Customer Experience: Getting Past the Barriers to Success


Developing a comprehensive Customer Experience (CX) strategy is more difficult than you might expect, and there is a lot of noise in the marketplace as to how to do it right.  However, despite the massive amounts of talk, there are not a lot of intelligent recommendations for action. What are some of the barriers?

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Customer Experience: Getting past the Barriers to Success
1. suitecx ©2015,  suitecx  Inc.   September  23,  2015   Customer  Experience:   Getting  Past  the  Barriers  to  Success   Developing   a   comprehensive   Customer   Experience   (CX)   strategy  is  more  difficult  than  you  might  expect,  and  there  is  a   lot   of   noise   in   the   marketplace   as   to   how   to   do   it   right.   However,  despite  the  massive  amounts  of  talk,  there  is  not  a  lot   of  intelligent  recommendations  for  action.       What  are  some  of  the  barriers?   Internal  Organizational  Silos Companies   struggle   with   CX   because   it   requires   sharing   information   across   the   enterprise.  It  also  requires  getting  agreement  not  only  on  what  needs  to  be  done   but  also  on  who  will  do  it.  Being  successful  at  CX  requires  a  deep  understanding  of   customer   needs   and   values,   as   well   as   all   the   internal   people,   processes   and   technologies  that  impact  the  customer  experience.  Many  department  heads  don’t   have  the  cross-‐functional  technology  and  organizational  skills  to  understand  what   needs   to   be   done,   let   alone   how   to   get   the   leadership   on   board   to   plan   and   execute.   Lack  of  the  Right  Metrics Company  metrics  tend  to  be  focused  on  individual  department  performance,  not   on  mee.ng  cross-‐departmental  goals.  Achieving  margins  and  reducing  costs  tend   to  be  the  most  significant  priori.es.  Customer  experience  gets  put  on  the  back   burner   as   goals   like   risk   avoidance,   project   completion   time   and   technology   up.me  stifle  innovation  and  reward  the  status  quo.   Advertising  and  Marketing  Agencies Modern  agencies  are  highly  competent  in  guiding  their  clients  around  customers’   digital   and   social   interactions,   as   well   as   helping   them   to   understand   broad   emotional  underpinnings  of  brand  relationships.    However,  many  agencies  are  not   as   attuned   to   the   need   to   merge   tati.cal   evidence   from   on-‐   and   off-‐line   interactions   with   the   digital   and   social   knowledge   they   gather.     Agency-‐driven   customer  journey  maps  are  often  aspirational  and  not  grounded  in  fact. Thought Leadership “People,  process,   technology,  and   metrics  makeovers  are   needed  to  implement   a  modern  CX  program.   Companies  should  take   a  step-‐by-‐step   approach,  starting  with   Customer  Journey   Mapping  and  data-‐ driven  assessments   around  CX  maturity.” Lillian  Murphy Vice  President,  Inventory   Yield  and  Club   Development Starwood  Vacation   Ownership No  Common  Definition  of  Best  Customer  Experience   Marke.ng,  Sales  and  Service  are  not  aligned  on  who  is  the  best  customer  and  what  a  good  experience  looks  like.  If each   area   continues   to   operate   independently   and   by   their   own   defini.ons,   customers   will   feel   a   disjointed   experience   at   every   point   of   engagement.   Creating   a   seamless   experience   for   the   customer   requires   common   organiza.onal  understanding,  data  sharing  and  shared  goals  for  improvement.  
2. suitecx ©2015,  suitecx  Inc.   September  23,  2015   Customer  Experience:   Getting  Past  the  Barriers  to  Success   How  do  you  move  forward  when  it  seems  like  an  impossible  task?     Begin  with  your  customer  data Implement  tools  that  enable  you  to  integrate  customer  data  from  multiple  sources   and   systems   to   facilitate   better   business   decision-‐making.   Aim   for   a   360-‐degree   view  of  the  customer.  Clean  and  match  your  data  to  make  it  current,  complete  and   correct.   Update  your  segmentation/personae   Update  your  current  categorization  of  customers  to  get  a  better  understanding  of   your   key   segments.   Focus   on   your   most   profitable   and   most   growable   segments   first.   Understanding   what   is   unique  about   each   segment   helps   you   know   what   additional  data  to  collect  and  use  to  bePer  personalize  their  experiences.   Embrace  Customer  Journey  Mapping If  mapping  the  en.re  customer  journey  seems  overwhelming,  begin  the  process  of   mapping  with  your  most  profitable  segment.  Look  at  them  across  all  the  customer   touch-‐points   and   the   customer   lifecycle   in   order   to   understand   what   they   want   from  you  and  how  you  are  or  are  not  currently  supplying  it.  Different  segments,   such  as  millennials  and  baby  boomers,  will  experience  the  same  interaction  with   your  company  differently.  Your  organization  needs  to  know  what  is  most  important   to  each  customer  group  (moments  of  truth)  and  what  is  broken  (pain  points).   Build  an  Improvement  Plan Mapping   and   validating   the   customer   journey   helps   you   identify   and   prioritze   initiatives   for   organizational   change.   Create   an   improvement   plan   based   on   your   journey   map,   and   hold   sessions   with   Marketing,   Sales,   IT,   Service   and   other   departments  to  agree  on  priorities  and  assign  resources  to  make  improvements.   Thought Leadership About  suitecx® Backed  by  over  120   years  of  combined   experience  in  customer   experience  consulting,   suitecx  is  a  set  of   software  tools  that  allow   users  to  make  fact  based   decisions  and  process   improvements  that  are   grounded  in  the   customer  experience.   Customer-‐centric   diagnostics,  touch   inventories,  journey   maps,  customer   storytelling  and  precision   marke.ng  are  all   components  of  this   groundbreaking   software.   Stop  using  many  different  soRware  tools   to  house  your  complete   customer  experience!   suitecx  is  the  glue  that   keeps  your  customer   experience  together. Metrics,  Metrics,  Metrics Create   CX-‐centric   metrics   to   monitor   your   progress.   Focus   on   business   outcomes   rather   than   task   completion.     Revisit  your  customer  journey  periodically  to  measure  success  against  the  original  baseline. Contact  us  for  more  information:  info@suitecx.com