By Donna Peeples
Great companies are like beautiful clocks; they’ve got a lot of moving parts that all have to work together in order for the whole to be successful. Again and again I’ve found, however, that they can be distilled into three key categories: people, process, and technology. Getting these to align and synergize requires a clear roadmap centered around the customer experience.Why Customer Experience is Critical
You can measure customer experience with a variety of perception, channel, and business performance metrics, such as satisfaction, net promoter score, and profitability by customer and segment. Depending on the industry, some metrics might be more important to hone in on than others, but the customer experience influences virtually every aspect of a business, from product development to risk management to inventory. Analyzing your experience data effectively means that you can differentiate customers based on value (current and potential), allocate resources accordingly, and grow based on these insights.Putting customers first results in dramatic changes to both process and company culture. For instance, thinking becomes less siloed and more collaborative; empathy-based learning always trumps a mechanical approach, and employees need to be actively engaged in improvements to the experience rather than just hearing that they need to “be better”. Instead of simply coping with difficulties and not really understanding the solution process, workers should enjoy an open, unified environment, and truly use their expertise to evolve the business.
