One thing I am passionate about, from a professional perspective, is Customer Experience. It is almost a science- to create a storyboard pathway that intentionally designs a customer’s journey through your organization the can be complex, but yet energizing. In 1997, while working as a Marketing Director for a small regional bank, the first position statement I pitched was “*experience”- and this was long before customer experience was a buzz phrase. In the event you’ve been hiding under a rock somewhere, the idea of “Customer Experience” is everywhere today. Some say that focusing on the “experience” has become the most important benchmark for an organization to achieve success- and a tangible measure of creating your point of differentiation and competitive advantage in the marketplace.
But, what is Customer Experience and how does it differ from Customer Service? Going further, how focused or concerned should your organization be about it? How much time should you spend developing and deploying it?
First, to define customer experience– a search in Google gives several credible sources, from: Harvard Business Review, Forbes, University essays/dissertations, and yes- Wikipedia. The best, most concise definition I came across from the Harvard Review reads- “it is the sum total of all interactions a customer has with a company (or organization).” This can include everything from a customer’s initial awareness of a company, completing a transaction for a product or service, to the eventual follow up and reciprocating. Added up, these add up to critical moments called touch point and create an organization’s customer experience.
Good examples are: an amusement park (see Disney), a bank branch or car dealership. It’s about alignment; creating a storyboard to design the story and experience you want your customers or guests to feel. On the other side it gives you tangible benchmarks to grade your effectiveness.
Customer service is too often thought of as a specific department in an organization, rather than as a core value or strategic discipline, driven by the entire organization. Customer service by definition is a department of people tasked with handling problems and issues. Shifting focus from service to experience helps retention efforts since there are so many consumer interactions with your organization before, during, and after a visit or purchase. Customer service is a single department that addresses issues that arise out of a specific instance; if they can’t solve it, the “ticket” gets “escalated” (see “cable” companies). Customer experience encompasses every aspect of an organization’s touch points- from customer care to marketing, packaging, appearance, perception, etc… Guest experience commands that no one in an organization “owns” any one customer or guest; but any one person in an organization may own an interaction with that customer. Service solves an issue; Experience seeks to understand guests or customers needs and desires holistically.
To advance your organization’s Customer Experience, it must become a strategic business priority:
- Storyboard your strategic organizational alignment.
- Get to know Customers and Guests holistically.
- Invest in exceptional service as an asset, rather than an expense.
I said earlier that Customer Experience is almost a science; it is more of an art. Knowing your organization intimately and blending in holistic knowledge of your audience gives you a unique opportunity to create a journey through your organization to engage your experience.
What + Who = How.
