The Journey To Customer Experience Maturity
In today's highly competitive environment, it's tough to acquire new customers and it's becoming even more difficult to keep existing customers happy. That's why many organizations are making a commitment to better serve their customers, investing in the organizational capabilities to consistently deliver memorable, differentiated experiences. This doesn't happen overnight -- it requires leaders to stay committed for a long-term journey. But the results are worth it: Loyal customers that recommend you to their friends.
Smart companies want to deliver the best customer experience (CX) possible because they understand that good experience is the key driver of customer loyalty.
But most companies are still in the early stages of their journey toward CX excellence -- only 4% of the 206 companies surveyed in a recent study received “excellent” ratings.
The journey to customer experience maturity requires a six-step process of rethinking the role of the company in society and how it operates daily to enhance its customers’ lives.
Stage 1: Ignore
Not every company has been bitten by the CX bug. In this stage, companies don’t view CX as a strategic imperative.
Key obstacle to advancement: Generating awareness and interest.
Stage 2: Explore
Companies typically start their journey when a senior executive decides that CX is important to their business success. This initial stage of CX activity usually starts with the establishment of an ad-hoc group to understand what the company needs to focus on.
Key obstacle to advancement: Gaining alignment of key executives across the organization.
Stage 3: Mobilize
Once companies make a commitment to CX, they typically appoint a senior executive to run their CX efforts and to build a full-time CX staff. In this stage of maturity, companies often invest in customer journey maps and build voice of the customer programs.
Key obstacle to advancement: Making trade-offs against other competing priorities.
Stage 4: Operationalize
With a CX organization and cross-functional governance in place, companies begin to redesign their operating processes and make widespread changes to how the business runs. In this stage, firms actively use CX metrics and focus on engaging the entire workforce.
Key obstacle to advancement: Overcoming inertia of middle managers.