Which Comes First: Business Strategy or Customer Experience?

Photo by paul bica

Following up on yesterday's post, "Making Promises, Keeping Promises: Building Brand and Loyalty through Customer Experience," organizations must transform by aligning toward customer experiences to gain a competitive edge, as explained in "Customer Experience: Is it the Chicken or Egg?" by Christine Crandell.

During last month's Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit, brand strategists, innovation experts and other thought-leaders shared their insights and best practices for driving a customer-centric culture. Here are some highlights to help you design and deliver exceptional customer experiences:

• "Incorporating the Rational and Emotional in the Client Experience Journey"
• "How to Build an Experience Management Core Competency"
• "Innovating a Roadmap for Customer Experience"

 

Peggy L. Bieniek, ABC is an Accredited Business Communicator specializing in corporate communication best practices. Connect with Peggy on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and on her website at www.starrybluebrilliance.com.

Making Promises, Keeping Promises: Building Brand and Loyalty through Customer Experience

Photo by paul bica

Would you be willing to pay more for a better customer experience?

According to Kerry Bodine, former VP and Principal Analyst, Customer Experience Research Practice for Forrester, most people would.

During last month's Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit, Kerry indicated that 81% of consumers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience. In addition, she stated that:

• 70% of consumers stopped buying goods or services from a company after experiencing poor customer service
• 64% made future purchases from a company's competitors after experiencing poor customer service

These sobering statistics show that customers' perceptions have a profound impact on every organization's brand equity, customer loyalty and revenue. Here's how you can help successfully define, implement and manage your organization's customer experience to deliver on its promises:

• Come to terms with what your brand really stands for
• Determine how your brand is (or isn't) reflected in your customer experience
• Help employees discover the role they play
• Align your marketing with your actual customer experience

Peggy L. Bieniek, ABC is an Accredited Business Communicator specializing in corporate communication best practices. Connect with Peggy on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and on her website at www.starrybluebrilliance.com.

 

Put People First - Your Success Depends On It

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"Those that will always help a friend, will always have a friend." - Anthony Douglas Williams, inspirational author


When you put people first in everything you do, you will be rewarded in many ways. Companies that put people first - their employees as well as their customers - achieve new and higher levels of loyalty.

Putting people first allows you to understand the key drivers of employee and customer satisfaction so you can leverage empathy to improve their experiences.

Is your company customer-focused or operations-focused? Find out by reading
"Six Differences Between Customer-Focused Companies and Operations-Focused Companies" by Shep Hyken.

If people are your priority, use these insights from this year's Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit to help you design and deliver exceptional customer and employee experiences:

• "Employee Recognition Programs Energize and Strengthen Customer-Centric Organizations"
• "Customer Engagement: The Glaring Blind Spot You Have Been Ignoring"
• "Customer-Centric Culture: Why It Matters and How to Measure It"

 

Peggy L. Bieniek, ABC is an Accredited Business Communicator specializing in corporate communication best practices. Connect with Peggy on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and on her website at www.starrybluebrilliance.com.

Incorporating the Rational and Emotional in the Client Experience Journey



 Photo by paul bica

"The customer’s perception is your reality." - Kate Zabriskie, learning and development industry veteran

Your customer's journey is both rational and emotional. When your clients are your customers, asking purposeful questions to understand their needs and intrinsic motivators builds trust, deepens relationships and drives loyalty.

During the Total Customer Experience Leaders Summit in April, Jill O'Neill, Director, Client Strategy and Execution, Bank of Montreal, shared how to incorporate the rational and emotional into the client experience journey. She also emphasized that investing in people and communications throughout your journey are important to ensure behavioral change sticks.

The journey begins by engaging leaders as client advocates:

• Identify what you are trying to solve for
• Create a roadmap to drive expectations
• Establish a communications strategy and plan

Next, engage employees in the process:

• Recruit key influencers
• Map the current client journey
• Identify the gaps and opportunities in the current experience
• Map the desired client experience

When designing the client experience:

• Create survey questions that are rational and emotional in nature
• Ensure you can take action on what you learn
• Encourage full employee participation (quantitative and qualitative)
• Analyze priority touch points and attributes
• Understand the employee mindset

Finally, when delivering the client experience program:

• Hardwire insights into new disciplines
• Set clear expectations for employees
• Make emotional connections with clients. Set expectations for a different experience focused on non-financial goals.
• Identify and prioritize client goals

Peggy L. Bieniek, ABC is an Accredited Business Communicator specializing in corporate communication best practices. Connect with Peggy on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, and on her website at www.starrybluebrilliance.com.

Creating a Positive Customer Experience

When it comes to obtaining and retaining customers, remembering what you learned in kindergarten really isn't enough anymore. Now, it hinges on the effective use of social media and other Internet-based resources, according to a new study from Consero Group.

Further, Chief Customer Experience Officers will continue to need a variety of new tools and processes to manage the smart consumer effectively and retain customers in a competitive marketplace. More companies recognize the importance of positive customer experience to overall success. But even though budgets and staff sizes are increasing in many firms, many CX executives still lack sufficient resources to run their departments well.

Check out this cool infographic by CMSWire about how to create a positive customer experience: