The Future of CX? It’s not what you might think…
For consumers, 2019 is a great time to ‘do business’. From expecting
to emotionally connect with a brand, receive a personalised service as standard
and get an instant response on social media, the customer really is king.
According to PwC, one in three consumers (32%) say they will walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience – and that’s a brand they love. A more recent global survey found figures to be closer to three quarters (76%). With statistics like these, the impact of customer experience (CX) on a business’ long-term profitability is undeniable.
Alongside this, employee experience (EX) executives are working on recruiting a diverse talent pool to represent the emerging generation of consumers. They are tasked with empowering their employees by including them in strategy creation, incentives and working cultures to differentiate the company’s CX strategy from their competitors.
To achieve success, CX and EX need to work hand in hand to implement strategies, processes and an environment where digital is designed and implemented in a way to enforce the employee as a trusted voice between leadership and the customer.
Meaningful CX
As brands and businesses continue to list CX as a top strategic and operational priority, the winners are investing in meaningful CX instead of just jumping on the latest tech bandwagon. There’s no doubt that tools and technologies can drive the CX operation, but without an emphasis on building trust and emotional engagement, there’s a danger the experiences won’t feel human.
So, if technology alone isn’t the answer, how do you address
the disconnect between consumer expectation and an actual experience? How do
you create phenomenal experiences that reap rewards? How will industry leaders
use customer data to enrich engagement and create more memorable CX
experiences? And what role does the human touch play in an ever more automated
customer service?
Embed CX Throughout the Corporate Strategy
Shifting to a customer-first culture has to be led from the top down. As, Fred Reichheld, the creator of the Net Promoter System, puts it: “This shift has to be led by the most senior executives in the company. Not because they just think it’s cool, but because they see it practically represents the path to victory for their organisation”. The organisations that place CX at the heart of corporate strategy, are the ones that will emerge as true customer-experience leaders.
Value and Empower your Employees
Companies that prioritise employee engagement are winning the CX battle. According to the CXEvolution study by MaritzCX: “Customer-centric companies are three times more successful at driving significant financial improvement and customer retention than companies that are not customer-centric”. If you have highly engaged employees, who are emotionally attached to your brand, products and services, it stands to reason they’ll be more committed to the business and will drive a superior customer experience.
To enhance your CX and EX strategy join our afternoon
session entitled Cultural Transformation
on a Global Scale with Susanne
Westford, People & HR Director, Synsam group to hear her 3-pronged
approach to achieve one vision and shared value across your business. Download the full event brochure to receive a breakdown of all the sessions.
Be More Human
For the customer journey to work we have to take a step back from the data driven by technology – after all data’s worst enemy is cognitive bias. Companies tend to look to optimising the customer and the journey in order to improve and modernise them, but in doing so we’re actually missing the humanity of it. Consumers want to build real connections with brands. They expect speed and convenience but the human touch should not be underestimated. According to a recent PwC report, technology is an enabler – not the solution: “Human interaction matters now – and 82% of U.S. and 74% of non-U.S. consumers want more of it in the future”. Brands that are more human stand to build higher levels of intimacy and loyalty in the long run, resulting in more forgiveness if a single customer experience falls under par.
The customer journey as it exists now needs to compensate for delivering value, relief and utility. A CX strategy intertwined with EX will enable businesses to successfully design an intellectual, emotional and physical experience, and a journey that exists to deliver better value, relief and utility for both customer’s and employer’s alike.
To futureproof your business, attend our CX EX Transformation Nordics conference to hear real-life case studies from Nordic leading businesses including Nokia, Finnair and Twitter to gain insights into how they have collaborated with their CX and EX departments, initiatives and strategies to drive clear ROI, engagement and competitive advantage within the Nordic market.
Request a copy of the agenda to be sent via email