ABOUT THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY...

Much has been said and written about the customer journey experience ...

It is advocated the use of certain technologies, super-refined marketing concepts, statistics that highlight certain trends, testimonies of happy and satisfied worlds ... but I ask you: honestly and sincerely, what has really changed in your day-by-day as a customer? Do you feel unique and differentiated? In the last 3, 4 or 5 years have you had a 180o turnover in your experience as a customer?

When you go to the hospital ... when you buy at your supermarket ... when you walk into the airport and on the plane ... when you walk through the mall ... when you visit that public museum ... when you are buying your pair of shoes or your perfume ... when you rent the car ... when you walk with your family through that fantastic city ... when you go to the mechanic ... do you feel that your experience is unique? Customized? Disruptive? Or that you had exactly the same kind of experience that your friend mentioned last week? Humm ... is that a yes or no?

Yes?! Wow!! Congratulations! It is best not to wake up from that dream ...

Personally, I have not perceived the degree of disruption and personalization of the journey as a customer that is so much preached in the online&offline professional chambers that surround us.

One note: the earlier statement may be distorted by the fact that over the last 12 years I have sold several projects classified as "disruptive" ... so my requirements may not coincide with yours ... for good or bad experience as customers that we are.

It's like having someone next to me saying: "Pedro, do you see those machines? With them your production capacity will increase more than 80% ... Did you notice that ramp there in the background? With them you save more than 20 minutes in the transport ... and surely you felt the aroma of the entrance, right? With this the perfomance of the employees will increase more than 10% ... but now let’s fold this blueprint and have launch"

There is no doubt that in the digital channels of communication and relationship much has been done, in the sense of giving us unique experiences and journeys that seem to appeal to what we feel to be the differentiating "spark" that separates us from all the other mortals who are in the 1st and 2nd level of our relashionship radar.

But when we come out of this world of bits and bytes almost always solitary, volatile and misshapen and we face reality from the front, when we interact with the other and when we consciously feel (on the skin) the time and money that we spend in that moment and in that purchase, is it not true that everything we read, hear does not find echo in most of our daily iterations as clients?

It's obvious that I might be here exaggerate a little bit ... but don't you feel that gap?

I often question why this shift in the customer’s journey (don’t forget my previous note regarding my distorted look) in the response to concrete and differentiating needs ... in the digital vs. physical world ... in the buzz of social networks, in advertising that makes us dream vs what we really achieve in your experience.

In addition to the state-of-the-art natural limitations available at this time and obvious restrictions, I have identified a few points (without a special presentation order) that may, in my humble opinion, contribute to this augmented reality that is often presented (and sold) to all of us:

• the high HR rotation of the interlocutors in charge of special projects;
• the eagerness of not want to be left behind, regardless of the means to achieve it and the end result;
• focus on product characteristics and brand positioning rather than on the concrete customer and market needs;
• the syndrome of the "superman supplier" that normally delivers a bad result: " I may also be able to do that ...";
• ignorance of studies on certain complementary domains that help to perceive behaviors and reactions, decision processes and different interpretations about the same reality;
• the little life experience of some stakeholders and the excess of rhetoric;
• weak ambition to overcome the obvious and do more than is required;
• the lack of empathy in putting yourself in the other's shoes;
• the absence of a culture driven by excellence;
• the (non) distinction between price and value.

In the search and identification of possible solutions to the humble (and distorted..) diagnosis described above, I suggest to all the stakeholders with responsabilities for the costumer’s journey:

• a responsible ethics in all projects;
• a commitment to talent retention that justifies HR investment and does not compromise the implementation of relevant projects;
• a professional and sensible posture to achieve goals ... goals are defined to be achieved (and if possible exceeded) in the right time and using the most correct means;
• an appropriate capacity to cope with the particularities of the market, the harbinger of tendencies, the omens of rhetorical gurus, and the unusual demands of modern minds that shape consumer habits;
• humility in recognizing what is at the core of the activity and what may be a boat adrift in a shark-infested market; not be afraid of partnerships that add value
• an open mind to all the improbable inputs that, despite deriving from unknown domains, are not without credibility and applicability, generating surplus value;
• a strong spirit of community and shared responsibility that goes beyond likes in social networks;
• a winning and proud attitude of duty more than fulfilled, that impresses all those who challenge it and doubt its value;
• a genuinely human sentiment matrix that functions as the "perfect algorithm" whenever doubt and indecision mark presence;
• the awareness that, at that moment, you can make all the difference;
• a firm and coherent policy that functions as the only and non-transferable fingerprint.

 The costumer’s journey may not be perfect in every detail ... but it has to be sufficiently coherent and robust for the effort and intent to be perceived.