#33 | DCX - Perspectives and insights on digital customer experience
Prioritizing CX Enhancements: How to Make Sure You're Making the Biggest Impact; Becoming the Ultimate CX Leader, Linkedin Poll Results on CX Investments for 2023; DCX links and profile of the week
Prioritizing CX Enhancements: How to Ensure You're Making the Biggest Impact
Creating a great customer experience is essential for any organization looking to stay ahead in today's competitive marketplace. The problem is that customers' needs vary, so it's tricky to prioritize what you should fix next. So how do you know where to start?
Let's look at how to decide which features or enhancements to prioritize based on customer feedback—and how you can apply it in your organization.
Make sure you're identifying the right issues.
To prioritize the right experiences causing the most headaches for customers, you need to be able to identify them. So here are some questions you can ask yourself:
Is this issue a big problem? If it's not, then there's no point in spending time on it.
Is this issue an experience? If so, then it might be worth prioritizing. But remember that there are many different kinds of experiences (like "navigation" or "shopping cart"), so make sure that you're looking at the right one!
How much data do I have about this issue? It's important to have as much data as possible before making decisions about CX enhancements--especially if your company is small and doesn't have a lot of employees who could spend time doing research or talking with customers directly (which is often necessary).
This is one of the most important steps in prioritizing CX enhancements because it's easy to get caught up in small details that don't make a difference. To avoid this, check your data and ensure an issue is a big deal (e.g., if 5% of customers are experiencing an issue with something but 95% have no problem).
You can't do everything, so you need to know what's most important and how much time/resources it takes to get each thing done.
See where it falls on a prioritization framework if it's big enough.
Prioritization frameworks help make this decision-making process easier by providing a framework for deciding which initiatives should be prioritized over others. They also help ensure that everyone in your organization knows their role in implementing these initiatives, which prevents confusion about who needs to do what when working on them together as a team (which can cause even more delays).
There are many different types of prioritization frameworks out there--some are simple while others require more work from people using them--but they all have one thing in common: they allow companies' priorities for improving customer experience (CX) programs as well as individual projects within those programs through better communication between stakeholders who have different perspectives on what's important when looking at things like cost vs. revenue projections over time; risk vs. reward tradeoffs;
Prioritization Frameworks to Consider
MoSCoW: This framework prioritizes requirements into Must-Have, Should-Have, Could-Have, and Would-Like-to-Have categories.
Eisenhower Matrix: This matrix prioritizes tasks based on urgency and importance, dividing them into four categories: Urgent & Important, Important but not Urgent, Urgent but not Important, and Not Urgent or Important.
Pareto Principle: This framework prioritizes tasks based on the principle that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes, focusing on the 20% of most impactful tasks.
ABC Analysis: This framework prioritizes items based on their relative importance, categorizing them as A (high priority), B (medium priority), or C (low priority).
SWOT Analysis: This framework prioritizes strategic initiatives based on a company's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, focusing on initiatives that leverage strengths and address weaknesses, capitalize on opportunities, and mitigate threats.
Once you know what those pain points are, it's important to understand why they're causing problems.
Is the product or service not meeting their needs? Is customer service lacking? Is the user interface hard to navigate?
Once you have a better understanding of the root cause of the issue, you can start to make changes to the customer experience that will have an impact.
Measuring the customer experience before and after any enhancements are made is essential. This way, you'll be able to see if the changes you made had the desired impact.
Consider using customer satisfaction surveys to measure customer experience before and after the changes. You can also track customer retention and loyalty to see if customers are sticking around or leaving for the competition.
Another critical aspect to consider is involving the right people.
To ensure the enhancements are successful, getting input and support from different teams and stakeholders across the organization is important.
This way, you can ensure that the customer experience meets the needs of both customers and the organization. For example, if you're working on a CX enhancement that requires new back-end systems to be developed, it's important to involve the IT department. You'll want them to know what they're getting into and make sure they have the resources they need to get started. On the other hand, if you don't have access to data or people who can provide input on your ideas, it's time to start looking outside your company!
Hopefully, this post will help you prioritize your CX enhancements more effectively. You'll be able to see which issues are most important and what kinds of data you need to collect to measure them. This will allow you to make better decisions about how much time and money should be spent on each project--and ultimately improve the customer experience for everyone!
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Becoming the Ultimate CX Leader
Hey there! Are you looking to become the ultimate customer experience leader? Well, you've come to the right place. Here are five key elements I’ve seen bring success.
A strong vision for the customer experience is a must. This vision should align with your company's overall goals and strategy, and you should communicate it clearly to everyone in the company.
Next up is communication. As a customer experience leader, you must clearly explain your vision and strategy to internal and external stakeholders. And don't forget about listening to customer feedback; it's crucial for improving the customer experience.
Knowing your customers is another important aspect of leading the customer experience. Stay on top of industry trends and customer feedback, and use that information to shape your products and services. Identifying customer pain points and finding solutions to address them is also key.
But it's not just about what you know; it's also about how you lead. Being empathetic and putting the customer's needs first is a must. And it would be best if you strived to create a culture of customer-centricity within your organization, leading by example.
Last but not least, measure and analyze the success of your efforts. Set clear metrics and goals for the customer experience and regularly track and report on progress. Then, use that data to make informed decisions and continuously improve the customer experience.
So there you have it, the quick recipe for becoming the ultimate customer experience leader. Vision, communication, understanding customers, leading by example, and measuring success are all key ingredients. Good luck!
Linkedin in DCX Poll
Over 160 CX leaders worldwide responded to this survey on CX investment priorities for 2023.
The poll results show that 50% of CX leaders plan to invest in AI and automation, making it the top priority. This suggests a growing recognition of the potential benefits of using technology to enhance the customer experience with increased efficiency, personalization, faster resolution times, and enhanced data analytics.
Meanwhile, 26% of leaders plan to focus on gathering customer feedback, highlighting the importance of understanding and responding to customer needs.
These findings indicate a well-rounded approach to CX, focusing on technology and customer insights.
Etc.
Links to Industry news, ideas, insights, and the DCX Thought Leader Linkedin Profile of the week
In the era of bolstered commerce strategies and economically savvy consumers, brands need to plan and target in this new world of consumerism accurately. Courtney Trudeau, vice president of technology at Merkle, discusses what delivering an unparalleled customer experience looks like and how brands can do it.
What should every brand do in 2023?
Every brand should be articulating an enterprise-wide CX vision and ensuring that every person at the company knows about it and shares a passion for it. Everything stems from there.
Ensuring data and technology aren't siloed, that trust between brands and consumers isn't broken, and that all departments are interconnected via the cloud builds the solid foundation marketers need to succeed.
What Is Digital Customer Experience?- Workflow™ (servicenow.com)
The digital customer experience (CX) is the total of every interaction customers have with all of a business's digital touchpoints, including websites, social media, mobile applications, email, instant messaging, live chat, online ads, and digital kiosks at brick-and-mortar locations
Examples of effective digital customer experiences
Ordering coffee from your couch: Starbucks pioneered the omnichannel experience via its app, which allows customers to place orders ahead of time, pay for them via their online account, and pick them up at a nearby store
Checking into your hotel room: Marriott Hotels was the first major hospitality chain to allow guests to skip the front desk and check in to their rooms via their mobile phones
Custom fits in an off-the-rack world: Stitch Fix’s entire business model revolves around personalization, offering bespoke fashion recommendations to each of its customers through its app
Putting the human at the center of digital experience | CX Strategy | Retail Customer Experience
While consumers and providers prefer digital interaction, they have very different takes on it. For example, only 35% of consumers are satisfied with digital experiences versus 75% of the companies offering those experiences. One way to overcome this challenge is to make digital experiences more human-centric by bringing people from the edges of the interaction right into its center.
Take a total, unified and holistic view
Human experiences aren't islands; what a customer experiences impacts the experience of employees, business partners, etc.
It is more human-centric to offer a total digital experience that unifies all experiences rather than a fragmented one
Organizations must factor in what is happening day-to-day in the world to appeal to stakeholders
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DCX Thought Leader Linkedin Profile of the week
Every week, I share a person's profile from Linkedin that I think will benefit your life and career.
Bill Price is a renowned author and expert in customer experience, customer service, and cost optimization. He is the co-author of three influential books that offer insights and strategies for companies looking to enhance their CX while controlling costs.
His books include "The Frictionless Organization" (2022), "Your Customer Rules!" (2015), and "The Best Service is No Service" (2008). These books offer practical advice and real-world examples to help organizations implement effective CX strategies that drive growth and customer loyalty.
Bill is also the co-founder of Driva Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in three areas of expertise: Contact Optimization, Performance Optimization, and Sourcing Optimization.
Through these areas, Driva Solutions helps organizations to get more value from fewer agent-handled contacts, find and develop "best agents" and "best teams," and solve for "where in the world should we go (next)?" for customer support and "how on earth do we make it work for our customers?"
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If you want to up your game in 2023, you must get the 365 Days of Accountability Journal with the Accountability Exercise. It will change your life.
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