Live From Gartner CRM UK: Now Is the Time to Improve the Customer Experience
Increasingly, senior executives believe they can differentiate on customer experience, but they face several challenges in turning that belief into reality, according to Ed Thompson, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst.
First, companies struggle with customer experience because it's so broadly defined. Is it service, product quality, on-time delivery? All of the above? What else? "You make think you know what customer experience is for your organization, but your employees may define it differently," he said. Second, employees believe management is talking the talk, but isn't actually walking the walk. They also think IT is part of the problem blocking them from delivering the best possible customer experience. Ultimately, however, most employees don't actually care about customer experience unless they're measured on it.
But a stellar customer experience isn't optional today, Thompson said. So business leaders must find a path to deliver it.
According to Thompson the online customer experience has 1/10 the power of the phone, which has 1/10 the power of an in-person interaction. But, he says, if that in-person experience isn't consistent it will ruin the customer experience. That said, customer experience is not just about customer service. It's about the entire organization delivering a result. Apple succeeds primarily because of its product excellence; some CPG brands succeed because their supply chains keep products on the shelves--customers who can't find what they're looking for have a bad experience.
So, how are organizations creating positive customer experiences? "It's not about fixing one thing, it's about fixing many things," Thompson said. He recommended that companies start by creating open lines of communication with customers, collecting their feedback, acting on it, and communicating those actions back to customers. He also suggested that companies uncover what matters most to customers and focus on those experiences first. Additionally, he advised attendees to define the ideal customer experience and the steps to get there, based not only on corporate goals, but also on customer and employee feedback. Finally, he suggested that companies motivate employees to deliver on the promised customer experience--and measure results.
Details on Thompson recommendations are included in "There's More Than One Way to Customer Experience Success (In Fact, Here's 7)."
Related Entries
Deborah,
Absolutely!
One key thing you mentioned is communicating back to customers. Far too many companies miss this critical step in the customer experience.
Hi Ginger,
Excellent post, I couldn't agree more. We are in an experience economy and the experience is NOT just customer service. In our 2008 Net Promoter benchmarks, loyalty leaders including Apple, Amazon and Google. Laggards include companies in "legacy" businesses like Cable TV and Local/Long Distance services. The leaders benefit from building businesses based on the customer experience. Apple does this by creating innovative products with amazing user experience and unique retail experiences, Amazon and Google do this by focusing on the end user experience when interacting with their product/service.
Customer experience is measured by the "journey" across the functional areas of the business and as Ed points out you must know which ones matter most, fix many things and communicate your actions back to your customers.
If more organizations did this, perhaps we would need so many tax payer funded ballouts!