Internet Retailer 2006 – Customer experience is everything

I’m sitting in the airport in Chicago (I love Chicago, its one of my favorite cities, but truth be told I have a real hatred for their airport) on my way home from the Internet Retailer Conference. It was an intense couple of days, with a star studded lineup of speakers including people like Seth Radwell (scholastic.com), Lisa Dyson (Famous Footwear), Lynnette Montgomery (Levenger), John Bresee (backcountry.com), Lauren Freedman (the e-tailing group), Noah Maffitt (Office Depot) and Howard Tong (newegg.com) - Some very impressive people, driving strategy at some very impressive companies. All progressive individuals, all leaders in their own way…all sending the same underlying message: The Customer Experience is everything!

They all spoke from the perspective of their own discipline, but the bottom line kept coming back to the same thing; the customer experience has to come first. Whether it comes down to rich media, community, customization and personalization or globalization, all efforts point back to one main important criterion – customer experience is king. If you do not put the customer experience at the for-front of your strategic development efforts, then you will likely not be putting the most important element of success first.

That’s where proper analytics come in. If you aren’t able to properly measure the customer experience online, then you are probably not truly reacting to the needs of your visitors. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the customer experience, with precise and consistent measurement, is the key to making sure your developments efforts are having a positive impact on customer satisfaction.

In short: Measuring and understanding the experience is as critical as creating the experience in the first place.