Managing Customer Experience in the Digital Age

 – be adept at deploying a strategy that leverages digitalization to enhance the experience.

This is how Gerry McGovern, a car designer at Jaguar Land Rover put it bluntly. “The customer isn’t king anymore; the customer is a dictator”. A very damning conclusion about the relationship between a customer and the brand.

The reason for this position is not far-fetched. Today’s business world is heavily dependent on the capabilities derived largely from the use of technology. In my early years in the IT industry, many businesses could conveniently ostracize technology to the background and appear to be doing just fine. Fast forward to this day, and the story has changed very dramatically.

Even more significant in this new development is the pivotal role of the customer in making technology central to business success. People are now at the center of all business success in an increasingly digital world.

The word customer now has a broader categorization. Everyone is a customer: customers are buyers, employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders. Whatever capacity we find ourselves in whether as consumers, citizens, or workers, people and how we engage and serve are key to future business growth. Every part of the organization and ecosystem needs to be aligned with customer experience.

Optimizing customer experience is now a major driver of revenue. Consequently, as this narrative suggests, organizations are starting to put their customers at the heart of their operations. This development makes it imperative for the average business to develop capabilities for creatively leveraging technology resources to leapfrog the competition, through enhanced digitally-driven processes.

Brussels Air has the perfect description for making customers feel valued. Their slogan says “Going the extra mile”, and why not, our goal at all times must be to ensure that the customer leaves with a broad smile.

There are immense advantages to going digital. Here are a few of them; digitizing your administrative processes can significantly reduce time and cost by up to 30%. Automation through the use of digital tools will significantly lower your cost of operations enabling you to focus resources on growth rather than repetitive tasks.

Small businesses can improve their customer engagement by providing faster responses and personalized experiences. Furthermore, automated services enhance your capacity to deliver consistent service quality across all channels (touchpoints).

Today’s world is big on data. An efficiently digitized business is better able to collect and analyze data, thus providing them insights into customer behaviour. For example, digital tools enhance internal communications and collaboration among employees.

I recall years ago when we were in the middle of a project where it was a challenge to assemble all stakeholders for regular meetings, we cleared that hurdle using a digital platform to run the meetings. Furthermore, data collected can be analyzed to provide insights into customer behaviour. We now can determine who is buying and who is not, using analytic tools on our website.

Remote working fosters agility and adaptability in responding to market changes. The business case for driving a digitalized business to enhance customer experience is unequivocal. Here are some five elements adapted from McKinsey and Co., typical of any digital transformation. First, have a clear and concise vision for the ideal customer experience and capabilities for employees to deliver consistently.

Second, develop a decision structure to align priorities and actions. Third, develop a portfolio of initiatives to deliver on the vision. Fourth, have capabilities to track progress. Fifth, explore ways of working differently to accomplish things that today’s work can’t.

A clear Vision to deliver the experience consistently

A critical process in customer experience is that of collecting, analyzing, and acting upon customer feedback regarding their experiences with a business. This is known as Voice of the Customer (VoC). It is essential for understanding customer needs, expectations, and preferences, and when used effectively will drive significant improvements in products, services, and overall customer experience.

This process is active listening to customer feedback. It empowers companies with vital information for identifying areas for improvement in the customer journey. It helps the business refine products, enhance service interactions, and streamline user experiences.

It’s about using data to uncover unmet needs and market opportunities and guides in developing new products or features that align with customer desires. Apple is one brand that is known to use data through user forums, social media monitoring, and in-depth customer interviews to identify pain points and unmet needs for product development. Lego, the toy company, applies a user-centered design mindset to understand customer needs. The brand uses an ethnographic approach to observe children in their natural play environments and this provides deep, empathetic insights that drive product innovation.

By utilizing VoC programs, companies are better able to enhance their competitive edge by aligning their offerings with customer expectations. This is particularly vital in industries where customer experience is a key differentiator. The reality is that there is no shortage of use cases to gather the voice of the customer.

For example, in hospitality and tourism, we must focus on which information gaps our customers should fill us in on to help us track data on how customers rate our services, whether our rooms meet their expectations, and whether our stay was pleasurable. Being intentional about VoC is a potential game-changer.

Align on Priorities and Action

The customer journey is depicted by a map that illustrates the customer’s behaviour at every stage in that journey. The journey depicts various stages and what the customer is doing at each stage. There are appropriate tools for gauging customer sentiments with profound accuracy. More importantly one must think through this process from the mind of the customer and not the business.

From the customer’s perspective, the business is one entity. Therefore, whether the interaction was digital or in person note that the customer’s expectations remain consistent at every touchpoint.

Why am I harping on about this? To deliver a consistent experience regardless of the touchpoint, we need to understand how a customer experiences the company and where the key points of interaction are.

According to Alan Pennington (2016), doing this will influence and drive the behaviour of that customer. He reminds us that “Customer Experience is not about an altruistic customer utopia, it is about combining experience with the commercial sense”. Getting the balance right is key as we engage customers, we are both doing our business and managing emotions.

This means our frontline staff must learn to connect meaningfully with customers, fostering trust and loyalty. We must equip them with the emotional intelligence to de-escalate tense situations and resolve conflicts more effectively. This brings to mind the story of a customer whose anger at hotel staff led her to announce her feelings publicly on social media.

A situation that potentially could have been resolved amicably ended up in the public space. We must prioritize training and coaching to improve communication skills, enabling representatives to express understanding and reassurance, which can calm frustrated customers.

Develop a portfolio of Initiatives.

The first step in this process is to design the customer’s journey focusing on mapping and improving the interactions customers have with our brand throughout their entire journey. The goal here is to identify and eliminate pain points, which are specific problems that customers encounter at various stages of their experience.

By addressing these pain points, we can enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. The pain points occur as issues arise during direct interactions with products or services, such as poor customer service or confusing interfaces.

Furthermore, at the journey level customers may experience friction while navigating through the customer journey e.g. long wait times or complicated processes. There are long-term issues that affect customer perceptions and feelings towards our brand, often tied to unmet expectations or lack of personalization.

Our intuitive understanding of where the pain points are is key to enhancing our capacity to deliver unhindered experiences to earn their loyalty. A pain point can be when my utility supplier truncates the service without due notice and keeps it inactive for long spells.

A few strategies for improving the experience include engaging customers proactively by reaching out before they encounter issues. For example, providing troubleshooting tips can demonstrate care and improve overall satisfaction. Additionally, a seamless experience across all communication channels, e.g. phone, email, chat, and social media will send a message of consistency and earn trust and satisfaction. Furthermore, empowers frontliners with the authority to make decisions and resolve issues within established guidelines. A culture of trust enables quicker resolutions and enhances the customer experience.

Track Progress

What cannot be measured cannot be managed. This was the late Peter Drucker’s assertion emphasizing the necessity of quantifiable metrics in effective management practices. This foundational principle in business management, suggests that without measurement, it is impossible to evaluate performance, make informed decisions, or implement improvements.

It proposes that our decision-making must be data-driven e.g. customer satisfaction, sales performance, and operational efficiency through quantifiable metrics. Without these insights, our decision-making will be based on guesswork as opposed to solid evidence.

Measuring outcomes is crucial for continuous improvement. As Drucker posits, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it”.  However, W. Edwards Deming, a renowned statistician and quality-control advocate, suggested that not everything can be measured effectively or meaningfully.

He asserted that many critical aspects of management involve qualitative factors that cannot be quantified but still require management attention. He encourages a broader understanding of management that includes both measurable and immeasurable elements. How do you measure emotions?

This will require a creative approach in gathering sentiments variously to establish a clear understanding of the customer’s feelings and emotions. First, use open-ended surveys to allow customers to express their thoughts freely. Second, conduct direct interviews with customers post-feedback collection to isolate experiences and sentiments for further study.

Third, You can also leverage insights from your frontliners who by their role interact frequently with customers. Fourth. Analyze comments and reviews on third-party platforms where customers share their opinions independently of your influence, offering unbiased insights, this will be from social media.

Manage the Change

The key edict here is how we work differently to ensure that we accomplish the things that today’s ways of working cannot. Change management is pivotal in enhancing customer experience (CX). It ensures that we are well-placed to adapt to evolving customer needs and expectations. It requires a structured approach to implement changes effectively while keeping customer satisfaction at the forefront. Here are some key triggers in managing the change for an enhanced customer experience management regime.

First, establish a clear vision for change. This vision should translate into actionable steps that align with the organization’s goals and customer expectations. For example, what processes will best serve you and your customer in-store or online? Next, create a detailed roadmap outlining the steps necessary for implementing changes to guide your organization through the transformation process. It should address various aspects, including technology upgrades and employee training, ensuring everyone understands their roles in achieving the desired outcomes.

Gather feedback from customers throughout the change process. Perform a regular check-in with customers to assess their feelings about new changes, allowing for adjustments based on real-time insights. Additionally, provide employees with training on new technologies and processes to empower them to better serve customers.

Familiarity with new systems enables staff to handle customer inquiries more confidently and effectively, fostering a seamless experience. Finally, note that Change management is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring of both employee performance and customer satisfaction metrics.

Effective digitization hinges on a well-thought-out strategy with the capacity to efficiently deploy the technologies that are a right fit with your organizational and customer dynamics. We must be prepared to adapt our strategies based on these insights to maintain alignment with customer needs.

Effective journey design in CX is essential for creating seamless experiences that foster customer loyalty. By systematically identifying and addressing pain points across various levels of interaction, organizations can significantly enhance their customer relationships and overall satisfaction.

The Writer is a Consultant in Organizational Development and Customer Experience, and the Head of Training at the Service Excellence Foundation. He can be reached at 059 175 7205

https://gh.linkedin.com/in/km-13b85717

The Customer Experience (CXP) Annual Conference Takes place on Friday 11 October 2024 at the

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