suitecx©2015,  suitecx  Inc.   September  23,  2015  

Six  Steps  to  Best-­‐In-­‐Class  Customer  Experience  Crea?ng  and  Execu?ng  a  top  CX  Program  Yields  Real  Business  Results  The  Customer  Experience  (CX)  field  is  growing,  and  companies  are  realizing  that  it  makes  clear  business  sense.  For  companies  that  pracAce  CX,  MarketsandMarkets.com  predicts  a  compound  annual  growth  rate  (CAGR)  of  17.3%  from  2014  to  2019.  But  how  do  you  ensure  the  investment  you  place  in  CX  will  be  well  spent?     ATer  20  years  of  experience  in  Customer  Experience  Management  consulAng,  we  have  determined  that  there  are  six  key  steps  to  deliver  a  best-­‐in-­‐class  customer  experience.  These  steps  should  ideally  be  executed  in  sequence  so  as  to  realize  maximum  value.     Step  1:  Start  by  understanding  how  your  brand  promise  actually  works  for  your  CUSTOMER.   The  brand  promise  is  the  commitment  a  company  makes  to  its  partners  and  customers.  It's  not  a  descripAon  of  what  a  company  does  in  a  literal  sense,  but  rather  an  insight  into  the  company's  character.  To  some  extent,  it's  a  mission;  it's  the  way  in  which  the  company  creates  and  delivers  relevant  value.  The  brand  promise  is  where  trust  and  commitment  –  just  like  all  human  relaAonships  –  is  built.   You  need  to  understand  your  brand  and  how  it  delivers  value  to  your  customers.  Great  examples  of  brand  promises  are:   •  Starbucks:  To  inspire  and  nurture  the  human  spirit  –  one  person,  one  cup  and  one  

neighborhood  at  a  Ame. •  Jaguar:    With  a  customer  experience  as  good  as  our  cars. •  Nike:  To  bring  inspiraAon  and  innovaAon  to  every  athlete  in  the  world.   What  does  your  brand  stand  for?  Are  you  delivering  on  the  promise?  Are  you  reinforcing  your  value  in  everything  you  do?  Have  you  defined  what  the  customer  should  expect  at  each  customer  touch-­‐point? Step  2:  Develop  a  customer  experience  strategy.   What  is  the  customer  experience  you  need  to  deliver  to  be  compeAAve?  How  do  you  ensure  that  it  is  delivered  consistently  across  all  your  delivery  channels?  Have  you  defined  what  a  high  quality  experience  is  so  that  employees  know  how  to  deliver  it?   Your  customer  experience  strategy  should  impact  whom  you  hire,  how  you  train  people.  

Thought Leadership

A  study  by  Forrester  Research  and  Watermark  Consul7ng  tracked  the  six-­‐year  stock  performance  of    companies  on  Forrester’s  Customer  Experience  Index.  Even  during  the  recession  years  of  2007-­‐2012,  customer  experience  leaders  averaged double-­‐digit  gains  in  stock  performance,  bea7ng  customer  experience  laggards  by  an  impressive  margin. -­‐-­‐Customer  Strategist

October  2014

and  how  you  empower  them.    To  begin  to  understand  your  current  state,  survey  your  customer  facing  employees  as  well  as  your  customers  get  their  feedback  on  where  the  gaps  and  opportuniAes  are.  Make  plans  to  fix  what  is  broken  and  empower  your  staff  to  take  part  in  the  process Step  3:  Know  yourself  –  and  the  experience  you  are  delivering  –  across  the  customer  lifecycle. Different  customers  have  different  needs  at  different  points  in  the  customer  lifecycle.  At  the  beginning  when  prospects  are  researching  you  need  to  be  sure  you  land  in  their  consideraAon  set.  Make  sure  you  place  yourself  in  the  right  spots  to  make  it  easy  to  learn  about  you  and  understand  your  value.  What  is  your  reputaAon?  What  do  other  customers  like  and  dislike?   In  the  purchase  cycle  customers  are  comparing  product  features  and  prices  to  see  if  you  are  the  best  fit.    Once  purchased,  if  the  product  or  service  doesn’t  live  up  to  customer  expectaAons,  you  will  know  it  either  by  complaints  or  by  customer  churn.  

suitecx©2015,  suitecx  Inc.   September  23,  2015  

About  suitecx® Backed  by  over  120  years  of  combined  experience  in  customer  experience  consulAng,  suitecx  is  a  set  of  soTware  tools  that  allow  users  to  make  fact  based  decisions  and  process  improvements  that  are  grounded  in  the  customer  experience.  Customer-­‐centric  diagnosAcs,  touch  inventories,  journey  maps,  customer  storytelling  and  precision  markeAng  are  all  components  of  this  groundbreaking  soTware.

Six  Steps  to  Best-­‐In-­‐Class  Customer  Experience  Crea?ng  and  Execu?ng  a  top  CX  Program  Yields  Real  Business  Results  

Thought Leadership

 Comfortable  customers  already  in  a  relaAonship  want  you  to  remember  them  and  communicate  with  them  with  relevance,  using  that  knowledge.  Use  evidence,  such  as  behavioral  and  lifecycle  data,  to  engage  and  interact  with  your  customers  intelligently  and  value  their  connecAon  to  your  brand.     Mapping  the  customer  journey  allows  you  to  see  the  different  challenges  unique  to  each  lifecycle  stage.    Make  sure  to  gather  data  from  all  departments  to  provide  an  evidence-­‐based  approach  to  making  recommendaAons  for  change.   Step  4:  Plan  for  different  customer  segments.   Different  groups  of  customers  have  different  value  and  needs,  and  it  is  up  to  you  to  plan  your  customer  experience  by  the  needs  of  each  customer  segment.  Knowing  what  each  segment  wants  and  what  they  consider  to  be  a  good  experience  is  crucial  to  success.     Some  customers  may  prefer  self-­‐service  while  others  want  a  high  touch  experience,  for  example.  Some  customers  prefer  to  take  away  and  others  want  to  eat  in.  Match  the  customer  experience  to  the  different  groups  to  be  sure  they  get  what  they  expect  and  desire.       Step  5:  PrioriAze  your  improvement  plan.   Once  you  have  completed  your  surveys,  journey  mapping,  mystery  shopping  etc.,  you  will  have  a  long  list  of  required  improvements.  In  order  to  make  progress  you  will  need  to  group  the  improvements  into  categories  and  then  get  your  team  together  to  prioriAze  these.    Key  consideraAons  for  prioriAzaAon  include:  cost  to  implement,  ease  or  difficulty  of  implementaAon,  the  expected  impact  on  the  customer,  and  the  impact  on  your  organizaAon.       The  prioriAzaAon  exercise  leads  to  a  longer-­‐term  improvement  roadmap  that  can  be  funded  and  managed  by  your  resources  over  a  mulA-­‐year  cycle.  Be  sure  to  assign  specific  individuals  to  run  each  project  and  provide  them  with  a  project  charter,  defined  deliverables  and  a  budget.     Step  6:  Review  and  improve.   Nothing  is  staAc.  You  will  always  be  gathering  more  informaAon  and  your  channels  will  morph  and  change.    In  order  to  innovate  your  CX  to  match,  you  will  need  to  constantly  innovate,  test  and  measure.    Never  be  saAsfied  that  you  are  finished  improving  your  customer  experience.  ConAnue  to  look  at  other  industries  for  best  pracAces,  bring  in  outside  perspecAves  to  be  sure  you  aren’t  overlooking  something,  and  consider  yourself  a  student  of  customer  experience  who  is  always  learning  and  improving.   Why  invest  in  CX?   The  bonom  line  is  that  what’s  good  for  the  customer  is  good  for  the  company.    Retained  customers  are  4X  more  profitable.    AcquisiAon  by  referral  and  social  sharing  costs  almost  half  of  tradiAonal  acquisiAon  spend.    Companies  who  lead  in  CX  are  15X  more  profitable  through  reduced  costs  and  higher  profit  margins.    While  it  may  not  be  easy  to  get  there,  doing  the  right  thing  by  your  customers  will  yield  a  guaranteed  payoff.