CX is a buzzworthy term floating around boardrooms, marketing departments and C-suites these days. CX is a quippy way of referring to customer experience. Harvard Business Review defines customer experience as everything that encompasses a company’s offering.
This all-encompassing offering includes:
• Quality of customer care
• Advertising
• Packaging
• Product and service features
• Ease of use
• Reliability
Typically though, the customer experience is not an overarching theme in all these activities of the offering delivery. And, if it is, the separate areas of the business that perform these tasks are often not synced up. Even more concerning is the fact that whether things are going well or not so well with the customer experience, it is often not measured accurately or all to gain insights.
There is an upside to all of this tough CX talk, however. The customer experience is more within reach than you might think - no matter how tight your budget may be. And, optimizing your customer experience just might be your business’s ultimate secret weapon. Check out some statistics that solidify the case for prioritizing CX:
• A report from Bain & Company found that organizations with a customer experience
emphasis increase revenue up to 8% higher than those who don’t.
• Another survey published by Gartner showed that two-thirds of companies find a
competitive advantage via customer experience, up from just 36% in 2010.
• Qualtrics reports that 73% of companies with above-average customer experience
perform better financially than the competition.
How To Apply Customer Experience Techniques Of Top Brands
The gold standard in customer experience, The Ritz Carlton. Take a page from one of the top global brands. Let's explore how the Ritz makes CX it's number one objective.
“We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen."
How The Ritz does it:
• They set the “Gold Standard.” - Ritz Carlton uses these criteria to define their overarching philosophy and values by which the brand operates and includes the Motto, the Credo, the Three Steps of Service, the Service Values and the Employee Promise.
• They don’t keep it a secret. - The brand’s service philosophy is heavily embedded in
their training protocol and even can be found posted in the hotels for everyone to see.
• They bake it into their training programs. - Using their “Five Leadership Principles,” Ritz
Carlton works hard to ensure that the values and principles of an optimal customer
experience are ingrained in all employees from the top to the bottom of the
organizational chart.
A reputation built on experience - Disney. Disney is another global brand who rests its reputation on providing unforgettable customer experiences. Disney has famously adopted the motto:
“While no one owns the guest, someone, in every case, owns the moment.”
Disney puts lifetime value on customers and touts a 70% first-time customer retention rate. As such, they are somewhat of a master class on customer experience. Here are some takeaways from the Disney model.
• Top-down approach. From day one, employees at Disney are trained to prioritize the creation of happiness for the guests.
• Next-level personalization. Guests get special attention that matches what they are
celebrating at Disney, from a birthday, marriage, family reunion to a first-time visit. This
targeted and personalized attention curates an unforgettable customer experience.
• Emotional connection. Rather than just selling rides, Disney strives to make an
emotional connection with every visitor.
5 Doable Strategies For Putting Your Refreshed Customer Experience Strategy In Motion:
1. Start with the values. Take a step back and define the values that define your customer experience. Is it about the product? Is it about personalized service? Get crystal clear on what it is now, what you want it to be in the future and how you’re accomplishing it.
2. List and prioritize client touchpoints. Understanding the customer’s journey may be one of the most important steps any business leader can take. As you turn over these rocks and review the process, you are certain to learn key insights about your business and your customer.
3. Determine who delivers the message. Communication is the key to the customer
experience. As you outline the customer experience, define who delivers the messaging
you want your customer to hear. Create scripts so that the message is aligned with your
organization’s values.
4. Train, train, re-train. Your team is the face of your company. They are also the
ambassadors of your customer experience. Take the time to train new employees, re-
train current staff and measure your results. This is the foundation of your customer
experience success.
5. Measure. As you craft the messaging and the delivery touchpoint, measurement is key
to sustaining long term successful CX programs. It’s important to create short and long-
term metrics to understand what’s resonating with your customers and what isn’t.
No matter the size of your business, a positive customer experience is not only within reach, but essential to succeeding. Even if your brand is not at the global level with the likes of Disney or the Ritz Carlton, you can still provide world-class level experiences to your clients and find a competitive edge in your service model. Cabanas Consulting specializes in helping businesses finetune the customer experience they provide and the messaging delivered across the organization. Let’s explore your values and objectives together, then roll up our sleeves to make sure every touchpoint is epic.
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