Customer Experience Success

Successful customer interactions with an organization across contexts and channels do not just occur automatically. Organizations must prioritize the customer journey and set clear objectives, an execution plan and manage the customer experience strategy.

Personalization alone does not lead to superior customer experience. Real time analytics and insights derived from data contribute to successful customer experience. However, customer experience must include an obsession with the customer's happiness, cultural buy in across the organization and the ability to evoke emotion.

At the June 2015 Consumer Forum and in recent press like on MyCustomer.com, Forrester Research asserts that successful customer experiences occur at an emotional level by creating positive sentiment that drives loyalty and inspires advocacy. 

Definitions

• The "cumulative impact of multiple touch points" over the course of a customer's interaction with an organization. (Forbes)
• Customer experience refers to the total of all experiences the customer has with the business, based on all interactions and thoughts about the business. (Webopedia)
• The customer’s perceptions and related feelings caused by the one-off and cumulative effect of interactions with a supplier’s employees, systems, channels or products. (Gartner)
• Customer experience (CX) is the product of an interaction between an organization and a customer over the duration of their relationship. This interaction includes a customer's attraction, awareness, discovery, cultivation, advocacy and purchase and use of a service. It is measured by the individual's experience during all points of contact against the individual's expectations. (Wikipedia)

Statistics

• 80% of CEOs believe they deliver a superior customer experience, but only 8% of their customers agree. (Bain & Company)
• 92% of organizations that view customer experience as a differentiator offer multiple contact channels. (Deloitte)
• 96% of mobile apps currently lack in-line service. (Gartner)
• When companies engage and respond to customer service requests over social media, those customers end up spending 20% to 40% more money with the company. (Bain & Company)
• 94% of customers who have a low-effort service experience will buy from that same company again. (CEB)
• The majority of consumers are disappointed with mobile application support: 66% report they do not feel that enterprise mobile service and support is effective. (Accenture)
• It is 6-7 times more costly to attract a new customer than it is to retain an existing customer. (White House Office of Consumer Affairs)

Take Aways

1. Make mobile and social customer interactions core components of your customer experience strategy to align with your customers' behavior and build trust. 
2. Build data collection and test insight models to automate customer experience feedback and expedite decision-making.
3. Listen at scale through social, experiment often and challenge your customer experience hypotheses as your customer behavior diverges with the introduction of the Millennial generation.