How do you create a great customer experience?

Developing a differentiated customer experience (CX) is critical if you want to stay competitive and thrive in today’s complex and ever-changing marketplace. 

CX is how customers perceive their interactions with your organisation – an amalgamation of their combined experiences across all touch points. That’s why it requires a cross-functional mindset and needs to become the focus of each team within your organisation. 

And this is where brands often fail to elevate their customer experience. They focus on a single touch point, rather than looking at the entire customer journey and they delegate it to be marketing’s responsibility alone. 

ADMA instructor and founder of Liquid CX, Simone Blakers says organisations need to think outside of the marketing realm if they want to get customer experience right.

“Consider how customers experience your physical products, if you have them. Think about the packaging and the delivery. If you have a physical store or building, think about what overall experience you want to create with sounds, light and smells,” she poses. “All of these will influence how your customers perceive your brand overall.” 

When you consider every aspect of your customer journey, the opportunities to influence CX are endless. But before you jump head-first into brainstorming ideas, there are four shifts you should consider to make sure you’re not wasting your time.

Shift #1: Campaigns are out, always on programs are in

Marketing campaigns have been one of the go-to tools for brands to engage with customers. The challenge with this approach is that it focuses more on what you (the brand) want to say rather than what your customers are after.

Marketers need to shift their mindset and think about how they can serve customer needs with the right message, on the right channel, and at the right time. Your customers may do product research at 11pm at night online or they may visit your store at 10am on a Wednesday. If you’re not ready with the right message, you may lose them. 

It may sound a little Everything Everywhere All at Once-esque – because it, kind of, is. 

Shift 2: Measure like a researcher

Once you make the shift to always-on programs, your measurement approach also needs to change to accurately monitor your impact.

You need to measure your always-on programs at specific intervals – weekly, monthly or quarterly. Then you need to compare the performance of each interval against each other, similar to a longitudinal research study. These will give you insights into trends and the impact of any optimisations you’ve made.

Shift #3: Ditching the four Ps for the four Cs

Customer-centric marketing isn’t new. In fact, Robert (Bob) F Lauterborn suggested a shift away from the four Ps of traditional marketing (product, price, place and promotion) in 1990. And Lauterborn’s suggestion of the 4 Cs have never been more valid or relevant.

“With the traditional 4 Ps of marketing, you’re anchored on what you’re selling, finding someone to sell it to, how you can sell it and how much you can charge for it. It's about pushing it into the market,” Simone explains.

“Whereas the 4 Cs anchor on the customer. How you connect with them and how they extract value. Moving beyond price or promotional value to valuing the experience.”

4 Cs:

1. Customer wants and needs should be at the heart of everything an organisation does, replacing the focus on products.

2. Cost to satisfy goes beyond the monetary price of a product. It looks at the holistic cost to satisfy customers – from browsing online to learning how to use the product. 

3. Convenience replaces place and focuses on how organisations can make it easy to interact with and buy from an organisation.

4. Communication enables a two-way dialogue rather than promotion’s one-way interaction. 

“Communication is an important piece. It’s about what we're saying to customers at any touchpoint – from an ad and an inquiry through to fulfillment and mandatory messaging. It helps us understand that brand advertising is just advertising – what you say your brand is may not be what the customers experience. It’s why we need to remember that there is brand perception attached to every single communication and interaction,” Simone explains. 

Shift #4: Think omni rather than multi-channel 

Today most organisations use multiple channels to reach customers with an aligned message. While this is a great start to creating consistency, this approach doesn’t consider the context of the customer. 

Businesses need to adopt an omni-channel strategy, focusing on creating a seamless experience across all channels. Developing a 360-degree channel approach where every touchpoint is connected and has access to customer history and insights. When your customer starts a journey in one channel, they should be able to continue seamlessly via any other channel. 

Ready to achieve your growth goals through CX?

Customer experience programs take time and careful planning to develop. But arming yourself with the right knowledge, skills and tools will give you the confidence to create consistent and differentiated experiences that can shift the needle and help your organisation thrive. 

Register for ADMA’s new Customer Experience Certificate which will teach you how to complete a CX audit, identify strategic areas for improvement and create a rock-solid execution plan. 

From understanding CX and the customer journey to designing omnichannel experiences, measurement and leadership, Simone will share first-hand insights and tips over 10 action-packed weeks. Register for our next course starting soon.

Enrol today