Customer experience is a term used to categorize and describe the experience a customer receives while interacting with a business’s marketing and sales messages.

Ideally, these interactions will make up a “path to conversion”, also called a customer journey, that facilitates the progression of a potential customer from the introduction to the completed sale and beyond.

In fact, for traditional retailers, like Abercrombie & Fitch, Build A Bear, and Nordstrom, customer experience has been successfully employed to differentiate themselves from their competitors and create a brand synonymous with quality.

This emphasis has also impacted the bottom line for these companies. Forrester reports that improving CX can increase profitability by more than 500%, as well as reducing customer acquisition and employee hiring costs.

CX starts with engaging customers with relevant events well before the sale and continues after the sale with advocacy and brand loyalty.

The secret ingredients for a great CX strategy

Define the right style

Your CX strategy changes depending on the predictability of your market, and to every market, there is a different strategic style. The Harvard Business Review, suggests the four strategic styles below. They include:

• Classical: This style is best for companies that operate in highly predictable industries. Companies utilizing a classical style build a favorable market position by planning well into the future, and remaining with the same strategy for several years. Ask yourself: Can I sustain my customer experience strategy for many years forward?
• Adaptive: This is best for companies in unpredictable industries. Such companies require a more adaptive strategy that can be easily and rapidly changed. Ask yourself: Is my infrastructure one that can change rapidly? Is the decision-making process quick and easily adaptable?
• Shaping: This is one step beyond the adaptive style. While it too changes frequently, it focuses beyond the boundaries of the company to define new markets, standards, and business practices. Ask yourself: Do I leave room for market feedback to power rapid decision making?
• Visionary: This bold and entrepreneurial style can create entirely new markets or visions, and views the environment as a way to be molded to a company’s advantage. But it’s more similar to a classical strategy because companies take calculated steps to reach goals without switching tactics. Ask yourself: What does the future hold for the industry and how can we provide a customer experience that disrupts it?

Create a journey for your strategy

While it doesn’t have to entertain, a good strategy should tell a good story. First, ask yourself what is the correct place to start? Some might start with detailing the goals up front. Some might prefer to opt for a “problem-solution” type of story, which details current challenges and their solutions.

Second, establish a theme by asking what is the main point of your customer experience strategy? Like any good story, your strategy should have a build up to a literary climax. For example, in the “problem-solution” model the climax is reached when presenting suggested solutions and their foreseeable outcomes. Finally, a good strategy brings it all together with a solid conclusion.

Map your customer data

Map out the touchpoints, collect data, and figure out how to optimize the process. We all collect data. However, for your data to effectively fuel decision it should address questions such as:

• How do customers find you?
• Why do they choose you over your competition?
• How easy is it for them to leave reviews?
• What sort of incentives do they receive to purchase again?
• How (often) do they receive customer support?

Go for omnichannel

Striving for an omnichannel experience is an important part of an effective CX strategy. Omnichannel businesses provide customers with a seamless integrated shopping experience

When creating a CX strategy, it’s necessary to keep in mind the omnichannel experiences that most customers will traverse.

Focus on the customer

Always maintain a customer-centric approach. Ask yourself: What do my customers want? And what is the best way I can provide it?

Don’t assume that you know what is best for your customers. Spend time talking to them and collecting data. Find out what is important to them, why they choose the products that they do, and what matters to them when they shop. Focus on their needs. It’s all about them.

The ideal customer

If you are losing customers, find out why. Was the customer ready to buy? Was the customer the right fit? But be sure to also study the profiles of your best customers so you can understand what you are doing right.

Using all the information, come up with a description of your ideal customers, and then create a better customer experience with them in mind.

The ideal journey

Using your customer data to address areas that should be improved, map out the ideal customer journey. Ultimately, it should be an experience that allows your customers to easily find what they are looking for, quickly purchase it, and then return to buy more.

Research assets, cost analysis, and KPIs

What will it take to implement your CX strategy? Make a list of the assets you have and will need to deliver the strategy. Consider what sort of impact the strategy will have on resources, but be sure to show the expected return for these expenditures.

Create a timeline

Customer experience management involves lots of touchpoints and its optimization is a cross-departmental undertaking.

Keep in mind, different departments have different goals, so map out a timeline and prioritize. Is it more important to focus on discovery or retention?

Create a reasonable plan, with the ultimate goal of achieving a truly seamless customer experience that includes everything it should.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE          CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY     CXREFRESH   CX     GLOBAL CX                         IDEAL CUSTOMER

Customer experience is hard to measure with a KPI or a specific number, but it has an outsize impact on whether your customers are happy and loyal to your brand.

That’s why it’s so important to be mindful of trends in the space so you can quickly adapt your strategy to the latest industry insights and create a beloved customer experience.

While the concept of customer experience is timeless, the research being conducted on it is still fairly new. Every year, new studies reveal insights into important trends that are influencing businesses across the world. To some, these statistics may feel like conversational fun facts, but in actuality, they can help your customer service team capitalize on timely opportunities to improve customer experience.

If your team is looking to stay up-to-date on the latest trends occurring in customer service, consolidating your information is a great way to start. Below, we compiled a list of customer experience statistics.

1. 76% of customers expect companies to understand their needs.

Understanding the customer’s needs is a common challenge for many businesses and studies show that this will become a make-or-break benchmark for most companies. Salesforce conducted a survey of over 6,000 consumers and found that 76% of them expected companies to understand their needs and expectations. This doesn’t leave very much wiggle room for your marketing and customer service strategy to fail. If you want to deliver a sound customer experience, then it’s imperative that you create a customer-centric company that is focused on fulfilling customer needs.

2. Less than 50% of executives prioritize employee feedback.

A report conducted by Temkin Group revealed that while 73% of large companies survey employees, only 45% of executives seriously consider their employee’s feedback. Executives strategize for the business and make key operational decisions that guide the company. However, their day-to-day experience doesn’t often confront them with many customer interactions.

Frontline employees like customer service reps engage with the customer on a daily basis, making them valuable resources when researching the customer’s journey. They’re constantly engaging with new customers and gather customer reviews in everyday workflow. Executives and upper management should be craving their feedback when looking for new ways to improve the customer experience.

3. More than 80% of companies who prioritize customer experience are reporting an increase in revenue.

When customers discover a delightful customer experience, it’s likely that they’ll want to return to it again. Dimension Data even found that 84% of companies who focus on improving customer experience are reporting an increase in annual revenue. This is because these companies are gaining more customer loyalty which is highly valuable to the brand. Loyal customers make repeat purchases and offer recommendations to other potential leads who then become ambassadors as well. If you’re looking for new ways to increase your company’s profit margins, invest in bettering your customer experience.

4. More than half of all customer service reps do not plan on staying in their role.

Building an awesome customer service team is a challenge all its own, but keeping it together is another story altogether. Customer service is a unique career path and it’s quite common for people to transition in and out of service roles quickly. In fact, HubSpot Research found that 58% of customer service reps plan on leaving their current role in customer service. With the increased focus on building a positive customer experience, it’s imperative that you maintain the high-quality personnel on your customer service and customer support teams. These employees have a difficult job and won’t be afraid to look elsewhere if they feel they aren’t valued.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE   CUSTOMER SUPPORT    CXREFRESH      CX         CUSTOMER LOYALTY              CUSTOMER REVIEWS     CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STATISTICS

There seems to be no dearth of opinions on how to successfully plan and execute a customer experience (CX) strategy. However, a recent report shows that only 22% of CX initiatives have met or exceeded customer expectations. In a world where almost 81% of leaders expect to compete and differentiate solely on the basis of CX…there is a definite cause for concern!

While the jury is still out on what really constitutes a successful customer experience strategy, a careful study of global organisations and their failures provide strong and foolproof insights on what needs to be avoided.

Here are the 3 key mistakes organisations need to avoid.

1. CX as a tactic…instead of a culture – Thinking of CX as a tactic to win over customers is the biggest mistakes any firm can make. CX is not a tactic…it’s a culture that needs to be embedded deep within an organization and only then will it deliver results. Think about Taj Hotels…a premium hospitality brand which redefines great customer experience for all, to such an extent that even in the face of adversity like the unfortunate 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, almost every employee put the customers’ lives before their own. That happens only when the customer experience DNA is ingrained into every employee.

2. Waiting for that perfect CX instead of ‘failing fast’ – While different firms have different experience strategies, a lot of firms wait for that perfect customer experience before they go live…and unfortunately that moment never comes. One of the main reasons for Amazon Echo’s success is the fact that they released it into the market and iteratively improved the experience with real inputs from consumers. They didn’t wait for that perfect Alexa experience…and it worked great for them!

3. Not measuring the right metrics – One of the key things about ensuring CX success is to identify and measure the right metrics. More often than not there is a need for course correction in strategy, and without the right metrics it is impossible to identify what is wrong. Metrics need to be identified and measured on priority and kept inline with business objectives. Think about it, measuring NPS helps you understand existing customers, but does it help you find anything about the customers you lost?

Avoiding these common mistakes will surely improve chances of delivering successful CX initiatives. There is no set formula for getting it right. Businesses need to evolve their strategy constantly as consumers and technology change. The trick is to understand the customer, create relevant experiences, test it out, and realign when needed.

CXREFRESH        CX        CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE     CUSTOMER     CX STRATEGY    CX INITIATIVES                            CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS

Fintech is hands-down one of the biggest tech trends of the past decade. Fintech-powered technologies have revolutionized almost every segment of the financial industry – from insurance and investment to payment gateways across continents – with the few that remain expected to taste the power of fintech over the coming years.

The impact of fintech also shows in the numbers. Fintech startups raised around $8 billion in VC funding over the past two quarters in 2018, with Q2 registering a record-setting $5.2 billion in investment.

Still, even with the good numbers and even better prospects out in the field, most facets of fintech are still quite new. Players will have to chart new grounds for CX, largely because of the expanded role of technology as an intermediary between the average fintech company and its customers.

Here are some of the most significant challenges for companies within this space that are looking to improve CX.

• Redefining traditional CX within the industry

For years, regular customers had been subjected to sub par treatment from traditional financial institutions like banks and credit unions. Apart from the invention of the ATM back in the 1960s, banks generally stayed away from user-oriented technologies that would have improved customer experience.

Customers also had to deal with long queues, customer service reps who really didn’t care about the customer, long and tedious load application processes, and other negative experiences that made it a nightmare to walk into a traditional banking hall.

Poor CX is actually one of the main reasons why many fintech startups have thrived in recent years. For many of them, CX is a standard service offering, thanks to the incorporation of technologies such as artificial intelligence and mobile/internet banking in many banking processes.

However, these startups still have their work cut out for them. With traditional banks having destroyed CX in the financial and banking industry over a long period, fintech startups will need to redefine CX and focus on revamping user experience.

• Information privacy and data security

Staying safe on the internet is always an issue when sensitive information and data is transmitted via networked connections. 2018 saw some of the biggest security breaches in recent years, with the Equifax and Yahoo! data breaches going down as the biggest hacks of all time. Plus, with more people and things becoming connected to the internet, some of these hacks won’t need to be sophisticated and may even begin from your home Wi-Fi connection, as this ForRent infographic illustrates.

With fintech, nearly every technological innovation revolves around internet connectivity. While digital banking, blockchain technologies, cryptocurrencies, and other facets of fintech continue to revolutionize CX, they also increase risk levels associated with confidentiality and security of customer data.

Going forward, the biggest challenge here for fintech startups will be to improve the safety and security of data during online transactions.

• Ease of access and usability

No one wants to spend hours setting up an online account when they could have spent a few minutes opening an account at a local bank. One 2017 study found that convenience, swift registration, and overall usefulness and usability of the UI were the most important aspects of mobile payment services.

Even though ease of use and accessibility remain the biggest selling points for fintech startups, a good number of customers often get lost during navigation, which creates barriers for widespread adoption.

For fintech companies, every platform should be user-friendly, with simple UIs on mobile apps and websites to help improve the user’s experience.

• Providing custom experiences for the growing millennial population.

In 2017, millennials surpassed Generation X to become the largest portion of the American labor force. This group also represents over $200 billion in annual purchasing power, making them a significant demographic for fintech companies. Most of the people in this group grew up online, with most of them ditching traditional banking systems for financial companies that are riding the fintech wave.

With so much at stake, fintech companies will need to design products and service offerings that speak to this generation. Millennials are hungrier for custom and more personalized experiences compared with other generations.

To keep up, this requires fintech startups to rethink traditional ways of improving CX.

Fintech Companies          Biggest CX Obstacles        CX Strategy             Customer Experience        Fintech Startups       Traditional CX

If you’re mapping your customer journey, there are plenty of things to bear in mind – and plenty of pitfalls to avoid.

While customer journey mapping is not a brand new idea the last few years have seen a real increase in the impact the concept is having across the business, and critically, in the boardroom.

As is the case with many emerging disciplines, it’s easy to get carried away and run headlong into it without fully understanding what the goals are.

Customer journey mapping needs to incorporate much more than just a list of your sales and service channels. It needs to deliver an understanding of what your customers are trying to achieve, and the steps they take to achieve it.

A true customer journey map provides a framework that encompasses the entire business, how each area impacts the customer and informs your Voice of the Customer programme to ensure you’re able to capture feedback at the right moments.

Here are some do’s and don’ts to bear in mind when it comes to mapping your customer journey.

• DO have a plan. A journey map must generate value and drive change if it is to improve customer-centricity across the company. Are you going to use the map to improve the customer experience at specific channels? To engage employees? To refine and consolidate your brand? You will probably find that you can do more than you imagine at the outset, but make sure you have measurable and achievable aims.
• DON’T forget that your journey map is part of your wider customer experience programme. Ensure that the feedback you gather through that programme is tightly linked to the touchpoints on your map. This enables you to pinpoint the root cause of any issues effectively and take action quickly where you need to.
• DON’T try to build you map in a vacuum. It’s vital that you include people from across your company and from all levels. It’s a great rallying point for the business because you can see how different stakeholders fit within the framework and help them to understand their impact on the customer experience. For example, frontline employees have a wealth of knowledge which must be included, and back office areas like accounting or despatch will hold information about processes that directly impact the customer but are often virtually unknown outside their departments.
• DO remember that customers see your brand as a single entity. They don’t know (or care) that the website is handled by different people to the call centre or the social media programme. Or that some of your services are outsourced. As you build your map, think about the combination of touchpoints that customers go through, and consider how well you deliver your brand experience at each of them.
• DON’T try to build a map based on generic customers. Create personas, fictional characters who are trying to achieve something specific by interacting with your business. You may only need a handful, or you may need more, but the process of mapping the journey is much easier when you can focus on.
• DO remember that your map needs to show more than just the point of contact you’re defining. You also need to look at what customers are trying to achieve at that point, why they’re there, how they feel and what external factors might be influencing them. This will help you to build that meet customers’ needs effectively.
• DO remember that some things are beyond your control but still impact how customers feel about you. It might not be entirely fair (roadworks outside your branch or your customer’s internet connection that makes your site slow), but the result is the same. When you build your map, make a note of the things that have or can affect your key touchpoints. In some cases you may be able to build strategies to mitigate against them.
• DON’T forget to share. As well as your team of stakeholders from across the company, ensure that the wider business understand what you’re doing and why. Most importantly, make it clear to employees that they all have an impact on the customer journey. Whether directly or indirectly, they play a part in one or more of the key touchpoints and being aware of that can be highly engaging for everyone.
• DO review and renew your journey map. Once complete, you need to revisit the map on a regular basis. It may not need amending most of the time, but in some cases a new branch, sales channel, or delivery company, for example, will have kicked in and you need to build that into your map. Otherwise, within a couple of years, you’ll have something that resembles an out-of-date atlas that doesn’t acknowledge a major road!

CUSTOMER JOURNEY          CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAPPING       CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE          CXREFRESH       CX                         GLOBAL CX