are shopping online for convenience and the quick feedback they can get on the products they want to buy.
Yet, in the fast-changing retail industry, it is all about customers’ expectations. They want to experience a much better in-store experience than just being able to buy a product online. In fact, to increase sales, most e-commerce stores incorporate features that generate relevant content for customers such as videos or behind-the-scenes footage from shooting sessions or the development of new products.
For businesses to compete in the digital retail market, customers need to have content and tools that deliver relevant and satisfying customer experiences.
For every retail store, you should focus on how to enhance customer experience in the physical space, whether it is to enhance the product display, or to deliver a rewarding customer experience.
You could consider implementing open, beacons, BLE, embedded radio frequency identification (RFID) or RFID tags or smart labels that allow easy access to customer data. Imagine how much information could be conveyed to a customer by giving him a QR code?
By focusing on your customers and getting to know them, you can improve your customer experience by knowing what makes them tick. The key to success is to know that your customers are individuals who are highly valued and appreciated. You should make it your goal to deliver value to your customers and achieve happy customers.
There’s a saying that goes; you can learn a lot about a person by getting to know their favorite color, food, music, etc. The point is that you should focus on meeting your customers in person and really getting to know them. Although today’s technology makes it possible to stay in contact with customers virtually, you still have to meet them in person, and this is where the customer experience comes into play.
