A new perspective on search
18.02.2016
CX, it’s not ALL about the Customer
CX isn’t just CS
Customer Experience (CX) is not the same thing as Customer Service (CS) – it is about instilling a customer-centric approach throughout the entire organisation that will re-enforce a brand ethos that is lived internally and is delivered well externally at all points of interaction with the customer.
Customer experience starts at the top
How far an organisation pursues a customer experience agenda is often determined by the level of appreciation at the board. Customer experience isn’t just something that Customer Service, Sales or Marketing people need to think about. It needs to become part of an organisation’s DNA and be embedded in everyone, not just traditionally customer-facing staff. To do that, it needs buy-in from the most senior executives, from the CEO down, and they need to demonstrate this commitment in person. Don’t just create CX positions, create a CX culture.
Work from the inside out
If you want customers to have a great experience, you must first create a great employee experience. Treat employees badly and they’ll treat customers badly, too. When British Airways wanted to improve CX levels, they launched the ‘To Fly. To Serve’ campaign, which was about improving employee engagement and making people proud to be with BA. The result was happier staff and happier customers.
Be a customer of your own business
With products and services becoming increasingly commoditised, often the point of difference an organisation has is its customer experience (for good or ill!). But it is all too easy for a business – and particularly for senior management – to become divorced from how they interact with their customers because they never see things through their customers’ eyes.
How can the CEO of a rail operator who travels to work by car understand what thousands of his customers are experiencing every day? If you don’t stand in your own queues, shop on your own website or call your own helplines, how do you know why (and for whom) you are in business?
CX is about them, not you…and you won’t know unless you ask!
You can’t assume you know what your customers feel about you unless you ask them and then listen to the response, even if you don’t like it. The classic question – used as the basis for calculating a Net Promoter Score (NPS) – is “how likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague?” Of course, this is only useful if you’re prepared to listen and act on the answer.
But at the same time, while you need to know how your customers really feel about your business, be careful about how you ask for feedback. Too many ‘in your face’ questions can be counter-productive.
Mind the gap!
Customer experience isn’t one-size-fits-all. A 20-something Gen Xer might have very different expectations from a more-seasoned and traditional consumer. These varying expectations are a huge challenge when it comes to defining a CX strategy (and will continue to be, since the strategy will need to continuously evolve).
Engage me or enrage me
Customers are increasingly happy to shop around to get the best deal and dump suppliers at the drop of a hat if their expectations aren’t being met. CX is critical in building brand relationships with customers but it is a relationship fraught with peril. News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many ears as praise for a good service, and in this era of instant social media communication, news of poor customer experiences can (and does) spread very, very quickly.
Play the long-term game
Everyone agrees that customer experience is important, but how do you measure its ROI? CX is a long term, strategic play that can be seen as a journey that never ends. What’s more, creating a customer-focussed culture can involve major change throughout the business. For a CEO whose tenure is unlikely to be more than five years, all that spells ‘risk’.
Yet the risks of ignoring CX are much greater. According to US research, almost nine out of 10 consumers have stopped doing business with a company because of a bad customer experience. What’s more, a Harvard Business Review study found that when a customer has a poor experience there’s only a 40% chance that they’ll still be a customer in a year’s time. But if they’re satisfied, there’s a 75% chance that they will stick with you for at least the next 12 months.
WBMS has a record of delivering CX Transformation and Improvement Programmes across industry including Retail, Travel, Utilities and Telecoms. Our invitation-only network of CX professionals, represent the best interim talent in the market. We can quickly assimilate a small team of experts to host a work shop around your challenge, or operate more traditionally in providing talent and capability to meet your resourcing needs and deliver business objectives.
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Contact MeTo discuss how WBMS can help your business deliver your customer agenda, contact Jason Rommer on Jason.Rommer@WBMSglobal.com to arrange an introduction. |
