As Customer Experience is now one of the top priorities for businesses ranking no 1 as the most exciting opportunity for Companies (2017 Digital Marketing Trends Report by Econsultancy and Adobe),  no company can afford to lag behind and organisations are now looking for ways to win the CX battle. The biggest challenge is that there are so many things tied to customer experience – technology, social networks, artificial intelligence (AI), personalisation, Big Data, and of course emotions, just to name a few. CEOs, CIOs, CMOs, and other leaders feel like they are being pulled in too many directions to deliver a top-notch CX strategy.

This group, led by Mark Brennan at AIB discussed the key elements to building a successful CX strategy and how to stay ahead.

• A CX strategy MUST aligned to your business objectives and be guided by your company’s mission statement. This should act as a reference point for employees every time they have an opportunity to impact a customer’s experience.
• Buy in from C-suite is also critical: Does your Senior Management Team have CX KPI’s? Without this, it will never get off the ground.
• Ensure your employees understand the true importance of customer experience. Most employees do understand the link between customer service and sales. What they may not understand is the connection between great customer experience and brand loyalty. It’s also important to understand how overall customer experience can help in the event that things go bad.
• A robust VoC (Voice of the Customer) process in place is key BUT don’t be a ‘Data Slave’. Find the right balance between data insights and human intuition and experience.
• A clear and simple plan on a page with a compelling ACTION. Remember less is more! Everyone in the organisation needs to understand the plan and how you are going to deliver against those plans.
• Change company culture to be more customer-centric – ensure everyone in your organisation is working together against your plans as the CX strategy decision will not sit under the remit of the team that has to actually deliver it.
• Company structure and culture needs to be agile and an organisation that is open to constant change and learnings.

How to Measure CX Success?

• Monitor your NPS scores regularly to gauge impact from your CX efforts
• Social Listening monitoring
• Health of your customer franchise
• Movements in your Sales, Retention and Profit KPI’s

Key Insights on Building a CX Strategy..

Building a CX Strategy can seem daunting with so many stakeholders and functions in the mix but is ultimately key to the success of your business.  In summary, to get real business results from your customer experience efforts

• 1) CX should be part of your company’s mission statement and have buy in from Senior Management
• 2) Understand what your customers want and put a clear and simple plan in place
• 3) Champion the necessity for a cultural change within your organisation that will embrace what the customer needs today and the tools to get there.
• 4) Be brave and truly adapt a “fail first approach”