Do you remember how Google Search used to function 15-20 years ago? If you wanted to search for something, you had to use specific keywords, use double quotes, and other punctuation marks to get the precise results you wanted. And although some of these still exist today, our search practices have evolved. Now, we just type the whole question, use voice assistance, or ask ChatGPT. We ask the question in a natural manner – the way we would ask another human. We expect the software or tool to have contextual relevance.
Customer Experience (CX) is the sum of all interactions and emotions a customer has with a brand from the first touchpoint to the last, and it is evolving fast. Customers want instant gratification – something that is predetermined, personalized, and readily available for consumption. This determines the baseline or the minimum expectation that the organization needs to meet. Businesses then need to determine how to improve the experience from the baseline.
Using Technology to Elevate Customer Experience
Technology plays a crucial role in CX as it serves as a channel through which exceptional CX can be delivered. However, everything starts with data. In order to understand the customer, organizations will need both general and individual data to identify situations, usage, requirements, patterns, etc. This would then be fed into a system or tool for analysis. While many AI tools are still in the experimental stage, I can see them evolving to a point where they can provide personalized data on each consumer.
If relevant data is scarce, finding suitable proxies or establishing methods to collect and utilize existing data will be crucial. Leveraging technology for data processing, insights generation, and user interface design will help to improve the system continuously. This makes the consumer experience even better.
Strategies and Best Practices to Enhance Customer Experience
Enhancing customer experience requires a strategic approach and a focus on key elements. First, defining the vision of the desired customer experience is essential. Second, once the vision is established, benchmarking the current state of customer experience provides a baseline for improvement. The last step involves outlining a clear path from the present to the envisioned future, considering factors such as data and technology.
Organizations can build GPTs for their own customers, which can then be fed with data, proprietary models, and customer response methodologies. If the GPT needs to perform the way we envision it, it needs to understand how we work and have access to the data we work with. This could be SOPs, decision-making criteria, customer service practices, and all acceptable and non-acceptable processes. We would also need to create data based on past experiences, including typical pitfalls, normal failure points, success points, etc. All these data points are unique to the business, and over a period of time, and with more data, the answers will become increasingly customized.
Additionally, the cost and return on investment (ROI) must be carefully evaluated. While aiming for a fantastic customer experience, ensuring customers are willing to pay for the experience is essential. Striking a balance between the desired experience and an acceptable price point is key.
Measuring and Improving ROI
While metrics such as customer lifetime value and churn rate can be used to measure ROI, the fundamental questions that need to be answered remain the same – Has my revenue grown? Have my profits improved? Has my customer satisfaction increased? Has my employee satisfaction gone up? These metrics must be measured from before the implementation of the experience until after the implementation.
When one of India’s largest IT companies required a month-on-month service of converting large volumes of technical raw content received daily into case studies within 72 hours, we used technology to streamline the process. Through real-time automation, the content was segregated, assigned to writers, and completed within deadlines. Daily dynamic reports, generated automatically, kept the client updated on progress. Investing in this innovative technology and customer experience resulted in tangible benefits for the client and a successful ROI for us. While they had four vendors initially, the entire process was consolidated and given to our organization as we provided a better customer experience through technology.
Aside from technology, traditional methods, such as surveys and feedback mechanisms, can be employed to measure and assess the ROI. This could be done through pen and paper, phone calls, or electronic means. Another method of ensuring good ROI is to assign a Customer Success Manager (CSM). A CSM can improve the experience for the client and identify other areas where we can upsell or cross-sell.
Hard ROI takes time to measure, but with technology and a well-trained CSM, we have seen month-on-month and year-on-year growth for the business.
Ideating and Prioritizing Customer Experience
Customer experience has become crucial for businesses to survive and thrive. To deliver a desired experience, companies must define the experience and establish a method and process for its delivery. It must consider customer expectations within the industry or service and explore opportunities to provide a truly unique and personalized experience. The goal should be to transform the customer experience into a competitive advantage. Technology can be utilized to revolutionize and disrupt how customers experience and interact with a product or service.
For instance, I was speaking to the founder of a company that makes ID cards. He needed a system that would make the process of collecting, printing, and disseminating ID cards easier. I recommended developing an online platform or portal into which the customer can directly upload information, which the founder’s company can then process. But to provide a differentiated experience, I suggested using AI to get customers to design their own ID cards. Just like in Mid-journey or Dall.E, they can give prompts, answer a few questions on color, font, industry, etc., and Generative AI will create templates that the customer can choose from.
Although building such a system may require a significant investment, utilizing AI-generated templates can bring substantial benefits. Disrupting the traditional process of ID card creation, where manual data collection and design iterations are necessary, can significantly improve customer experience.
Conclusion
Ultimately, whatever method is used, it is all about measuring the customer’s experience. I might believe I have provided a superior experience, but the customer may disagree. Gathering customer feedback is crucial for understanding their perception of the experience delivered. Ensuring alignment between the actual experience and customer perception is essential for enhancing customer experience.
I am noticing that the experiences consumers have in B2C will also drive the expectations for B2B. The only difference would be that B2B organizations must work with partners to meet those expectations.
By incorporating innovative technology and reimagining existing systems, businesses can transform the customer journey and stand out in their industry. Just as Apple disrupted the smartphone market by not only designing a sleek device but also creating an entire ecosystem, building a good customer experience requires an all-encompassing approach that covers every aspect of the product or service.
