Good customer experience is critical to business growth, delivering higher wallet share, increased cross-selling and higher engagement, leading to higher revenue, according to McKinsey research.
Yet brands face disruptors and new entrants, commoditized offerings with little product or service differentiation, and pressure to adopt new technologies. To remain competitive, they must strike a balance between exceptional experience and innovating their product or service offering.
In many cases, however, business models aren't organized to meet customer expectations, according to Britt Mills, VP of CX solutions at digital consultancy Bridgenext. That failure can let down the product and weaken the value proposition to customers.
“Too many businesses aren’t able to support the products they're launching into the market with holistic customer experience,” Mills said.
To achieve successful CX, a holistic approach is needed to prioritize customer-centered products across all facets of the business, said Mills. Yet, it’s easier said than done.
Why prioritizing customer experience is everyone’s business
Prioritizing CX across the business is more challenging than it sounds, according to Mills. The problem is the closed loop model of CX in which gathering and integrating insights isn’t a proper cross-functional, coordinated process.
While each area of the business, such as product design, customer support or sales, might have its own CX metrics, it doesn’t mean that the entirety of the experience works for the customer.
The product team might consider itself successful because it’s hit 1 million downloads, or the marketing team might see success because it’s reduced cost per acquisition, Mills said. But the customer doesn’t know or even care whether it’s interacting with the sales, marketing or operations part of the business.
“If the business wants to be customer centric and delivers great CX, it doesn't just live with the product team, customer support, marketing or the store operations team,” she said.
In reality, customers experience the brand as a whole, and if one part of their experience flops, the brand flops in their eyes. It’s a common problem many businesses struggle to overcome because they’re not properly organized around delivering seamless CX.
“Fundamentally, they need to look inward to build a foundation that can support the CX they're wanting to put out into the marketplace,” she said.
Mills cites Amazon as an example of a business where its product — in this case, its huge selection of items — is out of balance with the online part of its CX. The crowded, busy website interface, long lists of filter options, and rows of different products can make it difficult and confusing when shoppers are trying to navigate.
“The guarantee [is] you’ll get the things you need and the selection is amazing, but the experience of the website and the app aren’t completely user friendly,” she said.
How do brands balance the interplay between product and CX?
As customers expect more personalized, data-driven experiences, organizations are under pressure to leverage data meaningfully. Products also need to meet higher expectations, often requiring a shift in organizational structure to be aligned around the customer’s needs, according to Mills.
“In today’s market, a product's value is often tied to its integration within the entire brand ecosystem,” she said.
Global beauty retailer Sephora, known for its wide selection of high-end brands, customer-centric shopping experience, personalized tutorials and recommendations, and popular loyalty program, is a case in point.
Sephora’s app and in-store experiences complement each other, and even small touches — like its color-coded in-store shopping baskets that indicate whether or not a shopper wants assistance — show how experience can be intertwined with the product.
“These thoughtful customer-focused elements really enhance overall satisfaction,” she said.
Mills believes that a successful CX strategy involves both product owners and CX strategists to balance product functionality and overall customer support.
“A strong product without supporting CX efforts can lead to customer dissatisfaction because both need integration to drive success,” she said.
What are the challenges in making CX a priority?
In many cases, businesses understand the need to prioritize CX as a critical business driver, but that doesn’t take away from the challenges.
“Customer centricity is a way to continue to move up the maturity curve and drive growth for the organization,” said Bryan Comite, managing director of consulting firm Protiviti.
In doing so, businesses will face challenges across three areas — capacity, capability and complexity.
Capacity requires the organization to have the bandwidth to take on these longer-term CX transformation initiatives versus short-term tactical challenges.
Then there’s the question of having the appropriate data that can fuel the insights and ultimately action. This is the capability challenge that requires a customer data platform.
“They need to have the necessary capabilities in place to drive customer-centric objectives,” Comite said.
Finally, there’s the question of having the capacity to adapt to customer centrism. Constraints include having sufficient monetary resources, capital investment, budget allocations and human capital across the business.
To reduce complexity, organizations will almost always need to rewire their structure, including make-up of business units, its location, employee roles and culture, according to Comite.
Doing so ties everything from the product back to the customer.
“The organization's strategy needs to connect to the idea of customer centricity,” Comite said.
