Value Enhancement: The Key to Robust Value Realization

How improving customer perception of value delivered boosts loyalty and retention

Many times, when we talk about value realization, we focus on the business outcomes of a product or service, quantifying its tangible benefits in order to prove its business impact. But value is ultimately about perception, which means that there are ways to realize value without altering anything about the way the product itself works. Perception is reality, after all.

By improving how customers perceive your product, you can increase both their satisfaction and loyalty. This is what Gartner called value enhancement in a recent study.

Loyalty and Customer Satisfaction

In uncertain economic times, customer loyalty matters. When customers are loyal, they renew subscriptions. Your company’s NRR goes up, and the money that would have been spent bringing in new customers can be used for other purposes. Customer satisfaction is a key driver of loyalty. When customers think a product is doing a good job for them, they continue to invest in the product and their relationship with your company.

The challenge here is that sometimes customer satisfaction doesn’t always map directly to product performance. While your product may be doing what it is supposed to do, if that value is not inherently clear to the customer, they may not feel satisfied and could be more likely to churn. To improve customer satisfaction, it is necessary to make sure every customer understands exactly how the product is benefiting them by sharing specific measures from value-enhancing platforms like the Value Realization capabilities within ValueCloud.

Low-Effort Value Enhancement Strategies are the Most Successful

Customer loyalty can also be increased by using value enhancement strategies that leave customers feeling that they can use the product better and are more confident in their purchase decision. But, it’s important to remember that your customers are busy, so whatever strategies are employed, they should be quick and easy. A recent Gartner report indicates that when value enhancement strategies are done in a low-effort manner, the chances of customers staying with the company is 61%, but when they are done in a high-effort manner, the chances plummet to 37%. The big takeaway: if you make them work for it, they won’t feel nearly as satisfied.

1. Educate customers on better uses of the product. Rather than focusing on how customers have been using the product incorrectly, it is more effective to motivate them by teaching them how to use it best.
2. Advise customers of additional capabilities of the product that they may not have been taking full advantage of. More functionality often translates to more value.
3. Confirm that the product fits the customers’ needs. Often the customer just needs reassurance that their purchase decisions were the right ones. This is where tools like Value Realization can have a significant impact. Showing customers the value delivered and using these conversations to identify ways their needs may have grown can help strengthen the relationship and their loyalty to your product.

Taking Value Enhancement to the Next Level

As customer success teams become burdened with more and more responsibilities, the best way to enhance value is to automate the process. This is where tools like Value Realization have a critical advantage. These tools enable users to leverage existing data sources to implement value-enhancement strategies for customers. Value Realization enables your team to identify the strongest opportunities for value enhancement by filtering by issue type, customer segment, and other parameters.

The impact is measurable: effective value enhancement increases retention, wallet share, and positive word of mouth. Customers are satisfied and loyal to your product. A little bit of reassurance, information, and training can go a long way. Sometimes the key to value realization is providing that proactive human touch.