How to build a killer Customer Experience (CX) Strategy

At the end of this article, readers of this article should be able to absorb:

1. simple & powerful CX steps to apply best practices, and
2. seamless CX tactics in order to gain customer loyalty

Why Customer Experience (CX)?

8 CX Statistics & Trends you should know about and pay relavant attention, in 2022:

1. Global CX technology spending is expected to reach $641 billion in 2022. (IDC)
2. 87% of business leaders tag CX as their top growth engine—the highest of any other growth area. (North Highland)
3. The size of the U.S. CX industry is expected to grow 15% annually from 2021 to 2028. (Grand View Research)
4. Two-thirds of companies compete on customer experience, up from 36% in 2010. (Gartner)
5. Nearly 90% of companies have a CXO or equivalent executive, compared to 65% of companies with a CXO in 2017. (Gartner)?& 95% of leading organizations cite CX job roles as important to achieving business growth (Econsultancy)
6. 56% of B2C companies have a dedicated CX team, with most formed in the last one to two years. (Usersnap)
7. 76% of executives say improving CX is a high or critical priority. (Forrester)
8. 70% of financial companies, 58% of tech companies and 50% of retailers anticipate having a larger budget to invest in CX technology in 2022. (Zendesk)

Based on the above statistics from corporate leaders, entities, in order to scale, MUST focus on the CUSTOMER and invest heavily on a solid CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE (CX) STRATEGY, since it becomes the one and only DIFFERENTATOR as the below diagram clearly indicates:

Reference: "Introduction to Customer Experience" - Published by Darcy Fleming (14/4/2014) (https://slideplayer.com/slide/12662671)

If we were to explain the above in simple words, creating a world-class, end-to-end customer experience can become a key strategic differentiator. It requires a deep understanding of both the customers and how they interact, plus, a commitment to change business processes based on that understanding.

Let's analyze a CX example in the Coffee Industry:

• Imagine purchasing "coffee beans" from a "Coffee Grinder" shop. Nowadays, coffee beans cost averagely from .02€ to .03€ per drinking cup. This is a global "commodity buying" pattern for all of us who enjoy drinking coffee during several times a day.
• However, when we purchase a "coffee beans pack" the price rises! Why??? simply because, we move from the "commodity buying" pattern to a "goods buying" action and companies include, amongst other expenses, packaging costs. Immediately, coffee beans cost averagely from .05€ to .25€ per drinking cup.
• Moving on, on our way to the office, daily, we stop at the local coffee shop and we purchase a takeaway coffee cup. Why did the price rise again? as we all understand, the "goods buying" action became a "service purchase". Stores have to absorb in their selling prices, costs such as cups, utility expenses, etc. Now, coffee beans cost averagely from 1.70€ to 2.00€ per drinking cup.
• Last, but not least, the working day is over and we decide to invite a friend for a cup of coffee after work at the local cafeteria. How much will it cost us? 2.50€ to 4€ per cup!!! Why?? We are only drinking the same coffee beans!!! We are indeed drinking the same coffee beans, but this time we are also "purhasing an EXPERIENCE", since we are sitting at the local cafeteria, we are being served by a waiter, we are listening to music, etc.

Hence… on what do we need to focus & invest the most? Apart from the obvious, quality goods and services, it is paramount to share AMAZING EXPERIENCES to our customer base.

Companies only need to implement the following 4 CX steps in order to apply BEST PRACTICES. These are:

1. Build a Team that is CX-FIRST. Smart customer experience starts with strategy and therefore starts with people

"The biggest problem isn't technology," said Jessica Ekholm, a VP analyst at Gartner. "It's getting people in the same room."

In other words,

• Hire or promote leaders who put the customer first
• Your entire organization needs to be digital-first and customer-centric
• Customer Success Managers should be helping your customers take full advantage of your product

2. Make Sure You Understand Your Customer. Once a CX Team?is in place and the organization's approach to customer service is clear, most experts agree that companies should then identify & understand their audience and their wants & needs, get their customer onboarding process right, create a “Customer Journey Map” while pin pointing relevant “Interaction Touchpoints” -- and, in most cases, create -- the various "personas" of their customers.

In other words:

A. Customer Journey Mapping

• visual illustration of your customer’s interactions and experience
• make sure you gather: wants, needs, goals, interaction touchpoints & Pain-points

B. Interaction Touchpoints

• customer interactions with a company via any channel, at any time, for any purpose
• drive customer perceptions of your brand and experience

C. Personas

Persona Design Approach:

• Who is taking a journey
• Define segments
• Design your persona

3. Analyze & Drive Smart Decisions through Data. In practical terms:

• Use Social Media Management Tools that connects customers’ footprints with your CRM
• Use NPS and CSAT data to fuel your strategy in real-time
• Get personal customer data by implementing private messaging
• Respond with context using holistic customer profile data (aggregate data to a monitoring tool)
• Own Your Brand’s Social Community

Reference: "How to create a great Customer Experience Strategy in 6 steps" - Published by Albert McKeon, Tech Target (20/7/2020) (https://searchcustomerexperience.techtarget.com/feature/How-to-forge-a-smart-customer-experience-strategy)

4. Apply 12 Killer Tactics to achieve CX Goals

In detail:

Tactic 1 - Empathy to customer feedback & customer reviews. Key methods are:

• Surveys
• Email contact forms
• Usability tests
• Exploratory interviews
• Social media
• Instant feedback on website

Tactic 2 - Show customer appreciation. Common practices are:

• Send a thank-you note
• Take time for face-to-face conversations.
• Give customers unexpected upgrades or discounts.
• Bend the rules.

Tactic 3 - Improve Time to Resolution. In practice:

• one frustration customers experience is long wait and belated response times
• Quick Response = Satisfaction = Loyalty

Tactic 4 - Harmonize humanity and automation. In simple terms:

• Μarketing automation is a great way for organizations to lower costs and boost resolution time, it isn’t necessarily a favorite when it comes to CX.
• Mix & Match

Tactic 5 - Measure success and adapt to change. In other words:

Follow and monitor CX metrics & KPIs, such as:

• NPS / CSAT
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
• Customer Effort Score rules.

Tactic 6 - Generate new leads with a referral system. Adopt an ability to:

• to make customers happy and churn out new leads to chase.
• offer incentives
• set up trigger emails

Tactic 7 - Maintain & Invest in loyal customers

There are two ways to maintain loyal customers:

• Offer follow-up training
• Stay in touch, even between sales

Tactic 8 - Use Marketing to Publish Educational Materials

• Educational marketing materials like eBooks, case studies, etc. can bring in leads & drive solid returns
• Hand out these materials free

Tactic 9 - Chase the “A ha” Moment!! In other words:

• Try to showcase your best product or service features during the onboarding process
• Work with your customers through the implementation

Tactic 10 - Customer Experience vs Customer Service

In practice, while good customer service plays a key role in CX, sometimes the best experiences occur without any customer service at all.

Tactic 11 - Personalize experiences

80% of customers prefer personalized experiences through:

• Custom email templates
• Write down personal info during sales process
• Curate content to your customer’s preferences

Tactic 12 - Αdoption of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

40% of CX-centric companies believe the adoption of A.I. technology to be extremely significant for usage in decision-making and recommendations.

To conclude, every company’s journey with its customers is different. But once you’ve committed to customer success, start by implementing the above mentioned steps, strategies and tactics, with adjustments and necessary tweaks along the way. A/B test, experiment, do not be afraid to fail, make sure you optimise through out your customer interactions. Whether you start by improving your onboarding progress, your marketing efforts, or the product itself, you’ll be sure to build a company that’s focused 100% on your customer and positively affect your financial results and bottom line.

About the Author:?Makis Themelis is an award-winning C-Level Executive, with extensive local & international corporate success stories background, specializing on the “digital transformation” & “customer experience” areas. He has more than 20 years in depth knowledge within the online, digital sales & marketing, advertising & media, e-commerce, technology, retail and the services sectors, directly managing P&L statements and building successful operations. For several years, he worked within the British market in key digital multinational organisations such as eBay & Yellow Pages (yell.com). Returning to Greece, at the end of 2005, he collaborated with the Greek Yellow Pages (INFOTE S.A.) and Chrysi Efkairia S.A., as Commercial Director, influencing their strategic development (i.e. xo.gr, goldendeals.gr, goldenbrands.gr, xe.gr, etc.). Following these, Mr Themelis finds himself in PRIME MEDIA S.A. (Copelouzos Group), focusing on the company’s international expansion. In October 2013, he leads Brandsgalaxy.gr (Antenna Group), as General Manager, to profitability and moves on to accelerate Thinkdigital S.A. to revolutionising the Southern European digital advertising ecosystem. Until June 2019, Mr. Themelis held the position of Chief Digital & Commercial Officer in QIVOS (at the time, member of the FF Group), when he joined Public (Retail World S.A.) and later Mediamarkt (PMM Group), as Chief Digital Officer with the mandate of restructuring & advancing the eCommerce, Digital Marketing, Loyalty & CRM fields. In his present endeavors, Makis Themelis leads Greece's largest power and utilities company's (P.P.C. S.A.) commercial & e-mobility digital transformation efforts. During all those years, Mr. Themelis also dedicated time in subject matter expert keynote speaking in several events and teaching, as a Lecturer, at the Hellenic American Union & Metropolitan College institutions. A multilingual C-level Exec holding a BA degree in European Studies from the University of Essex and an MA degree in International Business Relations from Warwick Business School.