Customer intent: The Key to Future-Proofing Your Organisation
Understanding what matters most to your customers cannot be overstated as a fundamental business strategy, not just during challenging economic times. In an era where customer choices are vast, and competition is fierce, knowing what your customers genuinely want and need becomes the key to resilience and growth. It's not just about selling a product or service; it's about solving a problem, fulfilling a need, or enhancing your customers' lives in meaningful ways.
While it's natural for businesses to adapt to the prevailing economic conditions, the focus should remain on strategic resilience rather than short-term survival. Economic cycles ebb and flow, but what remains constant is the consumer’s expectation for quality service and memorable experiences. This sentiment is supported by a recent Forrester study, which correlates better customer experiences (CX) with higher revenue growth.
Our experience, working alongside some of the most respected brands in New Zealand and Australia since 2005, has shown us that an impactful CX strategy does not have to be overly complex or expensive. It starts with listening to your customers.
As always, everyone is looking for cost-effective strategies to differentiate themselves. We get asked the same questions: How do we prioritise what to do with our budget? How do we decide to invest in the things that truly matter? Where will we get our biggest bang for buck?
Marketing and digital teams are always under pressure to deliver results, with competing priorities and opinions, limited budgets and tight deadlines.
More often than not, they turn to analytics and voice-of-customer (VOC) platforms to make crucial decisions around experience improvements and product roadmap prioritisation. However, these tools, while powerful, can sometimes lead to misinterpretations if not used with a clear understanding of their limitations and capabilities.
For example, despite its popularity, Net Promoter Score (NPS) offers limited insights into actual customer behaviour or the underlying reasons for their feedback. Someone might say they’re highly likely to promote your product or brand in a survey, but what guarantees they’ll do that? And how do you know if they have promoted it? And if they do, will they promote it to everyone they know? Or just their partner? Colleague? Teammates? Parents? Grandparents!?
NPS founder Fred Reichheld says, “Too many companies are sloppy about how they ask the question, including asking it at inopportune times, asking it too frequently or using it as a relationship question to grade employees”.
Similarly, default analytics tools like Google Analytics or Hotjar provide data on user actions but fall short of explaining the intentions behind those actions. They do a great job of showing you what people did on your website, but they don’t give you any real insight into what they were trying to do or whether they could complete the task they came for.
Heatmaps, bounce rates, dwell time and most visited content aren’t outcomes. And while rage-clicking will tell you someone is frustrated, it won’t tell you why.
A good CX should be built on trust and customer outcomes
Customer intent matters. Knowing what someone is trying to do and understanding if they can do it with minimal fuss, blockers, or pain points—that’s the insight that matters.
Top Tasks Management is one solution we have used at Catch for many years. Top Tasks is a human-centred research technique developed by Gerry McGovern to manage the online customer experience by identifying and improving what matters most to customers, ensuring that organisational goals align with delivering a seamless online experience. By prioritising these top tasks, businesses can enhance their information architecture, improve UX design, and implement effective digital strategies.
Embracing a customer-centric approach, especially one grounded in understanding and facilitating the completion of key tasks, can dramatically improve how organisations configure and optimise their digital ecosystems. It enables the development of UX metrics that provide actionable insights, leading to better investment decisions and a more satisfying customer journey.
As businesses navigate through varying economic landscapes, focusing on customer outcomes remains a beacon for driving growth and satisfaction. It's not just about weathering a recession; it's about seizing opportunities to excel in customer service and experience, which are pivotal in any economic climate.
If enhancing your organisation's resilience through a focused understanding of customer intent interests you, we're here to help. Reach out to hamish@catchdesign.co.nz to explore how we can support your goals.