#35 | DCX - Perspectives and insights on digital customer experience
The Benefits of a Customer-Centric Culture; A Day in the Life of a Customer Experience Manager; Linkedin Poll Results on CX Technology for 2023; DCX links and the Linkedin profile of the week
This week’s DCX Newsletter is supported by: Thankful
It’s been three months since ChatGPT struck the whole world by storm and intrigued every customer support department around the globe.
But how can ChatGPT impact customer support? What is the bridge between ChatGPT and customer support? How can CX leaders integrate ChatGPT into their customer support ecosystem?
Join Thankful, Crate & Barrel, Support Ninja, and Gladly on March 2 at 11 AM PST for their webinar, How ChatGPT is Changing the Customer Support Ecosystem & What CX Leaders Should Do. Learn more and register here!
The Benefits of a Customer-Centric Culture
Brands are no longer selling products and services—they're selling experiences. And consumers want to align with companies whose values reflect their own and provide positive, memorable interactions.
Companies that prioritize the customer experience tend to outperform those that don't. This post will explore a customer-centric culture and how you can build one in your organization.
Understanding the Customer-Centric Culture
A customer-centric culture is an approach to business that puts the needs and wants of customers first. This means creating exceptional experiences for them, making them feel valued and appreciated—and then finding ways to measure your success based on how well you’re meeting those goals.
Customer-centric cultures are characterized by open communication, feedback, and a commitment to continuous improvement to meet customers' needs and wants.
In contrast, a product-centric culture prioritizes the development and promotion of products without much consideration for the customer. This can lead to a disconnect between the company and its customers, resulting in a bad customer experience.
The Benefits of a Customer-Centric Culture
Companies with a customer-centric culture enjoy several benefits, including:
Improved customer loyalty and satisfaction. When a company prioritizes the customer experience, customers are more likely to feel valued and appreciated. This leads to increased loyalty and a higher level of satisfaction, which in turn leads to repeat business and positive word of mouth.
Increased customer retention and repeat business. Customers are more likely to stick with a company that provides a great experience. Companies can reduce customer churn and increase repeat business by focusing on customer satisfaction.
Higher customer lifetime value. A customer-centric culture can lead to increased customer loyalty, repeat business, and positive word of mouth, all of which contribute to a higher lifetime value for each customer.
Better word of mouth and positive brand reputation. Customers are more likely to recommend a company that provides a great experience to their friends and family. This positive word of mouth can help to improve the company's brand reputation and attract new customers.
Increased revenue and profitability. Improved customer service resulting
in higher customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as increased referrals, can lead to increased revenue and profitability for the company. In addition, cost savings from streamlining processes and better resource utilization can also contribute to increased revenue and profitability.
How to Build a Customer-Centric Culture
Building a customer-centric culture starts with aligning company values with customer needs. This means putting the customer at the center of every decision and considering their needs and wants in every aspect of the business.
Next, empower employees to prioritize the customer experience. Provide them with the tools and training they need to deliver a great customer experience, and encourage open communication and feedback between customers and the company.
Continuously gather and act on customer data and feedback. Use this information to continuously improve the customer experience and make changes to meet the customer's evolving needs.
Lead by example, starting with the top executives. A customer-centric culture must be supported and modeled from the top down. Executives should lead by example, demonstrating the importance of the customer experience and actively working to improve it.
Companies prioritizing the customer experience through a customer-centric culture tend to outperform those that don't.
There are many examples of companies that have a customer-centric culture and have outperformed their competitors as a result. Some of the most well-known examples include Starbucks, Nordstrom, Hilton, and Amazon. These companies have made a pivot over the last 10-15 years to center everything they do around the customer.
In 2022, Forbes published a list of the top 100 customer-centric companies, highlighting some companies prioritizing the customer experience in everything they do, from how they treat employees to how they innovate and serve their local communities.
According to a Forrester study, 76% of executives say improving customer experience (CX) is a high or critical business priority. In addition, companies that focus on the customer experience have employees who are 1.5 times more engaged than those who don't. This leads to a direct correlation with the customer experience and has been shown to outperform their competition in terms of earnings.
In short, a customer-centric culture leads to improved customer loyalty and satisfaction, increased customer retention and repeat business, higher customer lifetime value, better word of mouth and positive brand reputation, and increased revenue and profitability.
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A Day in the Life of a Customer Experience Manager: Challenge or Opportunity?
As a customer experience manager, you know that no two days are alike. From reviewing customer feedback to working with cross-functional teams, every day brings challenges and rewards. But what does a typical day look like for you, the expert in enhancing customer experiences? Let's look at a day in your life and some challenges/opportunities you face.
🕙 8:00 AM: Start the day by reviewing your customer feedback from yesterday. Analyze trends, note any particularly challenging issues, and identify areas for improvement.
Challenge/Opportunity: Sifting through the data can be time-consuming and overwhelming. To overcome this, prioritize the most pressing concerns and use data visualization tools to make the information easier to understand.
📞 9:00 AM: Jump on a call with your customer service team to go over the top concerns of customers and brainstorm solutions to improve the overall customer experience.
Challenge/Opportunity: It's not always easy to get everyone on the same page and find the best solutions. To ensure everyone is on the same page, start the call with a clear agenda and encourage open and honest communication.
💻 10:00 AM: Work on creating a new survey to gather more detailed customer feedback and insights.
Challenge/Opportunity: Finding the right questions and ensuring the survey is concise and easy to complete. To make the survey effective, keep the questions brief and relevant, and test it with a small group of customers before launching it widely.
📈 11:00 AM: Meet with the marketing team to discuss ways to improve customer engagement through your social media channels.
Challenge/Opportunity: Aligning strategies and getting buy-in from multiple departments. To align everyone on strategy, provide clear data and examples of what has worked well in the past.
💬 1:00 PM: Have a call with a customer who had a negative experience. Listen carefully to their concerns, apologize, and work with them to find a solution that will resolve their issue and improve their overall experience with your brand.
Challenge/Opportunity: Managing challenging customer interactions and finding ways to turn a negative experience into a positive one is not always easy. To turn the situation around, remain calm, empathetic, and focused on finding a mutually beneficial resolution.
📊 2:00 PM: Review and analyze customer feedback data from the past week to identify emerging trends and improvement areas.
Challenge/Opportunity: Interpreting data and making actionable insights can be complex. To make the information actionable, use data analysis tools to uncover patterns and insights.
🤝 4:00 PM: Have a team meeting with representatives from various departments to discuss your ongoing customer experience initiatives and align on goals for the upcoming quarter.
Challenge/Opportunity: Getting everyone on the same page and progressing towards common goals. To ensure everyone is on the same page and making progress towards common goals, clearly communicate expectations and hold regular check-ins.
Being a customer experience manager can be difficult and require a lot of effort. You must be able to think analytically, come up with creative solutions, put yourself in the customer's shoes, and stick with it even when times are tough. But it can be very rewarding in the end!
Linkedin in DCX Poll
AI-Powered Personalization Emerges as Top Choice for Enhancing Customer Experience in 2023, According to CX Experts
Our recent survey of over 160 CX experts has revealed that the most promising technical opportunity for enhancing customer experience in 2023 is AI-powered personalization, with 49% of respondents indicating this as their top choice.
Journey orchestration came in second, with 28% of respondents selecting it as their top choice, followed by Customer Data Platforms, chosen by 19% of respondents. Finally, hyperautomation was the least popular choice, with only 4% of respondents selecting it.
These results provide valuable insight into the priorities and beliefs of CX experts, and can help organizations prioritize their investments and initiatives in the coming year.
Etc.
Links to Industry news, ideas, insights, and the DCX Thought Leader Linkedin Profile of the week
Design your data strategy in six steps | IBM
The focus has shifted from traditional business intelligence to real-time decision-making and predictive models. Therefore, the data strategy must be aligned with the business strategy and enable data solutions applicable across the entire organization.
The approach should empower people and define use cases that meet business needs, including traditional analytics, data science, operational analytics, digital and IoT data, data visualization, and new product development.
IBM has developed a six-step framework to help organizations design and implement their data strategy while maximizing their strengths and resources.
Wellcome Collection's goal is to challenge people's thoughts and feelings about health by connecting science, medicine, life, and art through digital platforms. In addition, they aim to deliver outstanding user-centric digital experiences, innovative content, and support for researchers.
Their approach is based on the principle of embracing decisions made with an understanding of their audiences. To do this, they collect qualitative and quantitative data to inform and provide insight into their work, but the data collected is not the primary or sole driver for decision-making. The goal is to be "data-informed" rather than "data-driven."
Five trends that will reshape customer experience | SAS
Survey: 60 percent of respondents believe real-time analytics drives customer experience. Fifty-eight percent crediting significant improvements in customer loyalty and retention to analytics. Nearly three-quarters of respondents to the HBR survey say they have increased their spending on real- time customer analytics in the past year.
Free HBR Report: Real-Time Analytics: The Key to Unlocking Customer Insights & Driving the Customer Experience
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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.
Don Norman is a renowned designer and researcher known for his work in the field of user-centered design and his contributions to the field of Human-Computer Interaction. He was born in 1935 in the United States and has significantly impacted the design community throughout his career.
Norman began his career as a professor at the University of California, San Diego, where he served as the founding director of The Design Lab. During this time, he established himself as a leader in the field of design and was responsible for shaping the design curricula of many universities across the world. In addition, he is a co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, a user experience design consultancy that has helped many organizations improve their products and services.
In addition to his academic contributions, Norman has held high-level positions in the tech industry. He served as the Vice President of Apple, where he was responsible for the design of the company's products and services. He has also been a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a recognition of his contributions to the field of engineering.
Norman's most recent focus has been on "Design for Good," where he explores how design can be used to enhance society. He believes that designers need to be better educated and equipped with a broader range of skills, including knowledge of history, politics, economics, business, the social and behavioral sciences, and technology.
He is also a strong advocate for a code of ethics in the design industry, and he believes that designers should be positioned at the highest levels of organizations to enforce ethical design practices.
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