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Customer Experience

In this series, we will bring you the new lexicon of CX. Many expressions and explanations will be familiar to you, and perhaps some will be new. In all cases, we hope they shed light on the evolved state of customer experience management, which adds value to your endeavours.

Over the course of 2023, we will bring you the modern A-Z of CX. We will continue introducing new letters and adding updated explanations to existing ones, so make sure you sign up to our newsletter to keep updated.

A is for Accountability – Download

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When you provide a product or a service to customers, it’s rarely your product or service that matters to them, but how it enhances their lives which is most important. To achieve this goal, there are likely to be multiple interactions for the customer. From finding the right solution, to ordering it, to paying for it and using it etc. Sometimes it will even involve more than one provider either consciously or otherwise combining to fulfil a desired outcome.

This is what we call the customer ecosystem. There are three layers:

• Customer centricity (internal focus to ensure customer experience motivations, mindset and methods are cultural
• Customer experience – the interactions your organisation has with the customer to deliver (or explain why you haven’t delivered) the reason they chose you to contribute towards their goal
• Customer’s reality – the priorities and goals the customer has and therefore engages with you, but also every other interaction which is connected to yours which help them achieve their goal

When customer experience is ‘slapped on’ to it is only the middle layer which is applied. It’s paper thin and customers see right through it.

To this end, I recently gave Enterprise car hire a lower satisfaction score because of the poor experience I encountered from Rye Street Car Repairs. Unfair? Not at all.

It’s my world and companies I interact with just live in it

(to paraphrase the great Dean Martin)

This scenario can apply to anything, from arranging some quality time away with your family, to organising the Christmas at home or as in my case arranging for a damaged car to be returned so you can return to your routine of collections and drop offs for your family. Each engagement has a higher purpose to the customer, more important than the organisation they engage with or the product and service they purchase. Each organisation involved is part of a chain with other companies before and after them. So as consumers, we are looking for seamless engagement from start to finish.

However, organisations can be self centered in their approach to customer centricity. Even if they have frictionless interactions between them and the customer, they don’t think about the next engagement customers will have. For instance, we witnessed a family distraught at the airport because despite their plane landing a little late they missed their connection because the airport baggage handlers system had broken down and everything was being booked in and out manually.

A personal example was when I returned to pick up a very late car repair from Rye Street Coach Repairs of Bishops Stortford. I hadn’t been kept up to date on the delay of my vehicle repairs (which is another story). The car being repaired was less important to me, it was the inconvenience of not being able to do the trips we had in the diary including a couple of longish distance ones for my sons hockey. A fact which didn’t matter to the car repair centre. Due to the extended time it had taken to get my car back I had needed to hire a car. Which I collected from Enterprise, a train and a bus ride away from my home, which ate in to my weekend. But the car was clean, and upgraded so a small compensation (not that Enterprise were aware of why I needed a vehicle).

When I got a call to say my vehicle was ready to collect from Rye Street, I explained I had to drop a hire car off first. That day we’d had an unexpected download of snow. To which the receptionist told me I could drop the hire car off at the garage and they would return for me, because they had a deal with Enterprise. Now this resonated with me because it would save me 60-90 mins extra travel on a work day. It could never make up for the poor experience to date, but was a well appreciated gesture. I delayed my journey, and completed some business tasks knowing I had recovered some time and I could leave later and still get back for my next meeting.

How a ‘customer last’ culture plays out in reality

Then I got a call from the ‘Enterprise Rep’ from the garage who informed me that because I’d booked the hire car from a broker and not directly from Enterprise they can not return the car on my behalf. In fact, I’d have to pay a £35 fee for the privilege. Having had five weeks of pain with this garage, a quick reference of my notes would have shown some empathy to my situation would have been wise. In fairness, I’m not sure the organisation keeps a central record of customer details because this was one of many interactions with the garage which highlighted no one knew the customers situation. But, I was now out of time, I had no choice because of meetings pending to drop the car off at the garage and incur a £35 charge, which after all was down to the receptionist having the permission to provide and offer, which was not available and management not overriding it irrespective of the situation. I dropped the hire car off and explained to the Enterprise representative I was disappointed. He shrugged, said there was nothing he could do and took my keys.

That was my last contact with the garage. They had washed their hands of me. A customer experience of 0 out of 100 scored.

A few days later Enterprise car hire phoned to inform me the £35 would be deducted from my deposit. They also asked for feedback. I explained, that as part of the overall experience connected to Rye Street, they would earn a low satisfaction score from me. Their choice of car repair partner had tarnished my experience with Enterprise. With several others available from the airport, I would not be choosing the again. They apologised and asked what could be done. I suggested they ensured if they bestowed their reputation with Rye Street Repairs they trained the staff to understand what is and what is not permitted.

When you work in partnership with other companies, you don’t hand over accountability, instead it is shared. Whether that’s a BPO practice to move contact centres to new geographies and affinity deals to reach more customers, both demand greater care, not less.

In this case Rye Street Repairs has damaged another brands reputation. No doubt this will happen again and again as they are a multi site car repairer providing services to insurers such as LV=, Sheila’s Wheels, Direct Line, Sainsburys, Ageas and many others. It’s customer centricity’s responsibility that the customer standards are understood by partners and delivered. And its the responsibility of the senior management of companies, such as Rye Street Repairs, to honour those standards when they take on partnerships, and not to see them as simply a new contract to make money from.

So, apologies Enterprise, this will actually impact your future business, I have hired cars for 4-6 weeks of the year for about 10 years and will do so for the next 20 hopefully. As well as those I share the story with. But not because of your ‘on us’ customer experience (which was pretty good), but your choice of those who deliver it on your behalf. A salient lesson of what customers now expect in 2022 and beyond. Customer centricity, spread your responsibility wider. It’s those who care less about customers in your ecosystem, which will undo you.

Are you following CX Oracles or Masqueraders?

Every day, many of us find ourselves slowing to read content presented to us through social platforms like this one. As a global customer experience consultant, my feeds are full of CX, EX, service design, VoC, customer research, business strategy, production and supply, customer service and similar postings. For the past 10 years this has been on an international basis, so my feed of articles and insights reflects this with helpfully translated gems from Poland to Peru, Canada to Croatia and Indonesia to Iceland.

This content can be intoxicating, firing my imagination and evolving my own established methods. I am often inspired by posts, and by those who post them. However, I am also too often engulfed by those who pollute growing minds with ideas and ideals which need a reality check, if they are to be presented at all.

Standing north of 50, I’m grateful for my experience which makes me able to see what’s what quickly. Whereas, as a younger version of myself I would read insights and need to reflect, find validation, furnish my understanding and go again. Both allow me to see through what is posted, but now I can do it in a heartbeat (see Gladwell, ‘Blink’).

Hey, maybe it’s obvious to others too? But, I’d suggest not all, as is obvious from the (I assume authentic) comments of encouragement given to some posts.

How to spot a true CX leader

I’ve been considering who I revere and what qualities they hold. I’ve realised Tthere are several ‘CX types’ out there. For fun I’ve categorised them. These CX influencers break through the noise and challenge my assumptions. And CX leaders should always be restless; striving for better outcomes is an endless pursuit after all, so that’s fine with me.

The factors which define the influence are few, and may change for you, but these work for me. Factors such as:

• What they choose to do in CX?
• How much time they have spent properly bathing in the world of CX?
• Where they’ve learned their skills, strength, and stories?
• Whether they are customer-focussed or self-interested (I know its counter to the very concept of CX but it’s very present!)?
• And what they choose to do with what they know?

Some of these types positively influence me, others are either scrolled past or viewed from behind the proverbial cushion to see what horror they present. I can look at this in a light-hearted way because I can filter and have a body of work behind me to prove what good looks like. But I recognise it has a serious side, others might be blindsided. As ambitious newbies take up the CX cause and commit their career, they will be less adept at fishing between the reeds for a meaningful catch. They will pick up tin cans and sludge and may assume a ‘catch is a catch.

The influx of new entrants can have a diluting effect to the confidence of strong practice.

As an example, several years ago, whilst analysing a UK bank’s CX strategy, I was undertaking the root cause analysis of a growing problem for the customer service team; unresolved queries and complaints.

It turned out an influx of untrained, uncommitted agency staff to cover service calls volume growth following a couple of years of improved experience standards, which helped their reputation for service and attracted many more customers. As the head of CS said, “we needed bums on seats and we crossed that ‘do not cross’ line. We employed anyone rather than the right people, and our customers, our colleagues and our business suffered in exchange for a short-term fix.”

CX is suffering like this too. We are flooded with many new entrants who see CX as a career accelerator rather than a long-term cause. Expressions such as, ‘I love complaints’,’let’s wow our customers’, or ‘first let’s customer journey map’ are three of many red flags to watch out for (maybe a topic for another blog).

Who inspires you?

So, as you find yourself following CXers (other business types are available) to inspire and influence your own endeavours, be sure to remember there’s no short cut to amassing experience in customer experience. Create your own collection of quality thought leaders and share their messages far and wide, so others in the dark or more impressionable can get hooked too.

And of course, please develop your own version this fub. I’d love to see how you picture those who influence you.

Lexden will be collaboratively exploring some of our favourite CX authors of our time, in our rekindled book club. The CX Book Club is open to new members. Our next read will be “From Impressed to Obsessed” by Jon Picoult. Register your interest to join here: https://lexden.mykajabi.com/the-cx-book-club-register-interest

It’s no secret that Disney take customer experience very seriously. The Disney Institute has been accrediting colleagues and paying professionals with the Disney customer experience magical ways of working for some time. Forbes and the Harvard Business Review among others have produced articles on their approach.

But like many entertainment brands, the Disney experience is dependent on the quality of the immersive, in-the-moment, live experience. Nowhere is this more evident than in their world-renowned theme parks. Disney’s approach to entertainment during queues is cited as being as popular as some rides. And the customer promise to, ‘make them smile’ exudes from every employee’s every interaction in the park; from Mickey on the carnival parade to park assistants guiding guests out of the park at the end of the day.

These are high touch engagement experiences, expertly curated and executed. Crafted and improved over years of delivery. Disney know the emotive importance of high touch engagements in creating enduring reminders of happy times spent with family and friends, within the ‘happiest place on earth. These memories serve guests well, who in turn return and serve Disney well. A perfect trade.

Digital; it’s a small world after all

A Disney theme park trip can be a bucket list activity for many, for themselves or on behalf of their family. When visualising Disney theme parks its the rides, the character parades and the fireworks which come to mind. It’s not the admin to get the tickets, or chasing over parks to find rides and guessing which is the shortest queue. Let alone what to do if something goes wrong, such as a lost ticket. It has always felt very manual, very ad hoc and many leave feeling as though they haven’t got the best out of the day. It’s certainly not the App which accompanies the theme park field trip. This would be a very small part of the overall experience…..right?

Over the years, technology has found its way, with increasing effectiveness, into the theme park experience. Initially this was in the hands of the designers developing thrill and experiential rides, which further heightened memorability. And now more so it has also affected practical aspects of theme park experiences, such as ticket authentification and booking systems. This shifting digital to the guest has meant that there is a great opportunity to reduce those anxieties mentioned above. But the Disney way is not just to stop there, they have enhanced the overall theme park experience by introducing a digital solution to guests.

An entire Disney park experience; pre-purchase, purchase and post purchase would be able to be managed through the Disney World app. Once purchased, tickets are added to the app and planning what to do and when can start. With filters applied, guests can select their perfect day. And on Disney park days, when waking up and booking lightning lanes (fast passes), to tapping in on arrival at the park, to checking ride times when in the park and navigating directions using the GPS mapping, through to reviewing photos taken by park photographers, the app is a perfect park companion.

Having experienced this recently, by the end of the Disney vacation I was conscious that a percentage of my positive experience had been lived through the app, and here’s the important part; my enjoyment was massively because of the digital experience.

That is the first time ever, I have said that about a digital experience.

So how do Disney get it so right?

I have worked with some brilliant UX designers. So through customer research, observations and these collaborations I have developed the 5DX model checklist. There’s an order it should be approached as well. Designers can skip the first couple of step and focus the discussion on operations and customer service to drive an efficient but emotively numb experience. Or if they stop before the last step, it leaves consumers using the digital experience pondering why its nothing more than a technological version of an analogue experience. And that’s not helpful to anyone.

These five steps ensure a valued digital experience for customers is delivered.

Ethical: be trusted

Extension: be a part of the broader experience

Easy: be simpler and effortless

Engaging: be interesting

Extra: be more than alternatives

The Disney experience works on many levels. It’s clearly well thought through and integrated with the other channels customers are using such as the theme park, theme park staff, emails, websites, social media and customer service.

It is also organised around the journey customer navigate through as well. Friends have been travelling to DisneyWorld for years, some since they were children. They would always say how great Disney was and never complain about delays, misinformation, or poor experiences. So the App has a lot to live up to just to fit in with the experience, let alone improve upon it.

Below I’ve captured examples of the digital experience I valued across my recent journey.

I am sure there is much more to the DisneyWorld App experience I haven’t explored. But on reflection, it certainly enhanced my overall experience. And if I was to be asked to feedback on my overall experience I would mention the app.

I believe the Rise of the Resistance ride, the quality of service from waitress Brynne at the Prime Time Diner or the Magic Kingdom light show will always eclipse the digital experience designed to manage your tickets better. But the impact it had on our overall enjoyment highlights that digital can do more than efficiency or cost saving or be a source for greater data access, it can actually create deep emotional engagement and memories which will last long after the app has been closed.

Thanks to the Disney App development team for their consideration and compassion shown to customers when designing the app.

Being involved in customer experience is a wonderful thing. Those of you who are, like me, get to create better outcomes for customers. You can make informed choices which can lift an individuals day, make them feel happier about their choice, or allow them to get closer to their goal. All because they interacted with your organisation through an experience which fulfilled their expectation in an expected or wonderfully unexpected way.

Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that each and every day. Customer experience management came to me early, before I fully appreciated it was what I would do for the rest of my life. The early part of my discovery was bumpy. I recall a sales manager I worked with kicked me under the client dinner meeting table because I’d proposed improvements which would retain customers longer for the client because the experience was smoother, but would compromise the ‘new acquisition focussed’ deal the sales manager wanted to cut. I also recall a senior product manager dismissing any unnecessary investment in a purchase or post purchase experience I’d proposed to make it easier for the customers because they felt the interest rate on the savings account was so good customers wont care, or should work for it. It was bumpy for me back then.

But as my confidence grew, travel miles stacked up and my methodology became proven across more than twenty countries, an industry seemed to spring up around me as well. It’s an industry where you do still find those sales and product managers who’ve swapped their titles for customer experience ones, but are principally still backing the sale (but with a customer experience wrapper) or product (but with a customer experience wrapper).

Gratefully, a new breed of CXers has also arrived or are emerging, unshackled from conventional wisdom rooted to CX=profit, they see the purpose of CX is to create better outcomes for all (including shareholders, but not without the customer, the employee, the business, the community and others benefiting too), with social equity part of the equation.

At a micro level (although not to demean it), this social equity means removing anxiety and unnecessary stress from everyday experiences customers undertake when they rent or buy a product or service to do a job for them. If this means the bottom line is impacted by a nano digit today, to make the experience easier or more enjoyable for the customer, then it’s okay. Over time they will want to spend more time with that option over others, which is where the sustainable pay off is.

So, why is it that some organisations seem to accept compromise in the customer experience which create these micro level problems for them. But beware, what seems small grows (as anyone who has read or watched Matilda knows). A one off can quickly become a habit, which is then a pattern, which evolves to a ‘its just how we do things here’. And before not too long the customers have jumped ship.

Whilst I enjoy every moment I spend working on clients challenges in this space, I’ve allowed poor customer experience to be an everyday hazard in my personal life for too long. Maybe its ‘whistle blowing’ or maybe it’s therapy for me, but I have captured some routine experiences I’ve encountered recently. I am sure there are more, but these stayed with me.

The coffee which comes with conditions

I recently took our Mini in for its service. I was offered a complimentary clean. Sadly this meant it wasn’t ready when I was collecting it. But I’ll skip that one.

I was directed to the free coffee machine while waiting. I got my coffee and then was greeted with the work task, ‘the waste bin is almost full….please empty soon’ from the machine.

I am sure this is an employee directed message, but if this is a self-serve machine, the coffee maker knows customers will be serving themselves. If not, the dealership does.

Not a task I expected I’d have to do to get my car back!

Making customers feel bad about banking systems

Passive aggressive is something more associated with individuals, but in this example, the coffee shop along the Ladybower Water in the Peak District takes its challenges with electronic point-of-sale technology out on its customers.

Cash v card. It’s not the customer’s battle. But this sign makes me feel like a bad customer if I choose to use my card – not forgetting this is against a Covid-19 backdrop of contactless payments.

It might even be a remote location v wifi coverage issue. But either they’ve managed to make the least enjoyable and most functional part of any transaction even more painful!

Are my eyes failing me?

Stamping down on sharing usernames and increasing prices to combat profit dropping has had enough airtime recently for Netflix. I think it is good value, and I don’t have a network to share with. So no issue there for me.

What I did take exception to was this upgrade offer to move from HD to Ultra HD.

My wife and I looked at it several times on screen. The image on the left is more blurry than I recall our analogue TV being in the 90s, and the image on the right looks like our TV does now. So why would I want to pay £6 more for the same experience?

Perhaps anticipating an article, my wife said, ‘what else are they trying to pull the wool over our eyes on’? And there it happens, one short-term transactional gain experience can unpick several years of best intended experiences. That seed of doubt has been planted turning us from advocates into skeptics.

So, how do you stop this from happening?

It’s very simple. Improvements should relate to what matters most to customers, and be delivered in a way that meets their drivers of choice. Know these up front by actively listening to customers, and share far and wide across the organisation so that those responsible for the decision-making and designing and delivering the change have an overriding consideration, ‘how will our customers react to this?’

Okay, it’s not quite that simple. Ensuring this is a systematic and sustainable constant requires a more formal process intervention which is part of customer-centric governance. But establishing the principle first stops turning customers off, and instead reaffirms the experience as a differentiator of the business.

Surely its worth it.

Lexden’s Christopher Brooks is the host of the Customer Experience Superheroes series. Voted a top 10 CX podcast, the CX Superheroes is now in its ninth series. What a legend of modern business practice to have as the guest for the latest series. Fred Reichheld’s work has touched more people on the planet than anyone else in customer experience. As the inventor of Net Promoter Score, he has seen the concept applied with great effect but also wildly abused. In his new book Winning on Purpose he helps to set those who have gone astray right and prove how enlightening customers lives is the most powerful purpose, underpinned with a new measure to prove the commercial advantage of getting it right.

Join Christopher and Fred in a brilliant discussion and discover why Fred remains loyal to Bain and who this book is really written for.

Series 9 Episode 1 CX Superheroes podcast

Customer Experience as a concept is as old as the first purchase made. There would have been an experience the buyer received and the seller, probably unknowingly, provided. But customer experience management, is a more recent addition to the business world. It’s still very much in its infancy. With many commentators originating from marketing invariably it was first presented as a different or complimentary way to secure sales and retain customers. It was all about ‘squeezing the customer’, just in a different way.

Photo by Christina Morillo from Pexels

And we still see this in the commentary popularly socialised on customer experience. Whilst they are out of date notions, the poster statements stand out – on first glance. But when you investigate further you find chasing CX platitudes creates more losses for your organisation rather than gains.

So, beware, the marketing strap-lines sold on the metaphorical street corners or LinkedIn they look great as a caption, but wear terribly badly as a corporate endeavour. Here are four of my favourites:

1. Create a frictionless experience for your customers.

STOP. What sort of advice is this! Take out any hurdles, bumps or reasons to engage with your business from the experience. Imagine that, a relationship with a business where you have no reason to ever interact. What happens? Human nature is to cease to recognise the value and eventually look for alternatives where there is attention. I met with the CEO of a leading UK bank who explained how this approach had led to customers leaving the bank. Not because the bank had done anything wrong, but because the customers didn’t appreciate the effort the bank put in everyday to keep the customer from hidden friction points. But as soon as a competitor came along with a promotional offer to switch, customers did, citing their bank didn’t do anything for them. If you are asked to create a frictionless experience add an acquisition strategy to recruit at least 15% of customers who will leave mistaking efficiency for neglect.

2. Be No.1 for customer satisfaction.

OH DEAR. Success means you grow. Growth means you attract more customers. More customers mean different types of customers. Different customer types invariably mean different expectations. Different expectations mean varying levels of satisfaction will be achieved. So, satisfaction will drop. How crazy is that. I recall a hotelier, a few years ago, explaining to me they needed to reduce the length of their survey to hit their satisfaction targets! They had added some new facilities which attracted a different, more demanding customer type. The ones filling out their feedback survey were those less impressed. They were the only ones prepared to hang around for five minutes to get their point across. But even a proportion of the satisfied types would complete a 1 minute survey. So to get satisfaction up, they changed the survey and ignored the issues creating low scores. I could tell this story ten times over, with different examples I’ve heard – that’s what happens when you make a target your CX goal.

3. Exceed your customer expectations. 

REALLY! Luxury brands struggle with this concept perhaps more than others. It’s such an easy thing to say. But what your FD is hearing is ‘erode margin unnecessarily’. As a consumer I have expectations of what to expect from organisations. For example, when I order from Amazon I expect a good choice of products available, goods to turn up undamaged and on time, for payments to be secure and any issues with my product to be dealt with swiftly. That’s quite a lot, but Amazon recognises these are all reasonable expectations and meets them. So I compare the experience provided by others against this criteria.

But if Amazon started to provide free gifts in the box, asked the courier drivers to sing at my door or provided assembly of my goods when needed, they are now exceeding my expectations. Perhaps they are not even things I want, but let’s just go with them being appealing to me for the sake of the story. They didn’t need to offer these, I was happy enough before, after all its home delivery, whistles and bells aren’t always needed. But now I expect them and for no extra premium, they’ve raised my expectations. When they realise, they cant deliver this or afford to deliver this, my expectations wont drop and so my perception is the once adequate service is now sub-prime.

So, unless you are prepared to explain to your FD why you are giving away margin, simply meet your customers expectations, don’t try to exceed them. Trust me, knowing what these are and meeting them 100% of the time can prove a big ask. And remember, todays ‘exceeding’ will become tomorrows ‘expecting’.

4. Every voice counts.

IT DOESN’T. The customer’s voices of most interest are those which commit to your current proposition proportionately higher than your competition. They love you for who you are. Understand what more you can do for them – remove pain, find new gains. If you have your business strategy right, you can then look to recruit more of this type. They value your experience as part of your overall proposition.

Why take on board opinions of customers who have a greater propensity to commit to your competitors. If you believe fixing one experience will turn their head, good luck! We should always ensure our customer experience priorities align to our customer strategy.

So how do you get on track with Customer Experience? Fortunately, there is an enlightened group of practitioners and professionals pulling away from this pedestrian narrative. They are looking at a more holistic approach. It started when operations came on board, because they were often responsible for the internal decisions and processes which enable or restrict the quality of the experience. The researchers ears pricked up as they realised they could help understand customers expectations. KPIs were applied to measure gains. And where there is a measurement, there’s a technologist not far behind with both tracking performance and providing solutions to enable better experiences. Not an ideal state but a start. It also meant what got measured got managed. This attracted the attention of finance and the CEO. The former is still trying to figure out how you accurately measure customer centric contribution.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Looking in at the chaos curiously are the CXers good friends from the world of agile, design and continuous improvement squads (although CXers do have a habit of claiming service design as their own) who checked their own toolbox and saw great overlaps. They’ve added a lot. Finally, HR recognised that with so much time and effort committed to creating better outcomes for customers, organisations needed to hold a mirror up and see are they providing the right experience for their employees to deliver. So, the culture became more customer centric when everything is organised around customers. It takes time, it requires a changing mindset, improved skillset and often a new environment to nurture authentic customer led thinking. In fact, it’s at this point when you finally get why its helpful to define the organisations customer purpose.

Those who have worked in and with clients shifting from a product or service focus to become customer focus will recognise these evolutions. You will also know you don’t sell customer experience, not through marketing to your customers or preaching to your employees about CX. You are the enlightened. Stick with it, ignore populist hyperbole. It’s designed for social media likes, not for business change.

Internally, the focus is on becoming more customer centric. This means understanding what matters most to customers, why, how, when it matters and fulfilling this in a way which amplifies the relevant distinctiveness of your brand. It’s at this point it becomes improved experiences customers can value. It’s driven from within the business in collaboration with all stakeholders. If everyone around the table agrees there is a better outcome achieved, then it’s progress. Increasingly ‘everyone’ means more than the customer. It’s also employees, supply chain partners, the communities it impacts, society and even the competition (both Tesco’s and Burger King promoted the competition during the pandemic).

This is the direction of travel systematic and sustainable customer centricity takes. There are 25 alternative customer centric operating models, but only 5 of them are profitable and only one reflects where your business is now and where it wants to be. Do you know where you are? Get this wrong and you are compromised from the outset. Reach me on LinkedIn if you wanted to hear more.

Customer Experience as a concept is as old as the first purchase made. There would have been an experience the buyer received and the seller, probably unknowingly, provided. But customer experience management, is a more recent addition to the business world. It’s still very much in its infancy. With many commentators originating from marketing invariably it was first presented as a different or complimentary way to secure sales and retain customers. It was all about ‘squeezing the customer’, just in a different way.

Photo by Kaboompics.com from Pexels

And we still see this in the commentary popularly socialised on customer experience. Whilst they are out of date notions, the poster statements stand out – on first glance. But when you investigate further you find chasing CX platitudes creates more losses for your organisation rather then gains.

So, beware, the marketing strap-lines sold on the metaphorical street corners or LinkedIn they look great as a caption, but wear terribly badly as a corporate endeavour. Here are three of my favourites:

1. Create a frictionless experience for your customers. STOP. What sort of advice is this! Take out any hurdles, bumps or reasons to engage with your business from the experience. Imagine that, a relationship with a business where you have no reason to ever interact. What happens? Human nature is to cease to recognise the value and eventually look for alternatives where there is attention. I met with the CEO of a leading UK bank who explained how this approach had led to customers leaving the bank. Not because the bank had done anything wrong, but because the customers didn’t appreciate the effort the bank put in everyday to keep the customer from hidden friction points. But as soon as a competitor came along with a promotional offer to switch, customers did, citing their bank didn’t do anything for them. If you are asked to create a frictionless experience add an acquisition strategy to recruit at least 15% of customers who will leave mistaking efficiency for neglect.

2. Be No.1 for customer satisfaction. OH DEAR. Success means you grow. Growth means you attract more customers. More customers mean different types of customers. Different customer types invariably mean different expectations. Different expectations mean varying levels of satisfaction will be achieved. So, satisfaction will drop. How crazy is that. I recall a hotelier, a few years ago, explaining to me they needed to reduce the length of their survey to hit their satisfaction targets! They had added some new facilities which attracted a different, more demanding customer type. The ones filling out their feedback survey were those less impressed. They were the only ones prepared to hang around for five minutes to get their point across. But even a proportion of the satisfied types would complete a 1 minute survey. So to get satisfaction up, they changed the survey and ignored the issues creating low scores. I could tell this story ten times over, with different examples I’ve heard – that’s what happens when you make a target your CX goal.

3. Exceed your customer expectations. REALLY! Luxury brands struggle with this concept perhaps more than others. It’s such an easy thing to say. But what your FD is hearing is ‘erode margin unnecessarily’. As a consumer I have expectations of what to expect from organisations. For example, when I order from Amazon I expect a good choice of products available, goods to turn up undamaged and on time, for payments to be secure and any issues with my product to be dealt with swiftly. That’s quote a lot, but Amazon recognises these are all reasonable expectations and meets them. So I compare the experience provided by others against this criteria. But if Amazon started to provide free gifts in the box, asked the courier drivers to sing at my door or provided assembly of my goods when needed, they are now exceeding my expectations. Perhaps they are not even things I want, but let’s just go with them being appealing to me for the sake of the story. They didn’t need to offer these, I was happy enough before, after all its home delivery, whistles and bells aren’t always needed. But now I expect them and for no extra premium, they’ve raised my expectations. When they realise, they cant deliver this or afford to deliver this, my expectations wont drop and so my perception is the once adequate service is now sub-prime. So, unless you are prepared to explain to your FD why you are giving away margin, simply meet your customers expectations, don’t try to exceed them. Trust me, knowing what these are and meeting them 100% of the time can prove a big ask. And remember, todays ‘exceeding’ will become tomorrows ‘expecting’.

So how do you get on track with Customer Experience? Fortunately, there is an enlightened group of practitioners and professionals pulling away from this pedestrian narrative. They are looking at a more holistic approach. It started when operations came on board, because they were often responsible for the internal decisions and processes which enable or restrict the quality of the experience. The researchers ears pricked up as they realised they could help understand customers expectations. KPIs were applied to measure gains. And where there is a measurement, there’s a technologist not far behind with both tracking performance and providing solutions to enable better experiences. Not an ideal state but a start. It also meant what got measured got managed. This attracted the attention of finance and the CEO. The former is still trying to figure out how you accurately measure customer centric contribution.

Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels

Looking in at the chaos curiously are the CXers good friends from the world of agile, design and continuous improvement squads (although CXers do have a habit of claiming service design as their own) who checked their own toolbox and saw great overlaps. They’ve added a lot. Finally, HR recognised that with so much time and effort committed to creating better outcomes for customers, organisations needed to hold a mirror up and see are they providing the right experience for their employees to deliver. So, the culture became more customer centric when everything is organised around customers. It takes time, it requires a changing mindset, improved skillset and often a new environment to nurture authentic customer led thinking. In fact, it’s at this point when you finally get why its helpful to define the organisations customer purpose.

Those who have worked in and with clients shifting from a product or service focus to become customer focus will recognise these evolutions. You will also know you don’t sell customer experience, not through marketing to your customers or preaching to your employees about CX. You are the enlightened. Stick with it, ignore populist hyperbole. It’s designed for social media likes, not for business change.

Internally, the focus is on becoming more customer centric. This means understanding what matters most to customers, why, how, when it matters and fulfilling this in a way which amplifies the relevant distinctiveness of your brand. It’s at this point it becomes improved experiences customers can value. It’s driven from within the business in collaboration with all stakeholders. If everyone around the table agrees there is a better outcome achieved, then it’s progress. Increasingly ‘everyone’ means more than the customer. It’s also employees, supply chain partners, the communities it impacts, society and even the competition (both Tesco’s and Burger King promoted the competition recently).

This is the direction of travel systematic and sustainable customer centricity takes. There are 25 alternative customer centric operating models, but only 5 of them are profitable and only one reflects where your business is now and where it wants to be. Do you know where you are? Get this wrong and you are compromised from the outset. Reach me on LinkedIn if you wanted to hear more.

Posted by Christopher Brooks, Global CX Expert

I write a series entitled, ‘CX leaders’ which has included number of CX practitioners. The selection criteria for the interview is simply companies, or CX leads within those organisations who have impressed me with their commitment to a customer-led approach.

I’ve covered a range of sectors, including financial services. There is inspiration to be found from talking with those who are pushing forward with a customer agenda in a world dominated by transactions. As the interviews featured in this FS special show customer experience is a great way to transcend from a customer transaction focus to a customer relationship culture.

Against a backdrop of FCA regulation, historical lack of consumer trust and the arrival of nimble ‘cloud’ inhabiting digital brands, the established FS brands have their work cut out to stay relevant. But as these three interviews show, FS has a lot to gain from an effective CX strategy.

Newcastle Building Society – interview with Stuart Fearn, Head of Customer Contact

Stuart explains how NBS review technology to understand how it helps customers before deciding whether its relevant and valuable to adopt.

“Our priority is to make it easy for our customers to deal with us and to create positive, memorable moments and connections.

Link to the full interview – CX Leaders: Newcastle Building Society

The Bank of Cyprus – interview with Scott Fleming, Chief Customer & Commercial Officer

As his job title suggests, the Bank of Cyprus see customer-led thinking as a key growth imperative. With a customer base spread across branch usage and online banking, BoC’s challenges are familiar to most in retail banking.

Scott highlights the key requirements and support needed to make customer experience a priority focus in a financial organisation, including KPI management and backing from the CEO.

Link to the full interview – CX Leaders: Bank of Cyprus

One Savings Bank – Interview with Stephen Plimmer, Head of Customer Strategy & Insight

I met Stephen at the FSF Marketing Effectiveness Awards where OSB had picked up the CX award we sponsored that year.

Their story is of interest to anyone with a specific product or demographic looking to broaden their reach further.

link to the full interview – CX Leaders: One Savings Bank

These three interviews highlight some of the challenges and solutions financial services brands are dealing with in order to pursue a more sustainable profit from committed and content customers.

If you would like to be, featured in our CX Leaders series please drop me a line.

If you’d like to understand more about the value of CX and how to apply it to your business, email christopherbrooks@lexdengroup.com and we will forward details of how to ‘improve’, ‘prioritise’ and ‘lead’ with CX.

Posted by Christopher Brooks, Lexden – The Customer Experience Practice

lexdengroup.com ¦ +44 1279 902205 ¦ @lexdengroup

With the unfortunate circumstances surrounding House of Fraser and Debenhams, not long after British Home Stores disappeared from the high streets the giants of retailing are falling.

Has the high street kept up with the expectations of the modern customer? This means making itself more relevant and attractive than other channels. At best retail will be part of our shopping experience, but indicators are that many are being sacrificed as the online retailers take a bigger slice of the retail pie.

A couple of recent retail experiences demonstrate to me how old cost reduction models are still dominating the high street. Whilst online retailers use the assets they have to develop technology which fulfils customer requirements. See if you can spot the future of retailing from these three examples:

ASOS – Search and select outfits capability 

You see an item someone in a magazine or on the high street is wearing and you think ‘I like that, where did they get it?’. You snap it and load up on your ASOS app. they then search (using their trickery magic) and select a match or similar looking items for you. Easy and a ‘go to’ option for any impromptu clothes shopping.

Next turn away sales to save employee effort

I haven’t been in Next for so long, but I was passing and saw a 50% sale poster outside. I popped in and my eye was drawn to a dress shirt wrapped in it’s packaging. I am never quite sure what size I am, so wanted to try it first. The pattern was very colourful and just what I wanted, but I again wanted to see what it looked like on.

I headed to the changing room with the shirt and a pair of trousers I liked the look of. I hadn’t meant to pick up the trousers, they sort of jumped in to my arms on the way to the changing rooms. I didn’t think they’d look any good but thought I’d try them om anyway.

At the changing room the member of staff took my shirt off me, asked my collar size and gave me a cream, silky shirt in my collar size. I looked confused so the changing room manager told me the problem was that people get the shirts out, they can’t put them away properly so have to hang them up and then people don’t buy them because they are not in packaging. I meant to get a picture of the ‘prison shirt’ at this point, but was so gobsmacked I forgot. For some reason I went alone with this and tried the garment others used (I didn’t think about that at the time) on – it didn’t even fit. I took it off and headed to the till with just the trousers which I didn’t think would fit, but once tried I realised did. 

At the till I explained the shirt didn’t fit, to which he replied, ‘well not all shirts are the same cut’. So what was the point of the charade of the ‘trial’ shirt! I asked if I bought the shirt and took it home to try it on and it didn’t fit could I bring it back to which he said of course. So I asked why do I need to come here anymore, he just smiled knowingly. I left, unlikely to ever need to return.

So I’ll shop for from home now. The only problem being when I am in their store, they have my attention but when I am at home, I never think of them and always default to ASOS.

Argos reduce store size, and the customer base with it

In the town I live, like many others Argos has shed its retail footprint skin and become incubated within the Sainsbury’s supermarket. I needed a lap top case and thought Argos. Having seen the shopped moved I headed to Sainsbury’s. I found a small corner of the store with Argos tablets and a counter which was stacked full of good behind it. It reminded me of Screwfix or The Tool Station. The grand stacking and conveyor belt set up, which I always felt was quaintly Generation Game like, had gone.

I punched my request on the key pad and a perfect laptop case came up. I requested to buy it but it was out of stock. I paused and thought I can never remember EVER going into an Argos and them not having the item in stock. The option was to have it delivered at home, despite the fact I was in store. I reluctantly agreed and was asked to go to the front desk/til to pay. The member of staff then punched my order in asking all the questions I’d given the tablet and more to arrive at the answer, ‘we don’t have it in stock’. I replied that I knew this and could he order it to be sent to my home. He explained further, that they didn’t have it in stock at all locally, ‘we don’t hold as much now’. Really? I would never have guessed!

I concluded that the transfer into the supermarket space had both reduced stock space and required new, yet to be compatible stock management systems.

I asked what I do now. He helpfully explained I could go back to tablet I used before, and when it told me to pay, he would then check again and tell me if it was in at all. I asked whether it would be quicker to go home and order, to which he said they’d probably see a wider national coverage of stock and it may be available somewhere in the country.

So my conclusion was that by visiting the new store it made it clear I would be wise ordering online from home from Argos. The challenge is, when I’m in store Argo don’t have to compete with Amazon, they have my business. When I am at home, I never think of them and always default to Amazon.

Retail CX revolution

These experiences tell me two key points:

1. ASOS are going places (alright I’m 18 years behind the curve here) and being a customer will be a fun and engaging retail experience
2. I am now an inconvenience to Argos and Next because I wanted to use the advantage of their retail set up.

If retailers want to outlast their digital cousins, they need to update their mindset and then their CX, because they are making it ‘less painful’ to shop online. Online retailers only need to set up and fulfil the basics and they look streets ahead (pardon the pun).

Here’s hoping the best practice lessons from other service based sectors with human interaction can be carried over to the retailers, before they become completely irrelevant to us all.

Posted by Christopher Brooks, Customer Experience Consultant                                                        Lexden, The Customer Experience Practice