Virtually no organization nowadays can afford to ignore customer experience (CX)—for most of us, it’s become a priority in order to survive and thrive. And so it’s important to focus on how to implement different methodologies with increasing success. Much has certainly been said and written on the topic. And yet, like all still relatively new (and sometimes fluffy) concepts, CX is often misunderstood and misinterpreted, and therefore redefined with mixed results.
Here are the 10 most common myths related to CX that have challenged the effectiveness of systems and design plans. Understanding and dealing with these myths can save our organizations considerable expense and help us make better decisions, ones that better align with what our customers expect us to provide in terms of their experience when interacting with us.
Fiction #1: CX (Customer experience) is a positive term that encompasses all that an organization does well in how it treats its customers.
Fact: CX is actually a neutral term and refers to how the customer interacts with an organization as a whole, and the product and service in particular, across different touchpoints. This experience can be positive or negative, depending on how well we listen to the customer and how well we bring those expectations to life.
Fiction #2: CX is technology.
Fact: Creating a positive experience for our customers may or may not be related to technology. It literally depends on our positioning and our unique selling proposition. Although technology permeates all aspects of our lives nowadays, there are experiences that do not require additional investment in technology, beyond accessing the internet. Think about those services whose unique selling proposition revolves around pampering the customer and providing personalized attention delivered by a real person who can empathize with the customer and build long-lasting relationships. Or of those services and products directed to audiences who may not be very tech-savvy or may not have access to technology. That’s why it’s crucial that when an organization embarks on a CX improvement journey, they take the time to know their customers, to understand how, when, and why they use the product, and what their real expectations are related to those touchpoints. Too much technology for the wrong customer can negatively impact interaction and have disastrous effects on our market share.
Fiction #3: CX isn’t the same as customer relationship management.
Fact: Customer relationship management comprises “all the practices, strategies and technology that an organization uses to manage and analyze customer interactions and data across the customer lifecycle, with the goal of improving customer service relationships and assisting in customer retention and driving sales growth,” according to CRM writer Tim Ehrens. Since CX is an in-depth analysis focused exclusively on improving customer interactions, it is part of the customer relationship management of an organization. Bottom line is that you need both. A word of caution: Customer relationship management should be much bigger than just maintaining a database of our customers, with metrics that rely exclusively on sales figures to understand our market. Also, as the organization aims to become more customer-centric, customer experience and customer relationship management should drive decision making.
Fiction #4: CX is something that marketing handles.
Fact: Customer experience, or CX – just like understanding what the organization’s mission is and what it stands for – should drive decision making at all levels of an organization, and should be clearly communicated to all employees. Moreover, the leadership team should lead efforts for CX clarification and enhancements. Its importance cannot be highlighted enough, as the intention behind it has a direct impact on the entire value chain of an organization.
Fiction #5: It’s the front office that is fully responsible for ensuring a positive CX.
Fact: While front office always gets the praise – or bears the brunt – they are simply the visible representation of the organization in the marketplace. Their success in creative positive interactions across the touchpoints that they are responsible for depends on the inner workings of the organization as a whole.
Fiction #6: CX is always innovation.
Fact: While improving experiences utilizes many of the tools and methodologies employed in innovation, in many cases all that an organization needs to make progress with CX is to clarify customer touchpoints, as well as to articulate and formalize what the internal processes related to those should be. While CX does not necessarily require immediate innovation, it should be the subject of a thoughtful and systematic innovation process in the organization, so that it evolves at the same time as the product or service provided.
Fiction #7: Customers expect absolute perfection across all touchpoints.
Fact: While customers nowadays have quite high expectations regarding the service they receive, and how they interact with an organization, there are certain touchpoints that are much more important than the rest. Identifying those touchpoints and prioritizing their improvement to ensure a high level of satisfaction should be one of the mandatory outputs of any CX improvement or design activity. This prioritization also proves useful in managing any operational crises that might arise.
Fiction #8: The expected level of CX can be assumed based on the information that we have about the industry and what other organizations are currently doing.
Fact: Most organizations assume that they know everything about their customer. While we might know what our customers purchase, and maybe even how they purchase our particular products and services, if we fail to ask the customer, we miss the opportunity to gain valuable insight into why customers choose our products and, more importantly, how they use them, something that can distinguish an organization from its competition. Such a narrow perspective is sure to limit our ability to achieve the desired results. The customer should be involved from the outset to enable us to clarify both their journey to purchase and their utilization of the product or service, as well as understand their motivations and the aspects they most prize in terms of how we deliver our brand’s promise.
Fiction #9: Not every organization needs to think about CX.
Fact: As long as there are customers, their experience accompanies the purchase process and use. With that in mind, all organizations will ideally have a formal process of thinking through and understanding their customers and how to best interact with them.
Fiction #10: Defining CX requires a lot of investment.
Fact: This misconception is closely related to the myth that CX is necessarily technology and, as a result, huge investment in new platforms, tools, and adequate trained resources must be made to operate these. As noted before, technology may – or may not – be the best solution for your organization, but it will all depend on your brand promise and how you deliver that.
At Clientoscope, we recommend that when you undertake the redesign of your CX, you take the time to really listen to your customers and identify and understand their motivations. Once you gain a clear understanding, prioritize the touchpoints highlighted as most important for them, and work toward improving those. Remember, solutions to create a seamless customer experience can and do vary: sometimes you will be required to reengineer internal processes; sometimes considerable investment in technology must be made; and sometimes all that is needed is additional training of your resources.