A customer experience strategy helps create a customer-centric organization that delivers superior customer outcomes. It includes activities that influence, shape, and drive experiences from the first point of contact with the company to interactions with its products or services, as well as post-purchase support.
As organizations increasingly rely on digital channels for their business models and revenue streams, it is critical to have a strong customer experience strategy in place.
The Three Pillars of a Successful Customer Experience Strategy
Happy customers engage with all aspects of a brand, like design, customer interactions, transactions, marketing, and communications. However, many companies do not adequately design their customer experience systems.
Most business initiatives also focus only on improving internal processes and profit, but not customer relationships. To address this, organizations should consider three key factors to create a first-rate customer experience strategy:
- Technology – Good customer service starts with prompt and efficient communication. Companies should be present on a customer’s preferred channels, such as social media and website chat. These channels should be properly managed, with frequent posting, high response rates, and visibility. Optimizing for mobile is another factor that will promote a positive customer experience.
- Staff and Leadership – Business leaders must embrace CX excellence as part of their culture and formulate organizational policies that focus on delivering customer value. This message should be shared with employees from all departments to focus on exceptional CX.
- Customer Service – Great customer service is not just for tech giants like Uber or Amazon. Every business must forge strong customer relationships and respond quickly to their needs to ensure success. Customer service is best if it offers quick and efficient solutions, and organizations can improve the quality of service by asking customers for feedback.
Five Strategies to Design Winning Customer Experiences
From measuring what matters, to leveraging the power of new technologies, here are five tips on how to create a superior customer experience that will delight customers:
- Prioritize, Measure, and Scale
It does not matter if it is a post-service customer effort score (CES), a net-promoter score (NPS) survey, or product experience feedback that is auto deployed to all customers. Measuring the impact of a CX strategy not only helps determine its ROI but also helps identify the most effective direction for future investments.
The data collected from these surveys will help determine churn potential, customer intent, and overall satisfaction levels. Predictive analytics powered by machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) can improve these insights and help organizations scale their CX initiatives.
- Focus on UX to Create a ‘Human’ Experience
In the everything-as-a-service ‘experience economy,’ companies need to pay attention to user experience, especially when self-service is involved. A 2017 American Express survey found that 60 percent of Americans preferred self-service options for their day-to-day needs. UX should be a top priority when designing products, selecting channels, and strengthening the brand’s online presence.
- Explore all Possible Sources of CX Intelligence
Being customer-centric means listening to customers and incorporating their needs into product and service offerings. This involves tapping into rich, real-time data that goes beyond NPS surveys. A company’s customer-facing employees could be the most significant source of untapped CX intelligence, and this data can be analyzed using customer experience management (CXM) platforms to uncover actionable insights. Unstructured sources like social media conversations are crucial to businesses as they help track satisfaction and remove friction.
- Prepare for 5G and AR/VR Experiences
As technology evolves, there are new and emerging ways in which brands can engage with customers. For instance, in 2021, the rise of several metaverse platforms allowed customers to interact with brands in virtual reality (VR). Augmented reality (AR) could also play a role in CX – e.g., through AR-based lifestyle product trials on smartphones.
Eventually, customers will rely on high-speed 5G connections to communicate with their product and service providers, which requires a more robust mobile presence.
- Deliver Smarter CX Surveys
While surveys remain central to customer experience strategies, organizations should consider more innovative options than traditional, survey-based systems. According to McKinsey’s 2021 report, just 7 percent of the actual customer voice is shared with CX leaders when a traditional survey system is used. Surveys are also a backward-looking tool that cannot capture real-time changing sentiment.
Organizations can adopt a predictive intelligence system powered by data lakes, unstructured information collection, and AI-powered insight engines to address this. It would also ensure that customers do not spend too much effort sharing feedback and responding to survey questionnaires.
Key Takeaways
Today, customers expect more from their favorite brands, and providing the best CX at every touchpoint is becoming increasingly important. Customers will then be more likely to speak positively about a company’s products and services and share their experiences with others, ultimately increasing their lifetime value to the organization.
Looking for more ideas to improve CX? Then, check out our article: 11 Quick-Fire Ideas to Enhance Customer Experience
