Thursday, June 24, 2021
Customer experience: 2 keys to success
According to Bain, companies that excel in terms of experience grow 4 to 8% faster than their market. Obviously, seeing these figures makes you want to get started right away. These companies have paved the way by developing a customer-centric culture, a prerequisite for true transformation.
They have two major characteristics: a senior management team sponsoring the transformation of the customer experience (CX), and a well-established employee experience.
CX Lab takes a look at these two keys to successful CX transformation.
Key No. 1: It all starts at the top
Do you want to succeed and give your customers a positive experience?
Ask your senior management to sponsor the CX! Why should you? Firstly, because it's a question of strategy, and secondly, because leaders hold the key to transformation, and will be the role models in terms of customer culture.
CX, a business subject, a corporate subject
Customer experience is not the property of the customer relations department or the marketing teams, even though they have an important role to play in terms of customer experience. Customer experience is a company issue, not a team issue, because we need to go beyond silos. It's an integral part of business strategy. It must therefore be thought through globally, and find its natural sponsor in general management.
Customer-centric culture: the positive impact of leaders
Delivering a positive customer experience if you don't have the right mindset is a rare and serendipitous occurrence. Having a customer-centric culture, on the other hand, helps to create positive experiences.
Leaders, and senior management in particular, have a major impact on corporate culture. Having a leader who puts customers at the heart of his decisions, who thinks "customer", makes it easier to develop a customer-centric culture, which is a driving force in transformation. The exemplary role played by managers in this area makes it easier to get the whole company on board.
Amazon is often held up as an example of customer culture. Who hasn't heard of the chair that represents the customer's place in a meeting? But perhaps most important of all is a boss, Jeff Bezos, who sets the tone in terms of mindset: "We see our customers as guests, and we are their hosts. Our daily job is to improve every aspect of the customer experience.
Key No. 2: without employee experience, nothing is possible
Take a look at the rankings of the best companies in terms of customer experience. There's a good chance that these are also present in the "best place to work" rankings(GPTW or Glassdoor). This is no coincidence. There is a strong interdependence between the customer experience and the employee experience.
The customer experience depends on those who make it happen: our employees.
The customer experience and the employee experience are linked. Employees create the customer experience. The link between the two is reflected in the figures.
Aberdeen Group, in its report "Employee Engagement: Paving the Way to Happy Customers", explains that an employee experience approach improves the customer experience. It gives some significant figures. For example, retention rates are 233% higher in a company that has developed an employee experience than in one that has neglected it.
Awareness of your CX contribution
Obviously, when we think of the employee experience, we immediately think of quality of life at work. And that's part of it! But there's an even more important point: the meaning given to work, the knowledge (and recognition) of one's contribution. An employee who knows the value of the work he or she does for customers - directly for some, more indirectly for others - will more easily adopt the right posture and deliver a positive experience.
CQFD. Get back to basics and take care of your employees as well as your customers. Don't try to sprinkle in a few actions. Take the time to develop a global experiential strategy that integrates both the employee experience and the customer experience.
To find out more about this topic, watch the replay of the webinar we co-hosted with CX-Lab on July 8: "Customer experience, employee experience: same battle?" by filling out the form below:
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This article was brought to you by CX Lab
CX Lab is the strategic and operational specialist in customer and employee experience. CX Lab supports its customers in the creation of their experiential strategy. More than consultancy, it's local coaching. It enables real progress to be made in the transformation of the customer and employee experience, while ensuring the necessary transfer of knowledge so that we can continue to evolve.
