Elevating Customer Experience Through Strategic Productivity Insights
In a recent workshop conducted at the XI Forum 2023 in London by industry experts Simon Fraser, VP, Insights and Consultancy at InMoment, and Simon Hedaux, Founder of Rethink Productivity, the focus was on enhancing productivity to drive experience improvement within businesses. This hands-on workshop emphasised the significance of integrating customer and employee perspectives into experience enhancement strategies, whilst leveraging productivity studies and insights to make informed investment decisions.
The workshop gathered professionals from diverse sectors such as retail, travel, services, grocery, and healthcare. Participants delved into diverse dimensions of experience delivery, encompassing efficiency, role dynamics, design considerations, and customer journeys. Here are the highlights and takeaways from the session!
Understanding the Core Elements
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the situation, it’s important to conduct efficiency assessments. These assessments prioritise the identification of operational discrepancies, the reduction of non-value-added tasks, and the optimisation of resource distribution. An evaluation of roles within the organisation sheds light on various aspects, including customer interactions, management visibility, team composition, and potential upselling opportunities.
In addition, assessing the design element entails an examination of how the layout impacts both the employee and customer experience, with the aim of enhancing the overall environment. The exploration of customer journeys also allows you to go beyond surface-level observations, encompassing a thorough analysis of both front-end and back-end processes that significantly influence the quality of the delivered experiences.
Macro-Environmental Insights
The workshop started by contextualising businesses within macro-economic and social environments, considering factors like inflation, evolving consumer behaviours, and societal habits. These elements influence how businesses operate and make decisions.
Participants delved into specific customer touchpoints, such as the ‘Fitting Room’ and ‘Coffee Shop’ experiences. Through diverse lenses—customer, employee, and business perspectives—participants identified critical success factors, pain points, and optimisation opportunities.
Insights and Learnings
Rethink Productivity’s Simon Hedaux shared insights derived from global studies across varied industries and environments. The essence lies in the challenging trade-off between investing in time, cost, and quality, as very few businesses can simultaneously optimise all three. Strategic decision-making is pivotal to prioritising where to focus investments.
Key Strategies for Experience Enhancement
The primary takeaway emphasised the importance of a triangulation approach, aligning customer, employee, and business experiences for effective decision-making. Achieving harmony between signals, abilities, and expectations is crucial.
A systematic understanding and anticipation of customer and employee expectations, coupled with responsive processes, are vital for successful experience improvement initiatives. The importance of utilising multiple lenses for investment decisions, aligning them with ROI goals, was a focal point.
Listening to the voice of the customer and recognising their value emerged as a significant strategy. The necessity of an integrated CX data ecosystem, supported by the right organisational culture, was underscored as the ideal approach.
Practitioners need to consider this triangulation of experiences between customer, employee, and the business when making decisions on how best to invest, and support experience improvement transformation. To be successful there needs to be harmony between signals, abilities, and expectations.
- The customers – what they take away from all their encounters with your brand, the signals they are looking for, and what they expect? How clear to them is the process, how easy it is to access and have privacy, and how easy is it to get help when needed?
- The employees – what they can deliver, what they are trained to do, what is the culture, and what are their KPIs?
- The business – what you say you do (the expectations being set / how this is marketed), and where the budget should be spent? What measures can be taken to prevent loss prevention? What are the staffing levels that are being provided for in the budget?
In conclusion, the workshop underlined the intricate balance needed between productivity, customer experience, and business success. By aligning strategies with the intertwined needs of customers, employees, and the business, companies can drive impactful improvements that lead to sustainable growth and enhanced customer loyalty.
Download the full summary of our XI Forum Europe 2023 here
