The exchanges we have every day – whether with family, a pet, car, coworker, barista or barber – are all experiences. Because many of these experiences are mundane, they don’t register. But some we carry with us for the rest of our lives. For example, I don’t remember every experience I ever had cooking breakfast or mowing the lawn. But I remember vividly the time I was mowing the lawn when I was a kid, and the bushes in the front lawn had a dock spider the size of a dinner plate. Still creeps me out. It’s the same when it comes to a customer buying a product or a service. Something profound can have a lasting effect, good or bad (consider United Airlines).
Now you may be thinking, “Well no shit, that is the most obvious thing in the world.” Putting the customer first and giving them a great customer experience is just good business. And in theory, almost every business owner or executive has a “customer first” mentality, but in practice most fall short. Either because they are ill-equipped to listen, lack the conviction or vision to make it happen, or are so wrapped up in their own vision they can’t see the forest for the trees. In truth, providing a quality customer experience is not that easy. Because we are individuals, what makes something a good experience differs from person to person.
In today’s hyper connected world, where we have access to endless amounts of data, a customer can have multiple ways or “channels” in which to have an interaction. They can visit your store, browse your website, call, chat, text, or communicate through dozens of various social media platforms. ALL of these methods have and DO leave an impression upon your customer and form a certain level of experience within their mind.
More often than not, companies are not prepared to not only provide a method of interaction across all channels, but also do so in a way that is easy, reliable and provides customer value. It’s not that companies can’t provide a stellar customer experience because of lack of technology. Rather, it’s because stellar customer experience sure as hell isn’t free, and it also isn’t cheap.
Even if a company makes the investment in the technology to provide onmi-channel experiences, then what? Does the executive know how to use them all? Does their staff? The technology vendor they hired may know how to use their tools, but they probably don’t know how to integrate them with the other technology systems in use.
Let’s make the bigger leap of faith and assume you have it all covered, and yet you still aren’t providing the level of customer experience you want and customers demand. That’s because technology and a single focus don’t solve all things, especially when it comes to customer experience. You have to truly listen across all channels and then be willing and able to act upon what you hear.
In order to do that you have to be able to collect and analyze feedback across all channels. That means they all have to be connected and feeding into a business intelligence platform that then needs to provide a level of automation and analysis. This is true omni-channel.
Business owners and executives must have the conviction and vision to not only recognize the importance of great customer experience, but also be willing to ensure that ALL customer interactions – from the first to the everlasting – are guided by the same vision throughout all levels and departments. From the CEO to the CSR, everyone has to have the same mindset and the same goal.
There are thousands of great companies operating today at a fraction of their full potential simply because they aren’t providing excellent customer experience. This is why I love Customer Experience. It’s why I do what I do, helping companies create a vision based on true omni-channel customer experience. ROI never tasted so sweet. If you want to know what true potential your company has – contact me!
