#92 | DCX - Perspectives and insights on digital customer experience
Analyzing Your CX Maturity | The Crucial Role of CX Leadership at Every Maturity Stage | DCX Poll | Links to Industry news, ideas and insights | DCX Thought Leader Profile of the Week
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Analyzing Your CX Maturity
Pop quiz: On a scale of 1-5, how mature is your organization's customer experience capability?
If you had to think for more than a few seconds, you're not alone. While most leaders agree CX is a top priority, far fewer have a clear grasp on their CX maturity level - let alone a roadmap to reach the next stage.
That's a problem because you can't chart a path forward if you don't know where you stand. Imagine scaling a mountain without understanding your current elevation, fitness level, or even the peak you're trying to summit. That climb is not going to end well.
The same principle applies to CX transformation. Attempting to leap to personalization and proactive service when your foundation of channels and data is shaky will only lead to frustration. You have to assess where you are to determine what should come next.
The 5 Stages of CX Maturity
While various frameworks exist, most CX maturity models progress through five key stages:
Be honest: Which stage sounds most like your current state? No judgment if you're on the lower end—every organization has to start somewhere. The key is to identify where you are so you can unlock the right capabilities to advance.
Plotting Your Path Up the Mountain
Ascending the CX maturity mountain is a challenging but rewarding journey that requires a strategic and coordinated approach. Just as mountaineers carefully plan their route, equipment, and supplies, CX leaders must chart a deliberate course to reach the summit of customer-centricity.
Moving up the maturity curve demands a synchronous evolution of your people, processes, and technology. These elements play a crucial role in supporting and enabling the others. For example, investing in advanced AI and automation will fall flat if your team lacks the skills to leverage these tools effectively. Similarly, redesigning processes to be more customer-centric will stall without the correct data and insights to guide decision-making.
To ensure a successful ascent, it is essential to set clear milestones and prioritize initiatives that will propel you forward. While the specific tactics will vary based on your industry and starting point, some universal waypoints mark progress along the maturity path.
Some key milestones to progress:
From Initial to Repeatable:
- Secure executive sponsorship and cross-functional governance
- Stand up a dedicated CX team to standardize critical practices
- Integrate data for an omnichannel view of the customer
From Repeatable to Defined:
- Map and instrument end-to-end customer journeys
- Engage the frontline to redesign experiences that reduce effort
- Quantify CX impact on operational and financial KPIs
From Defined to Managed:
- Deploy AI and machine learning to automate service interactions
- Architect a real-time customer data platform for dynamic decisioning
- Establish test-and-learn practices to optimize based on behavior
From Managed to Optimizing:
- Infuse CX skills and empathy across all roles, not just the frontline
- Tap into customer communities for co-creation and peer-to-peer care
- Prototype emerging technologies to pioneer new experiences
Reaching these milestones requires focused effort and investment, but the payoff is substantial. As you climb the maturity curve, you'll unlock new capabilities that drive better customer experiences, operational efficiency, and business growth. Your team will become more agile and data-driven, your processes more streamlined and automated, and your technology more intelligent and responsive.
But the journey doesn't end once you've reached a certain level. As any experienced mountaineer knows, the summit is just one waypoint in an ongoing adventure. To truly excel at CX, you must embrace a continuous improvement mindset, always seeking new opportunities to innovate and optimize.
This means regularly reassessing your maturity level, setting new goals, and pushing beyond your comfort zone. It means staying attuned to evolving customer needs and market trends and being willing to adapt your approach as needed. And it means celebrating your progress while maintaining the humility to know there's always room to learn and grow.
Keep Climbing
As you reflect on your own CX maturity, remember that this is a multi-year, multi-disciplinary transformation. There will be stumbles and setbacks along the way - that's part of the climb. The key is to keep putting one foot in front of the other, guided by a clear vision of the experience you want to deliver.
Here's the thing: maturity is not an abstract concept. Every incremental capability you build - whether it's a new listening post, a predictive model, or an empathy training program - has the potential to make your customers' lives a little bit better. And in a world where empathy and ease are in short supply, that's an impact worth scaling.
So don't get daunted by how far you have left to climb. Focus on the next switchback, the next basecamp. With persistence and partnership, you will reach those higher elevations.
And oh, what a view it will be. When you orchestrate journeys that feel like magic, when customers turn into raving fans because you've removed friction and multiplied delight, you'll know your CX has come of age.
So, take heart, weary traveler. Strap on those hiking boots, grab your CX maturity map and keep climbing. The summit of seamless, personalized experiences awaits - and your customers deserve nothing less.
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The Crucial Role of CX Leadership at Every Maturity Stage
Climbing the customer experience maturity curve is a transformative journey that requires visionary leadership every step of the way. Just as a mountain guide navigates treacherous terrain and changing conditions, CX leaders must skillfully steer their organizations through the complex challenges of becoming customer-centric.
However, the role of CX leadership looks different at each stage of maturity. In the early levels, it's all about evangelism and quick wins. As you progress, the focus shifts to governance, cultural change, innovation, and strategic integration. Let's explore the key priorities for CX leaders at each stage:
Levels 1-2: Plant the Seeds
In the initial chaotic and reactive stages, CX leaders must be chief evangelists, passionately advocating for customer-centricity as a strategic differentiator worthy of investment. This means making a compelling business case, showcasing the ROI of CX improvements, and rallying a coalition of early supporters.
Quick wins are crucial here to build momentum and credibility. Look for high-impact, low-effort opportunities to demonstrate the value of CX initiatives. Celebrate these victories loudly to garner executive buy-in and resources for the journey ahead.
Level 3: Build the Foundation
As they reach the defined stage, CX leaders must shift gears to operationalize customer-centricity across the organization. This means establishing clear governance structures, defining roles and responsibilities, and facilitating seamless handoffs between functions.
Importantly, CX insights should now be a key input into strategic decision-making. Champion the customer perspective in executive meetings, showcasing how a data-driven understanding of needs and journeys can inform priorities and drive meaningful change. Infuse customer empathy into the cultural fabric through training, storytelling, and rituals.
Levels 4-5: Innovate and Integrate
CX leadership takes on a more future-focused, strategic role in the upper echelons of maturity. It's about pushing the boundaries of what's possible and weaving customer-centricity into every aspect of the business.
Upskill your teams to leverage AI, machine learning, and real-time decisioning to orchestrate hyper-personalized, predictive experiences. Forge partnerships with start-ups, academia, and ecosystem players to co-create innovative solutions that go beyond what any single entity could deliver.
Importantly, ensure that CX is not a siloed consideration but is infused into every strategic planning and budgeting cycle. CX leaders should sit at the executive table, helping steer the organization's future direction through a customer lens.
The Constant: Committed Stewardship
Regardless of maturity level, one thing remains constant: the need for intentional and committed CX leadership. In the face of competing priorities and urgent fires, it's all too easy for customer-centricity to take a back seat.
That's why CX leaders must be unwavering stewards, tirelessly championing the customer cause and holding the organization accountable to its CX aspirations. Effective CX leaders keep the momentum and maturity curve climbing through persuasion, influence, and a healthy dose of grit.
So, as you assess your organization's CX maturity, don't overlook the critical role of leadership. Behind every successful ascent is a skilled guide charting the course and rallying the team to reach the summit. Onward and upward, fellow CX mountaineers.
If I were to dedicate an upcoming issue of the newsletter to you and a challenge you currently face, what would that issue be?
DCX LinkedIn Poll of the Week
This week, I asked our colleagues in the Customer Experience Professionals Group on Linkedin, What is the most critical soft skill for a CX leader?
When you examine the poll results and the comments, it’s clear that there's more to the story than just the numbers. Sure, empathy came out on top with 33% of the votes, followed by curiosity at 28%, relationship building at 22%, and vision at 17%. However, the comments paint a different picture, emphasizing the critical role of relationship building in CX's success.
Take Edward Murphy and Megan Burns, for example. They both stress that without solid and collaborative relationships built on mutual respect, CX initiatives are bound to fall flat. As a CX leader, you can't just focus on your own team – you need to be able to work effectively with people across the entire organization, breaking down silos and getting everyone aligned towards a common goal.
And that's where the disconnect between the poll results and the comments comes into play. While empathy and curiosity are undoubtedly important, they can only take you so far if you don't have those strong relationships. As Nick Bond puts it, everything else can grind to a halt if you haven't laid that foundation.
So, what can you do as a CX leader to build those crucial relationships? It all comes down to fostering collaboration, alignment, and trust. Make an effort to connect with colleagues from different departments, listen to their perspectives, and find ways to work together towards shared objectives. Show that you value their input and expertise, and be willing to lend a helping hand when needed.
But don't forget about the other skills highlighted in the poll. Empathy is still essential for understanding and meeting customer needs, while curiosity drives innovation and improvement. As David Watson points out, it's important to keep an eye on the future and be open to exploring new technologies like AI that could transform the CX landscape.
The key takeaway is that to be a successful CX leader, you need a well-rounded skill set that combines relationship-building with empathy, curiosity, and vision. By continuously developing these skills and applying them in your daily work, you'll be well-equipped to drive meaningful change and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
Industry News, Ideas, and Insights
What do customers want from contact centers | McKinsey
Customer care leaders face many challenges balancing AI technology, commercial goals, and customer expectations. As technology advances, leaders struggle to maintain personal contact with customers while increasing efficiency. Their top priorities include customer experience, revenue generation, and technology transformation. Despite a preference for live phone support, consumers also use digital channels. Companies aim to control costs through automation and outsourcing, and investing in advanced digital technologies can lead to better performance.
Is Human the New Premium? | LinkedIn
Chris Brooks, Global Customer Experience Specialist, Lexden CX, discusses the increasing value of human engagement in the face of growing digitalization and artificial replacements. He questions the origins of this trend and highlights the significant investment in digital skills training in schools, “which is preparing the next generation to code as professionals and decode as consumers.”
CX Patterns Newsletter & Podcast
Sam Stern is a customer experience leader at LinkedIn. His newsletter and podcast, CX Patterns, is a consistently excellent read and listen. Here’s a recent example where he brings to life the Peak Experience Principle:
Customer experiences remembered as great are not significant in every moment. In fact, they are just the opposite. Most of the experience is completely forgettable at best and a bit frustrating or boring at worst. That contrast makes peak moments more memorable. Let go of perfection.
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DCX Thought Leader Profile of the Week
Every week, I introduce you to another inspiring professional from LinkedIn who has the potential to make a significant difference in your life and career.
This week’s thought leader is Dr. Luke Soon, Partner at PwC in Singapore.
Dr. Luke Soon is a visionary Experience Designer and Futurist with over 25 years of experience leading Human Experience-led Transformations across the Asia Pacific region. He is passionate about the intersection of Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX), which he believes forms the foundation of the Human Experience (HX) in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
In his new book "Genesis: 👉🏻👈🏻Human Experience in the Age of Artificial Intelligence," Dr. Soon shares his insights and observations from over two decades of implementing HX, CX, and EX solutions. He envisions a future where humanity and AI coexist and collaborate to create exponential value, emphasizing the importance of trust in shaping human experiences and building great societies.
The book is divided into two parts: first, he presents anecdotal evidence and learnings from his experience as a Human Experience practitioner; second, he offers a series of fictional short stories set in 2050, depicting a utopian future where humanity and AI work together harmoniously.
Dr. Soon is a Board Member of the Asia Web3 Alliance Japan and a Partner at PwC Singapore. He believes that the next five years are crucial for humanity to influence a positive future and invites everyone to explore the concept of the Human Experience as a potential "Infinity Stone" for value creation.
Thank you for reading this week.
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-Mark