How customers feel emotionally and rationally has a direct impact on how committed they are to a brand and in turn what they say and do.
Customer experience is defined by a combination of what customers perceive the brand to stand for, what they hear about it, and their experience of the interactions they have with it.
World-class customer experience is best defined by the people who understand what is required and what they are prepared to pay - high-spending customers. But companies will never manage to make all experiences "right" - a bad encounter with a call centre can leave a customer with a poor perception of service quality, for example. The aim, therefore, must be to design what needs to be done to give customers an appropriate experience and to eradicate the things which most annoy them, while promoting the things which make them feel really good about the company. Consistency of delivery can only be achieved if companies are able to make changes that affect the very DNA of the organisation.
Start by defining the customer journey
World-class customer experience is best defined by the people who understand what is required and what they are prepared to pay - high-spending customers.
Doug Leather, MD, REAP Consulting
The customer journey traces the customer`s diverse experiences with a company over a period of time and records everything from the customer`s point of view. Most organisations measure at a functional/departmental level, whereas most customers judge their experience across the journey, which usually involves multiple departments.
What do you want your customer to think, feel and say at key points in the journey? Developing customer journeys helps you to understand how departments and functions need to work together to deliver a great customer experience.
Focus on the most important elements first
Tackling the whole customer experience can be an overwhelming task. To have a chance of success, you must begin by breaking down the problem and focusing on the most important customers, events and interactions, bearing in mind the following:
* Not all customers are equal: In most companies 15% of customers are responsible for 30% to 50% of the profit margin, implying that companies must focus on capturing the hearts and minds of high category users. Their needs and transactions are often very different from those of the average customer.
* Look at the specific interactions of top customers: Customer experience is determined by the many and various interactions a customer has. Ensure you understand the real journeys customers go through, the moments of truth, the moments of silence, and how altering the touchpoints will impact various customers.
* Not all interactions are equal: Some experiences have more impact than others in customers` minds. Identifying these and getting them right will enable you to reap the benefits; getting them wrong results in erosion of the quality of relationship with the customer.
* Understand the brand`s ability to dissatisfy or delight: Look at the volume/frequency of specific transactions, the impact of failure, and the degree to which each transaction can drive satisfaction or remove dissatisfaction.
Get the basics right first, then work on issues that have a high potential to dissatisfy, before moving onto those that might delight. Prioritise actions that will have high impact from a business and customer perspective, and that can be implemented quickly.
10 customer experience principles
In designing and delivering a new customer experience, the following checklist is useful:
1. Customers - be clear about what you want customers to think, feel and say.
2. Focus and differentiate - focus on highest value/potential customers first.
3. Moments of truth - not all interactions are created equal and some are more important in driving commitment than others; focus on these.
4. Events - think about clusters of touchpoints.
5. Hygiene before delight - fix what`s rotten; if you can`t, be brilliant at service recovery.
6. Brand - amplify your unique brand through embedding brand values into touchpoints.
7. The experience does not have to be costly to be good.
8. Think big, start small - you may want to reengineer your experience in its entirety, but you can improve it immediately tomorrow.
9. Focus on customer outcomes - if you are changing how you manage your customers, be customer outcome-focused and have agreed-on milestones.
10. Address beliefs to change both consumer and employee behaviours.
To design an improved distinct customer experience requires design and brand principles and brand values to be defined and mapped onto the various touchpoints. As companies begin to look into the buying process from their customers` view, they will start to think about how they can add value to existing process and interactions. Understanding what customers truly need and value is key to adding value to an interaction. Added value may mean a simple smile.
Getting your people behind your newly defined customer experience is critical to its success.
Engaging senior management and staff in this process and establishing a cross-functional team of senior managers is key to actually improving the experience. Create a compelling future that people want to be part of and can commit to achieving. Finally, involve and enable all employees in owning the change, and empower them to deliver.
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