Can the mastery of the less obvious distinguish market leaders?
This was the focal point of a recent CEO Luncheon meeting I hosted in Sydney, where Jodie Moule from Behavjor* unveiled the often-hidden, transformative power of managing the complete Customer Experience.
According to Jodie a Design Thinking and Customer Experience expert, customers value not just your product or service, but the entire journey with your brand. This includes their trust in your brand, the service they receive, and the feeling that what they purchase is tailored to their needs. “Maximising satisfaction with customer journeys has the potential not only to increase customer satisfaction by 20 percent but also to lift revenue by up to 15 percent” – statistics too significant to ignore. **
Your Customer Journey as a Strategic Differentiator:
Your organisation puts a huge effort into differentiating your products and services but remember the “experience” your customers have accessing your product or service should also be a strategic differentiator. How many times, when purchasing a product or service have you been let-down by the experience of the transaction. Conversely can you remember the lightning strike when that experience was excellent? That experience often becomes the compelling reason for customers to choose, stay with, or leave a brand.
CEO’s Role in Championing Customer Experience:
I would suggest the responsibility for elevating the customer experience lies at the top of the organisation. As CEOs, the impetus is on us to spearhead this evolution. It is the CEO who must foster a culture that places the customer’s journey at the heart of business strategy. This top-down commitment ensures alignment across the organisation, making the concept of superior customer experience a living, breathing aspect of every business operation.
Incorporating Customer Experience into Strategic Planning:
Do you include an evaluation of customer experience in your strategic planning? If not, you’re missing a critical component of your blueprint for success. This should be an integral part of your strategic review process. Understanding and refining the customer journey must be ingrained in the company’s DNA.
If your strategy sessions don’t incorporate the customer experience perhaps it’s time to recalibrate? Is the opportunity in your organisation to unlock unprecedented levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty by adopting a customer-first perspective?
To begin your own review Jodie Moule posed three simple steps:
- Map the Customer Journey End-to-End:
This involves meticulously plotting each touchpoint a customer has with your brand. This could be their initial website visit, a phone call with customer service, a product interaction, or even social media engagement. By visualizing the entire journey, you can identify potential pain points, missed opportunities, and areas for improvement. - Be Your Own Secret Shopper:
Take a walk in your customer’s shoes. Navigate your website, call your customer service line, and experience your product or service firsthand. Identify areas of friction, confusion, or frustration. This exercise can be incredibly eye-opening. - Talk to Customers Who Have “Dumped” You:
Customer churn is a valuable source of insight. Reach out to customers who have chosen to go elsewhere and understand why. What was missing in their experience? What could you have done differently? By listening to these former customers, you can glean valuable information to improve your experience for everyone else.Is your customers journey a key part of your organisations distinctive capability leading to satisfied customers who are brand ambassadors?? If not, you know whose responsibility it is to change that.
Testimonials from CEOs attending the luncheon.
“The CEO luncheon was a great chance to network and listen to a fantastic presentation that was both relevant and thought provoking.”
“Anthony did a great job of curating an interesting and diverse group of CEOs to come together to swap experiences and ideas. The content delivered by Jodie Moule, Behavjor was exceptional. Looking forward to the next one.”
“A good opportunity for much needed reflection! Great to get different industry perspectives.”
“The event gave a quick snapshot into a commercial vulnerability – in a controlled environment with networking thrown in for good measure. 2hours well spent.”
“Anthony Moss’s events are always positive and productive for me. I highly recommend attending.”
If you’re the CEO of a medium to large private company and you know your strategy can be better, you’d like to know more about the CEO Advisory Board, or you’d like to be on the invitation list to future CEO Luncheons, please contact me here.
** The three Cs of customer satisfaction, Consistency, Consistency, Consistency.