Customer experience isn’t merely a cost of doing business. And neither is it simply a synonym for service. Instead, CX is an engine for driving positive brand perception and increased value. It’s the difference between standing out and being overlooked — even in the most crowded or commodified of marketplaces and in building customer relationships that are strong enough to hold firm even in uncertain economic times.
Yet, despite growing evidence that links CX to financial success, many brands still either fail to recognize this intrinsic connection or find themselves in a position where they want to more closely align themselves with customer expectations, but don’t know where to start.
A narrow understanding
Businesses can still view CX as the provision of customer help or support, rather than as an overarching strategy that encompasses the customer journey and the lifetime of customer relationships. With an isolated or fragmented view, any attempts at improvement or elevation are going to come up short or optimize only a single touchpoint or type of interaction.
Siloed departments
When departments operate in isolation, it creates fragmented communication and inconsistent messaging. And in the case of understanding and serving customer needs, it’s impossible to gain a full picture as information or insights are trapped in silos. Likewise, when trying to understand which elements of CX are falling short, unless all departments that potentially influence customer satisfaction are on the same page, it’s impossible to develop solutions that will deliver.
Financial focus
If an organization is fixated on expenditure and quarterly revenues, it can lead to an underinvestment in long-term initiatives, including CX, especially if the upfront costs are comparatively large. Typically, organizations in this type of situation usually find the issue compounded by the fact that they most likely have inadequate resources — be they human or technological — to undertake improvement projects.
A product or service-centric mindset
It can be easy to fall into the trap of obsessing over offerings, goods or services. And although all organizations are judged on their offerings, decisions are made based on how well those products or services actually align with existing and potential customer needs. When an organization can’t view a product in terms of a customer and a customer in terms of service, then it will also fail to see the connections between the two and identify ways and means of using CX to make its brand resonate with its audience.
Insufficient measures
Even if organizations want to improve their CX, if they don’t have the right metrics and feedback mechanisms in place, they won’t be able to gain a true baseline of current performance or measure the impact of any projects aimed at optimization. And with an inability to accurately judge improvement efforts, there is usually less appetite for making a financial investment.
5 steps towards a better CX
Fortunately, irrespective of the factor or combination of factors that are holding a brand back from achieving its full potential, there are concrete steps all organizations can take to improve the quality and consistency of their customer experience and, in doing so, move their brand from follower to premium and eventually visionary status.
Step 1. Put the customer first
Organizations need to ensure their strategic decisions are informed by customer needs or expectations. Putting the customer first doesn’t necessarily mean undergoing a root and branch business transformation, but it does require imagining what you want your customers to experience when they have a relationship with your brand and then working backward, reverse engineering products and services and how they are supported in order to make the imagined CX a reality.
Step 2. Cultivate connections
Any strategic or cultural change needs to be championed and sponsored at the leadership level. However, no matter what steps executives take, if departments are siloed or disconnected, change will not occur. Cultivate collaboration and teambuilding between marketing, sales, customer service, and operations so that all departments are pulling in the same direction and that changes that require adjustments across business functions take hold and the improvements are captured and fed back.
Step 3. Invest in your people
If you change an approach or a way of working, your employees need the requisite skills, so allocate the necessary resources for training, reskilling or upskilling your people, particularly those in customer-facing roles. Making training and development part of an organization’s culture will also make it easier to adopt new tools or technologies as they are more likely to be embraced than rejected by staff.
Step 4. Implement the right metrics
Once you understand which elements of support and service create a positive experience, then it’s straightforward to identify which actions and processes to track and measure. Implement metrics and use those scores to establish key performance indicators and set clear service levels. With benchmark metrics in place, it becomes simple to identify areas for improvement and measure the success of any initiatives aimed at elevating CX.
Step 5. Act on feedback
As well as metrics and surveys, measure performance by reaching out directly to customers and asking them for feedback. As well as gathering important insights that cannot be captured through traditional metrics, direct engagement strengthens brand connections and customer relationships, especially when criticism is captured and acted on.
Having a robust CX that aligns with customer expectations is critical for competing in crowded markets and navigating complex and uncertain business environments. When an organization is in full control of its CX and understands how each touchpoint or interaction adds to or potentially takes away from its brand, and, more importantly, which steps to take when an improvement is needed, it takes a step closer to its customers and moves nearer to being categorized as a visionary.
To learn more about how to analyze the state of your current CX delivery and provide a consistent and positive brand experience, read our CX management guide.