Local experience

Customer experiences are redefining local marketing strategies online and off, challenging brands to connect meaningfully across platforms, devices, and channels at every stage of the buyer’s journey. The local experience (LX) – a term we use to describe the intersection of local marketing and customer experience – often begins online, in search results, before a customer ever sets foot inside a store or office. The LX and your customer’s first interaction with your brand often starts with a simple search, where local marketing efforts can help improve visibility. Our recent research shows more than 80% of local consumers use online search engines daily, and 74% use Google Search and Maps to find information about businesses in their area. Customer experience (CX) comes into play from the moment a customer discovers your brand. CX plays an impactful role for each customer as an individual, but also for the brand as a whole thanks to its oversized impact on organic visibility and conversions, which ties back to local marketing. For example, feedback offers valuable insight into a customer’s perception of and their overall experience with your brand. This feedback comes in the form of online reviews, surveys, and other feedback.

Customers view feedback as a two-way communication channel with local businesses, and 19% even prefer reviews as a support channel – more than any other method of contacting the brand for praise or when they need support. And when they leave a review, 77% of local consumers expect a response from the company within 48 hours. If review feedback isn’t being shared between marketing teams and CX teams, this can lead to erosion of consumer trust and gaps in your customer service.

In this and other key ways we’ll explore in this ebook, customer experience and local marketing, also known as the LX, are intrinsically linked. Understanding how to close the gap between local marketing and customer experience better positions multi-location brands to build customer loyalty, improve customer engagement, and drive more conversions.

How do you convert structured and unstructured customer and employee data into actionable, cross-functional tactics that improve your customer, employee, and brand experience? And how can you break down all too common cross- department silos to ensure your organization is operating at its peak performance?

In this guide, we’ll explore how to create an impactful local experience for every customer that fosters loyalty and promotes advocacy at every stage of the customer journey.

Let’s start by looking at which CX and search ranking factors your brand can control and influence with smart optimizations, to ensure each interaction with your brand begins with a positive experience.