THE SIX KEY COMPONENTS OF GREAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Great Experiences Start With The Customer
The promise of Customer Experience is alluring to many organisations, but many people grapple with how to employ an effective CX strategy.
CX strategy requires brands to think differently about how they engage with customers at each touchpoint along the customer journey.
Great experiences are designed from the customer’s perspective; identifying the tasks customers are trying to perform, their needs, the issues they encounter and understanding where their expectations are not met. Only then can you develop excellent experiences which add value to customers.
The Six Key Components
According to the Customer Strategist Journal, there are six key components required to enable effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in Customer Experience:
Reachability
Service convenience
Purchase convenience
Personalisation
Simplicity and ease of use
Channel flexibility
1. Reachability
Communication plays a key role in shaping your customer’s experience. If you are not meeting with the customer where they are, then you are missing an opportunity to engage with them when they are most interested or in need of help.
If a customer searches for a business on Facebook or Instagram and can’t find them, then they are not reachable. If the customer uses tries calling, emailing or using Messenger and doesn’t receive a prompt response, then in the customer’s eyes they are not reachable.
Succeeding in customer experience requires determining which channels your customers are most active on and adapting your approach to serve them there.
2. Service Convenience
Can customers get the support, information and value they want, when they want it from your business, or do they have to go elsewhere?
Is the information on your website clear and up to date? Are their tools to find out more information, such as FAQs, self-searchable knowledge bases or tutorial videos? Can customers ask for live support via chat?
Removing friction from customer’s service needs improves their perception of the experience they have with your company, knowing if they need support it’s available to them. It also reduces the need for customers to turn to other sources or competitors to find the information they are looking for.
3. Purchase Convenience
This looks at the barriers involved in the end-to- end purchase experience; from research to purchase, delivery, set up and using a product or service.
Can a customer complete an entire transaction, make a booking or open an account in a single channel? Are support features available to help a customer if they need help or have questions? Are customer expectations with regards to timings managed and met?
Removing unnecessary obstacles, impediments and bureaucracy to enable customers to achieve their objectives quickly and easily has been proven to increase loyalty.
4. Personalisation
Personalisation starts with recognising that each customer is an individual, understanding their specific circumstances and adapting the experience to meet their needs and preferences automatically and proactively.
Collecting (relevant) information throughout the customer relationship can help you to understand the customer needs and preferences, and provide relevant suggestions or more informed support in the future.
In the eyes of the customer, personalisation (when done right) can serve as a sign of respect for their loyalty and business. It signals that your business understands the customer and is interested in strengthening the relationship by continuously working to provide a better service.
5. Simplicity & Ease Of Use
To master ease and simplicity, all components of the customer journey before, during and after purchase and all customer touch points need to be considered to ensure they are intuitive, effortless and frictionless.
This means your website and apps must be easy to follow for the given task the customer is undertaking. They should display and function perfectly on mobile, offer one-click purchasing and provide product info or answer common FAQs within the same screen. Stores should be easy to find, park at and navigate inside. Software should be easy to install and use. Pricing for services should be transparent and scope-of-work documents should be easy to understand.
6. Channel Flexibility
Great customer experience enables customers to complete any task from any channel and thereafter have every channel know what they have completed earlier irrespective of the channel?
The customer experience should look, feel and sound the same across all channels and should contain proper context where applicable.
This requires having a 360-degree view of customer interactions across all channels to monitor channel preference, usage and customer journeys, so whether a customer visits in person, online or over the phone their information is carried across and at their disposal.
Applying The Six Components
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes
Ask customers about the tasks they are trying to achieve, their needs and expectations.
Identify the experience gaps
Once you have identified where the experience gaps lie, evaluate the potential solutions to gain an understanding of the level of effort required to close these gaps.
Managing expectations
Consider how you can manage, meet and beat your customer’s perception.
Start small
Prioritise the solutions which make the most difference and start with these.
Keep measuring
Regularly evaluate how your business is meeting customer expectations and where the experience can be improved.