One of the best ways to build brand credibility is to understand a customer's journey and build long-term relationships with them.

Here, industry professionals have explained five ways how they meet the needs of their customers:

1. Always look for the next pain point and solve it

According to Aisha Pandor, co-founder of SweepSouth (Africa's largest on-demand home services platform), if you truly want to make a difference with your business, you must always be on the lookout for the next pain point.

By doing so, Pandor says, you'll soon make an impact.

"At SweepSouth empowerment means earning higher than market rates and giving people the power to choose who they take work from, where and at times that suit them," says Pandor.

"As such, empowerment is also about connectivity, and technology is one of the most important enablers of connectivity. Through our platform, we wanted to leverage that potential to ensure that domestic workers and other home service providers are able to connect with as many work opportunities in the most convenient way possible," Pandor adds.

2. Build engagement with customers

It's no secret that we live in a time of unprecedented technological acceleration.

Nowhere is that more true than in the customer experience space. Things that 10 years ago seemed completely impossible are now commonplace and almost expected.

"Many organisations want to make changes in line with accelerations in technology and customer experiences, but the range of options available out there stops them from even starting (or worse), they settle for an option that they deem to be 'good enough'," says Brent Haumann, managing director at digital communications firm Tilte.

However, as technology accelerates, so do customer expectations. What was considered good enough yesterday is not good enough for tomorrow. It is critical, then, that organisations aim to meet and even exceed these expectations because if they don't, their competitors will happily oblige.

"The problem is that engaging customers is not about sending an email or introducing a chatbot. Anyone can do that. It's about how to get your customers to actually engage with your brand and build a loyal relationship that will see their customer lifetime value grow. This is a lot more difficult and requires expertise in these spaces," adds Haumann.

3. Enhance the user experience

While the use of technology to streamline customer-facing processes is an integral part of SME growth, the user experience of such technology can often become a pain point for the business if the right tool is not chosen.

"While SMEs need technology to reduce manual tasks and automate repetitive processes, complicated software packages and platforms can be more of a hindrance than a help," says Andrew Bourne, regional manager of Africa at Zoho Corporation.

"In fact, as many as 70% of startups fail within the first five years, according to research from the University of the Western Cape, because they don't have the technical support they need to get the basics done," adds Bourne.

Integrated, seamless solutions need to meet the needs of the user, regardless of the scale of the business. This means having a full-featured customer relationship management (CRM) system that will improve the user experience and enhance customer service.

4. Provide access across borders

It's no secret that mobile money has revolutionised the financial services industry, allowing individuals to transact within and across borders. 

This is opening up a world of possibilities for small business owners on the continent. However, there are consumer pain points such as:
  • a lack of access to financial services
  • high transaction costs
  • regulatory requirements that still hurt interoperability, and
  • the cross-border payments innovations that are key for scaling access across Africa.

Remittances, for example, are important to African countries, but the cost of intra-African money transfers still remains high.

In South Africa, the average cost of sending remittances was 8.14% in 2020 as against the global average remittance fee of 6.01%.

Not only are billions lost to high transaction costs, but they also limit financial inclusion and aid to the vulnerable.

MFS Africa has been driving the next step in this revolution, addressing this pain point by bringing more possibilities, more connections and more interoperability to the mobile money user.

5. Harness technology to enhance the experience

"Solving the customer's pain point is the foundation of a great customer experience. And experience is everything. We know that more consumers and business buyers are noting that the experience companies offer matters as much as their products," says Zuko Mdwaba, area vice president of Salesforce South Africa.

This is all about meeting the customer where they are. Today, customers' use of social media, knowledge bases and live chat is near parity with phone and email. With the decline of in-person service since 2020 showing little sign of recovery, the use of mobile apps, online communities and video support has seen massive expansion over the past two years.

Mdwaba says, "Given the rising importance of digital channels, strengthening partnerships between service and IT departments is often key to breaking down data silos, saving on software cost, agent empowerment and resulting in faster time-to-market for new technology solutions."

By investing in advanced technology, organisations can address customer pain points effectively to achieve greater customer satisfaction, which ultimately boosts engagement and revenue.

For more information, visit www.irvinepartners.co.za. You can also follow Irvine Partners on Facebook or on Twitter.