#Customer Experience#Customer Journey#Customer Delight

Explore Customer Experience from a diver's perspective!

Nowadays, customer strategy goes further than just picking up a segment of customers to sell products. It’s about striking a chord with articulation of the distinctive value and experience your company will deliver to a chosen set of customers. Below are some pointers which would slide us to think beyond just a Customer servcie approach.

1 Master the art of the possible- The most successful companies continually experiment with innovations that make life better for customers. This is particularly important for digital and mobile technologies, which continue to fundamentally affect the ways people interact with the types of products and services they favor.

2 Know your customers at a granular level- To raise your own customer analytics ability, thoroughly define your market and customers. Deepen your knowledge by applying techniques such as mapping the customer journey. Seek out data from a variety of sources at the most granular level; for example, activity tracked by the Internet of Things, real-time interactions with your own online and offline channels, and communities such as customer advocacy councils.

3 Link your company’s customer strategy to its overall identity- Linking your customer strategy to your company’s value proposition means aligning the emotional elements of your customer strategy, and all customer touch points including pricing, with the strongest capabilities your company has. The value proposition will distinguish one’s company from the other.

4 Target customers with whom you have the right to win- When your company has a strong identity, you don’t need to claim the right to compete in every marketplace — only in the categories where you are reasonably confident of winning against competitors. Reach out to markets where you are confident of delivering your proven capabilities.

5 Treat your customers as assets that will grow in value- Building great customer relationships is a long-term game. You can build on this quantitative understanding by analyzing your customers’ paths to purchase, which will give you the insight you need to expand and tailor your customer relationships and to invest in meeting the evolving needs of your customers. The results of this analysis, particularly when customer data is included, can affect every aspect of your customer relationships, including the emotional attributes of your brand and the consistency of your pricing.

6 Leverage your ecosystem- your company’s relationships extend to suppliers, distributors, retailers, industry associations, institutional partners, and government agencies. You can leverage this ecosystem to engage your customers in new ways. A broad ecosystem can reveal what else is of interest to your customers, opening up new ideas for product and service offerings and growth opportunities. Crucial to this approach is developing brand ambassadors. These advocates promote your brand to win over new consumers for you.

7 Ensure a seamless shopping experience- Consistency across channels will be critical during the next three to five years. Customers want an undisrupted, on the go, boundary-less shopping experience. Companies must bank on creating such experience to win customers.

8 Excel at delivery- The physical delivery of products and services is critical to keeping your customers happy. The use of relevant technologies and metrics, including customer experience, cost, and productivity, can help ensure high-quality delivery without sacrificing profitability.

9 Match your culture with your customer strategy- A relevant culture is a bigger advantage than ever for customer-facing companies. Just focus on the few critical behaviors that exist in your organization in which people are doing well for customers. These might include mobilizing a cross-functional team to help a customer solve a problem quickly, saying no to a potential deal with a customer with whom you don’t have a right to win, or starting meetings by explicitly asking how it is relevant to the customer strategy. Fixing up the issues without dragging resources, then help spread these behaviors through the rest of the company.