Are you a loyal customer to any service provider? Are there products and services that you not only repeatedly use but also encourage others to use? Are you an advocate or an absolute die-hard, raving fan of any product or service?
There are not that many businesses that have earned that kind of loyalty anywhere in the world. However, some examples of businesses that have successfully earned advocacy of their customers include Amazon, Apple, Disney, Virgin and Krispy Kreme, to mention a few. These businesses have become leaders and continue to enjoy almost insurmountable competitive advantage by focusing on the customer experience.
It matters very little if you provide what you believe to be the best experience possible. If the customer feels that they had a bad experience, then that perception is what matters. Whether an experience is considered good or bad all depends on the customer expectation. If you value hot water in your hotel room and expect it, then the absence of it will result in a disappointing experience. If you are a frequent lodger and unable to predict whether, or not you will get hot water, you are unlikely to recommend this hotel to friends and family. Such customer experiences are often referred to as random and unintentional. Many businesses offer a random experience that varies from location to location, day-to-day, sales person to sales person. For such businesses, there is little loyalty to any particular brand and consumers simply window-shop whenever the need arises.
However, when companies such as Amazon intentionally build the capability to consistently meet and exceed customer expectations, the result is a differentiated experience. More importantly, the ability to sustain this over time, ultimately becomes a powerful source of competitive advantage. For those that aspire to attain the standards set by Amazon, this is easier said than done, as many businesses struggle with the focus and discipline to stand out based on the experience they promise.
The big question here is, “how can organisations achieve above average customer experience and sustain higher levels of cx maturity?”.
At this point it is important to address one of the many misconceptions about customer experience and that is the frequent use of the term customer service in place of customer experience.
Customer experience, often referred to as CX, is the sum of all interactions between a customer and a provider of goods and services that spans the duration of the relationship. While customer service is an important component of a customer’s experience, it is only one of the many different types of interactions that frame how a customer views a company. Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a vendor/supplier that involves providing help to the customer so that they can answer a question or get information or make a change. Also known as service experience, this is a subset of customer experience.
A surgeon will successfully undertake an organ transplant by carrying out a set of sound, adopted practices proven to yield the desired outcomes in the medical profession. Such recognised and adopted practices apply to constructing a high-rise building, merging two companies, auditing accounts and the list goes on. Similarly, in the world of CX, achieving dependable standards stems from the extent to which a business routinely performs the practices required to design, implement and manage customer experience in a disciplined manner.
Few businesses that have been successful in meeting and exceeding customer experience leave it to chance; they invest in service training, standards and processes to intentionally shape the customer experience to make it more predictable and consistent with their brand.
This is where CX, as a discipline comes in. Institutions like the CXPA and Forrester, have identified CX practices that fall under six broad areas; customer understanding, strategy, experience design, measurement governance and culture. The following description of each area, though simplified, is the first step in the right direction for organisations seeking to unpack these CX components and begin to understand the deep level of attention required to make the gradual transition to CX maturity:
Customer understanding – this discipline ensures that customer groups are recognised by needs as opposed to traditional market segmentation criteria. A deeper understanding requires determining the drivers of customer needs. For example, the reason for buying a car for various customer types could be to look successful, feel safe or to simply commute. A further look into the drivers of these needs will help refine customer understanding, which is fundamental to delivering a superior customer experience and guides a comprehensive appreciation of customer goals.
Strategy – A customer experience strategy should be aligned with the business goals and articulate the intended experience as well as the brand’s value proposition. This can be likened to a theatre arts production business with a goal to stage a play and sell out in each location, show after show. The big question is, what experience do we want to give the audience? What do we need to do deliver that experience? Which moments matter the most? These are some of the questions that an effective CX strategy will help address.
Design – Customer experiences and expectations need to be managed and controlled. For instance, a quick service restaurant should manage expectations so that customers do not get disappointed about not receiving the kind of service comparable to the Ritz Carlton. As such, customer interactions need to be deliberately designed and not left to chance. CX design is the practice of designing products and services with the thoughtfulness of the user experience. It involves co-creating with stakeholder groups and rapidly adjusting to build on the best designs.
Measurement – Effective measurement frameworks support the implementation of ‘Voice of the Customer’ programmes and deliver actionable insights. Constantly monitoring customer experience is critical to maturity, as it indicates the state of ‘CX well-being’ and as a result, what to do to improve experiences. Most importantly, the outcome of measurement practices reveal how efforts are progressing over time.
Embedding a customer-centric Culture – Culture is a function of core values and it is that intangible component of an organisation’s ability to deliver on its promise. For instance, an individual with deeply held values such as living healthy, reading widely, respecting others and building relationships, is likely to have high yielding business contacts and a great physical appearance, which ultimately leads to success. The same applies to corporate values within organisations and as such, the culture discipline consists of practices that create a system of shared values and behaviours that focus staff members on delivering a great customer experience.
Governance – For customer experience to be exceptional, the whole organisation must work together. However, organisations are often fragmented, with an inconsistent translation of customer priorities across departments. This frequently descends into finger-pointing, witch hunting, blaming and varying degrees of internal friction being far more prevalent than a clear understanding and execution of accountability and responsibility. The governance discipline, therefore, aligns the organisation around strategy and is extremely important, as it fosters accountability and ensures that responsibilities are assigned. The steering mechanism of a car ensures that all four wheels move in the desired direction. Similarly, sound governance, as demonstrated by accountability and project prioritisation for instance, will ensure that businesses adhere to practices that will consistently deliver a great customer experience.
This is a great starting point for business leaders in our space, who need to get to know the level of time and effort that achieving a differentiated, value adding customer experience involves. The market dynamics across sectors in developing nations is getting to the point where it is no longer enough to simply exist and be guaranteed business success through manufacturing strength, distribution capacity and advertising spend. Customers are attracted by consistent standards, predictable service and reassuringly dependable products across locations and as such, become advocates when their expectations are either consistently met or exceeded.
Delivering a superior customer experience for any organisation will not happen by chance. It takes a deliberate effort. The pains taking rigours of going from random experiences to differentiated experience have been known to take many organisations years to achieve. Embracing the practices required for CX transformation requires focus and relentless commitment, to understanding customer goals and expectations as well as keeping promises.
Therefore, viewing CX as a marathon and not a sprint increases the likelihood of a successful and rewarding journey.
Mosun Shasore, CCXP, who is the author of Serve Them Right and CEO of Quramo Advisory writes from Lagos
Twitter handle - @mshasore