It’s not news, but it’s worth hammering the point home…
Customer experience (CX) is the critical factor determining the success or failure of a customer facing organisation. As many of you reading this will know, with the rise of digital platforms, customers have unprecedented access to information about companies – making CX more important than ever.
Now, knowledge is power, and with that in mind we’ve picked the brains of customer experience experts at Gamma to help you understand why this is important – and perhaps, how to ensure you don’t fall foul of the risks of failure in this area.
Understanding Customer Experience
It’s always useful to break down a concept, even if it’s one you’re familiar with. Customer experience encompasses every interaction a customer has with a company, from initial contact to post-purchase follow-up. Fundamentally, it’s about ensuring that every touchpoint along the customer’s journey is seamless, efficient, and satisfying. So, companies must think from the customer’s perspective, considering what they would expect at each step of their journey.
We asked Martin Korner, Director of SmartAgent at Gamma, to summarise this concept: “Rather than thinking from a business perspective, you know, how do we reduce our handle time or how do we improve this KPI, I try to think: if I was a customer of my own service, what is it that I’d expect at every step of that journey?”
The Power of Reviews and Personal Experiences
Peer reviews and personal experiences have a profound impact on customer retention and acquisition – all you must do is check out your social media feed and think about your own online behaviours to understand this. Potential customers, like you, often rely on reviews and ratings to gauge a company’s service quality before making a purchase decision.
Negative experiences, such as poor return policies or unresponsive service, can deter customers and encourage them to share their dissatisfaction online, amplifying the negative impact. Therefore, making sure customers have a positive experience is critical not only from a moral and service-based standpoint, but to mitigate the risk of damage to your business.
Martin highlighted the connection between organisational need and customer behaviour: “The top five reasons an organisation buys [a contact centre solution] are also the same top five reasons a customer would leave an organisation.”
It’s clear that, to transform your customer experience, you must inhabit the mindset of the customer themselves.
Key Elements of Good Customer Experience
So, what makes good customer experience? Well, a robust customer experience strategy includes providing convenient communication channels and ensuring a seamless journey from initial contact to resolution. For instance, asynchronous communication options like WhatsApp can be highly effective. Customers appreciate the ability to resolve issues over a period without being tied to a phone call.
Rich McPhee, Gamma’s Solutions Director, shared his personal frustration with traditional customer service models: “There’s nothing more frustrating for me than phoning an organisation and them saying, ‘I’m sorry, but our office hours are 9 to 5,’ and this is something I’ve been waiting in a call queue for an hour on.”
To mitigate this, companies should offer self-service options, efficient automation, and proactive communication. These elements help in addressing customer needs promptly and effectively, enhancing their overall experience.
Customer-Centric Thinking
Customer-centricity is a key component too. We asked Martin why it was important to think from the customer’s point of view, and not just in terms of business performance. He explained: “Great key performance indicators (KPIs) can’t be the main focus. If you focus directly on the KPIs, you’ll probably start going down the wrong solutions. You’ll be really focused on just, ‘How do we get customers off the phone quicker?’ That’s not a good customer experience.”
Clearly, adopting a customer-centric approach means putting the customer at the heart of all business decisions – and not just trying to conform to KPIs. This involves understanding customer needs and building services around them rather than focusing solely on business metrics – remembering the human, if you will.
Senior Management Buy-In
As with anything in business, for a successful customer experience strategy, buy-in from senior management is essential. It ensures that the team responsible for implementing customer experience solutions understands its importance and has the support needed to prioritise customer-centric initiatives. Martin points out, “The key thing here is making sure that the team who are building these solutions or buying these solutions understand that this is a key objective for the organisation.”
Rich also highlighted the role of senior management in aligning CX with organisational goals: “You don’t need the CEO to be manning the phones and getting in there, but they do need to understand what their strategy is and how it impacts their own strategic objectives and goals of the organisation for growth.”
Embedding Customer-Centricity
We’ve touched upon customer-centricity, but how is that embedded? Well, to truly embed a customer-centric mindset, organisations must align all teams and KPIs with the goal of improving customer experience. This holistic approach ensures that all departments work towards delivering a seamless and satisfying customer experience. Martin advises that focusing on CX first will naturally lead to achieving KPIs. “Ultimately, you’re going to achieve your KPIs. But you have to have that focus on CX and really drive that,”
Selecting the Right Tools
While technology plays a significant role in enhancing customer experience (and we will always be banging that drum), the choice of tech is key: it should be chosen based on the specific needs and goals of the business. The right tools should offer flexibility, integrate well with existing systems, and provide valuable data insights. Martin clarifies: “It’s not a one-size-fits-all. First of all, it’s identifying what those problems are, what your business needs are.”
Rich McPhee summarised the importance of choice when it comes to identifying the key components of your successful CX strategy: “In terms of what you need to put in place: customer centricity, senior stakeholder buy-in, and then selecting the tooling much further down the line once you’ve got a really great handle on what you’re trying to achieve.”
So, what’s the final word?
It’s clear: customer experience is a crucial differentiator. By focusing on customer needs, securing senior management support, and choosing the right tools, businesses can create a positive and lasting impact on their customers. As the insights from Rich McPhee and Martin Korner suggest, a customer-centric approach not only enhances CX but is critical in driving better business outcomes.