10 Questions frequently asked about Customer Experience Management

                                                     
1) How long will it take to develop a Customer Experience Strategy?
That will be dependent on:
The quality and consistency of your current customer experience performance
How much time you can commit to working through the process
How well you have explained the what ,why and how and the importance of the commitment from all those involved in the business

2) Why don’t we just provide customer service training for our front-line people?
Answer - We launched Customer Experiences after our research found that when customer service training is carried out without a proper Customer Experience foundation, the training itself has very little impact on changing employee behaviour and ultimately little impact on improving the customer experience.
Customer service is a vital part of any quality customer experience. A customer experience strategy however covers far more than just customer service in fact it covers every aspect of a business because every aspect will have some impact on the quality and consistency of the experience a business delivers.

3) How do we gain total commitment from our people to ensure the success of a Customer Experience Strategy?
Answer - Commitment comes from engagement. The Customer Experience approach involves everyone. The fact is that everyone plays a role in your Customer Experience, not just those people directly interacting with your customers. Our customer experience development program is based on the fact that your people support what they create. A successful customer experience strategy is the result of total involvement from everyone associated with the business.

4) Why is a Customer Experience strategy difficult for your competitors to copy?
Answer - Leadership, culture and your people are vital parts of your Customer Experience strategy and the great news is, they are all difficult to copy. Everything else you do is relevantly easy to copy.
A customer experience strategy can be a businesses sustainable competitive advantage in a world where sustainable competitive advantages are rare. You can be sure that once you start gaining market share as a result of your customer experience your competitors’ will be looking closely at what you are doing.

5) Why is creativity such an important part of a Customer Experience strategy.
Answer - Creativity is today’s great competitive advantages. The reason there is not more creative thinking in business is its not encouraged in most organisations. The key to on-going customer loyalty is the ability to continually "add value" to what you provide your customers. This requires a steady flow of ideas from your people, the more creative the ideas the greater the impact on your Customer Experience.

6) How does a Customer Experience strategy help us to attract the right people?
Answer - Great people want to work with organisations that are totally focused on their people and customers. They know that these businesses take time to build real relationships with their customers and it’s these relationships that lead to loyalty and advocacy. The fact is that your working life is so much more enjoyable when your customers are smiling and coming back because your people have taken the time to build relationships.

7) Why is a vision so important to a Customer Experience Strategy?
Answer - A good vision keeps everyone focused, on track, inspired and motivated and that’s vital to a long-term strategic business approach. You must be able to clearly show how your customer experience strategy will move your business towards its vision.

8) Why is word of mouth so much more powerful today? 
Answer - Word of mouth has always been powerful in fact it’s today’s most powerful form of advertising. When you recommend a business to someone you are putting your reputation on the line and we don’t do that lightly. Today individuals have the ability via social media to reach many more people and share both great and not so great experiences. Business is only started to understand the power shift that has taken place.

9) How does a Customer Experience strategy take away the focus on price?
Answer - We do business today in a world we call "the world of sameness" the only way most businesses can come up with to get customers in the door is to reduce prices. The result is reduced margins and a struggling business. Customer focused businesses look for ways to add value, this is why it’s so important to understand your business from the customer’s perspective and foster creative thinking that will result in added value other than a price reduction. Research clearly shows as customers we will pay more for a consistent, quality customer experience.

10) Why does business have difficulty relating to customers emotions
Answer - emotions drive our lives however when we are on the other side of the counter we only see business as a logical process. A large part of how customers measure a businesses customer experience performance is by the way they feel and feelings are emotions. Thankfully understanding customer’s emotions is a major part of a Customer Experience strategy.

Source: Chris Bell, Customer Experience on Voxy.co.nz