Talking UX with Gerry McGovern: Understanding customers and how to build sustainable relationships
A growing interest among marketers and entrepreneurs is getting a deeper understanding of their customers. We talked at GPeC SUMMIT about this trend with Gerry McGovern, founder and CEO of Customer Carewords, and he shared some insights about how big names in e-commerce build sustainable customer relationships and maintain customer loyalty.
Gerry tells us that he noticed a growing need to deliver a quality experience for the customers coming from entrepreneurs, following the model of big names such as Google, Apple and Amazon. ”People want to know about methods and techniques that can get a deeper understanding of the customer” Gerry tells us. He also reveals that the relationship a company builds with their clients is a powerful differentiator between them and their competitors.
Developing a healthy relationship with the customers should be an ongoing process in which companies are constantly in conversation with them, spending time listening to their needs and also bringing the customer in the process of refining the product. Dedicating time in following up with the customer experience, gathering feedback and learning for it, is an ability that can drive brands to success. As Gerry states it: ”all the clever companies today design with their customers, not for their customers” and he stresses this should be part of the company culture and must start from the owner: ”it starts at the top, but it should be everybody’s job”.
Gerry also told us that one major mistake online businesses make is ”thinking that you know best, making decisions based on opinion, not evidence”. But how can an online shop know what is relevant to their customers? You build relevant content by observing the customer’s behaviour, by constantly testing and refining the website based on consumer feedback, instead of senior management opinion. All the big names in e-commerce use this strategy; Amazon, for example, “has around 3
00-400 pages in testing and changes its website every 12 seconds”, Gerry shares with us.
There is a tendency to focus on new conversions and forget about long term customers. Successful entities like Amazon and Google Prime reward longevity for current customers while many companies tend to forget about them and therefore lose some of the loyal customers. Online businesses should adapt their websites custom to the type of customers that visit them, so that current customers know that they care about them, that they still matter and therefore continue to stay engaged and loyal.
Check out the full interview on our YouTube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe to the GPeC YouTube Channel for more interviews, insights and live transmissions.
GPeC 2019 is an event powered by FAN Courier
Gold Partner: VTEX
Brought to you by: Orange
Event supported by: Cora, DHL, DPD, DWF, eMAG Marketplace, Frisbo, GTS, Luigi’s Box, New Black, Oracle
Official radio station: Kiss FM
Official hosting provider: Hosterion
Limousine Service: City Limo