This year, Bath & Body Works took home the 1to1 Impact Award for Technology Optimization: Service. But behind the hardware and software is a philosophy that puts the customer relationship first. In this 1to1 on the Run podcast excerpt, executives Pati Crowley, director of customer experience, and Sharon Leite, vice president of store operations, discuss the importance of an integrated customer experience.

Pati Crowley:
It was critical that we really increase our value proposition. We addressed questions like, "Are you working for efficiency or effectiveness? Are you working against volume or are you working against value?" We were trying to fully integrate our customer, our contact center, and our field with our internal business partners and processes. That's hard to do when you have 1,550 stores.

Four years ago if you had called up an executive in the organization and asked them about the contact center, they might've said, "What, the complaint department?" We've really changed from that. The contact center has to be part of the brand and considered a brand asset.

I know everyone talks about being customer centric, but the way we do it is by building a long-term relationship, not a short-term customer. And we have to deliver the brand promise, which for Bath & Body Works is very focused on an emotional connection and turning customers into advocates. I really think that is the tangible result for us.

Sharon Leite:
We have really shared with our customer relations team that we are an extension of the store experience. The folks on my team provide all of the brand education for the field, and Pati's customer service team also gets the same materials and education we give our store associates.

The customer expects a Bath & Body Works experience. Whomever they talk to is a part of our brand, and [the customer] equates what that experience is to every person that they meet or greet or speak to. Pati has taken that store experience and brought it into the call center, so the customer gets that experience we go out there with on the store side and on the direct side.

If the customer is calling and wanting a BBW experience, they don't quite care who they talk to or where that person exists. They just know that Bath & Body Works stands for this. It's all about the total customer experience, and integrating that philosophy into every touchpoint for the customer is really critical to us as a brand.

Learn about Bath & Body Works' next steps, as well as the strategy driving its customer efforts in the full 1to1 on the Run podcast: Bath & Body Works Cleans Up the Customer Experience.