Voice of the Customer basics
This is part two of a series of posts on the four components of a good CX system. I introduced the concept here and my first post, on CX strategic alignment, is here. Soon I’ll write about Process Engineering and wrap up with notes on what it takes to build and maintain a Customer-centric culture.
Folks often simply boil the Voice of the Customer (VoC) down to surveying. This is a big mistake. You’ve heard of the expression that we need to “meet the Customers where they are” when it comes to our offerings. Well, gathering their input should also take that approach. Just as different needs of different Customers are differently met by our products and services, so too should we understand the individuality and unique journeys of each segment of our Customer base when it comes to soliciting their feedback. […]
CX Strategic alignment: The First Step
This post is part of a series on the four components needed for a CX organization to be successful. An introduction to the concept can be found here, and look for briefs on the moving parts (VoC, Process Engineering, and CX Culture) coming soon. Here we’ll kick it off with a discussion about aligning your CX strategy with your overall corporate strategy.
CX practitioners, and especially more-so leaders, talk a lot about aligning CX strategy with overall corporate strategy. Sometimes, though, we think it’s just as easy as putting the Customers first, or centering “all” our decisions around the Customers’ experiences.
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CX: How it all works
In this article I’ll explain the components needed in place to elevate an organization’s Customer Experience. I won’t go too far in depth into the four parts but rather provide an overview of how they work together with a brief explanation of what they are. Following, in a continuation of this series of articles, I’ll explain with more specificity how these work (and work together), as they each deserve their own writings.
I’m on Nick’s podcast!
Check out my episode of Nick Glimsdahl‘s podcast, Press 1 For Nick that we recorded a while back and went live this morning:
What should your surveys look like? Today’s #CXQOTD
Short answer, "No, not necessarily"… keep in mind the goal of your VoC program is INSIGHTS! pic.twitter.com/Ee6Sk7Pl8L
— ✵Nicholas Zeisler (@NicholasZeisler) August 6, 2020
Do you trust your Customers?
One important facet of efficiency and positive CX is making it easy for Customers to deal with you and navigate your processes. The reason this is important is because corporations are necessarily defensive entities: we create processes to protect our organizations from risk and loss. That protection can come in the form of cash-on-hand, liquidity, T&Cs, and sometimes flexibility (for us) in how we deal with our Customers.
What drives a lot of organizations in this direction is fear and avoidance of that risk. If you’ve actually taken the time to read through the miles-long terms and conditions when dealing with just about any service provider, your eyes would likely glaze over. These rules are put in place for no other reason than for the company to be able to avoid litigation, and in some instances even having to deal with a Customer who feels a company has done him or her wrong in the first place. I’ve had several interactions with companies whose agents’ response when I tell them I don’t think I’m being treated fairly is basically that, Well look, sir…it was all lined out in the agreement you accepted when you engaged us in the first place. This likely will avoid litigation (who’s going to sue over our usual disappointments anyway, right?), and for the most part, Customers will swallow that and move on from a negative experience like that. And for that matter I think some of us write it off as a cost of doing business generally and after all, a company does have to protect itself, we may tell ourselves. […]
