In this series of blog posts, we invite you to dive into the realm of Customer Experience Management: what it entails and how to equip your organization for the future. In this first blog, we begin at the outset: the significance of providing excellent customer experiences (CX) and the exclusive formula for achieving this.
2020 has accelerated customer expectations more than anything else in history. Meanwhile, those who not only think digitally, but especially those who act digitally, have grown organizations and created hundreds of thousands of new, well-paying jobs. These jobs rely on enormous amounts of “personal” data that is aggregated from dozens of touchpoints and devices to achieve unprecedented growth.
On the other hand, those who were not yet involved in their digital transformation have fallen even further behind. Due to COVID-19, customer expectations for brand experiences have increased significantly. The underlying principle is simple: if you and your partner had a strong relationship in 2019, it is likely to be set in stone today. And the reverse is also true. Because we literally sit on each other’s lap every day, we expect more from each other, our relationships, and our relationships with brands. To meet those expectations, you see companies suddenly embracing many D2C (direct-to-consumer) CX models, buying CX technology, building CX, and activating CX.
It’s logical, because especially due to the unprecedented dominance of Salesforce, Adobe, Google, Amazon, Apple & Facebook, business models that don’t focus on knowing and delighting the consumer are doomed to fail. This struggle is further intensified by the death of third-party cookie data, artificial intelligence, cloud services, privacy regulation, Big Tech antitrust, and the looming endgame of the battle for first-party data. Bringing together creativity, technology, and data, as many online seminars would have us believe, is just one part of the solution. Marketing has existed since the industrial revolution and has been incredibly successful even without digital data and technology!
The blind faith in data has led to the unabashed exploitation of user data, deception, and misinformation of consumers on a global scale! Using data for good only works when you start with an outcomes-based model. What do we contribute to the consumer experience, our mission, our market share? The Customer Experience Management (CXM) formula outlines four elements to discover and take action on:
Data transformation is the holy grail of modern marketing. It’s about having the power to acquire, manage, analyze, and activate data in a privacy-compliant way, allowing brands to enhance customer experiences in real-time. Simply put, it’s the difference between thriving and merely surviving in the digital age.
Digital Transformation is about having the ability to design and activate customer experiences that are contextually relevant and irresistibly personal. At the heart of this lies the mastery of technology that enables us to give customers the experience they expect, and occasionally surprise them. It requires a mindset that always starts with our customers, mission, and market share, and carries through to our planning, messaging, and execution.
An Adaptive Organization is one that learns from and moves along with its users, environment, and competition. Data and Digital Transformation can only succeed if attention is paid to organizational and operational innovation as well. It starts with measuring what truly matters and ensuring that your operation can quickly adapt to it.
To truly meet the expectations of customers and employees and propel your organization five years ahead, a company-wide buy-in is required. Customer Experience Transformation demands leadership, vision, and the perseverance to build customer experiences that are truly innovative, user-friendly, aesthetic, non-intrusive, honest, and sustainable.