Competition has always been a major part of business. But today’s business world, in so many sectors, is hypercompetitive. The sheer ease with which customers can compare and buy rival products means it’s never been easier to switch to a competitor brand. Most worryingly for brands, the old adage holds true: bad news travels fast. People are far quicker to talk about a negative experience with a brand than a positive one.

So what’s the secret to keeping customers? There are two. The first is, of course, having an outstanding and ever-evolving product. The second is having phenomenal customer experience. These two lessons were true in ancient times, but in today’s hyper-competitive world, customer experience has taken a greater prominence. It’s no surprise that customer experience consultancy, as an industry in and of itself, has grown massively in recent years.

In a sense, this is understandable. There is no reason why great customer experience shouldn’t be easier - and better - than ever before. Given the vast array of customer touchpoints, and the data available to us, we should know our customers far better than ever before. 

So why isn’t customer experience better? At Equifax we’ve noticed that, within the credit referencing industry, a number of businesses do a “one-size-fits-all” model. As a result, their insights are limited. They might sign up a large number of customers, but there is little, or no, attention-to-detail. In sum: they have any amount of data about their customers, but they don’t have the ability to truly analyse it. With their analytics lacking, the data is as good as useless.

At Equifax, we think differently. Firstly, we can - and do - bring products and services that span the entire customer lifecycle. We’re as interested in the 25- year-old, wanting to buy their first house, as the 75-year-old enjoying their well earned retirement. Secondly, the sheer wealth of information we can gather and analyse is second to-none. We have data on 32 billion interactions a year, 255 million identities and 400million physical addresses. All of this data is maintained, verified and updated  using the tightest security. Thirdly, we’re the only CRA that has expertise all the way through the customer credit experience - from acquiring customers, all the way through to insolvency. We can configure our data more closely and intelligently, using more detailed methods such as ID verification. This means it’s far, far more than a simple binary decision of yes and no. Our work - indeed, our ethos - goes far beyond this. 

What does this all add up to? It means that while other credit reference agencies just think in terms of yes and no, Equifax brings a far more balanced and nuanced approach. That’s what our clients - and their customers - truly want. And if business is about recognising and serving the customer’s needs, then we’re holding true to our word of helping you get closer to your customers and creating a world far beyond yes and no.

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