Top Trends – Customer Experience

?
By: Colin Taylor

Yesterday we examined the Top 10 Trends for 2015, according to the slightly warped mind of Colin Taylor. The Top 10 List presented was;
The 2015 Top 10 Trend List
1. Customer Experience
2. Gamification
3. Immersive Learning
4. SMS
5. Mobile
6. Video
7. Chat
8. Agent Empowerment
9. Zero Service
10. Customer Effort and Emotion

The Customer Experience (CX). CX has been all the rage on the speaking circuits for the past couple of years. The importance of the experience that the customer has when interacting with your customer service or contact center organization is nothing new, it is, simply put, one of the most important indicators of future purchase and loyalty. Unfortunately few centers know where to begin and how to measure CX. Is it just CSAT, is it NPS, is it VOC or FCR or do I need a new TLA (Three Letter Acronym)? In terms of where to start, ask yourself if there is a defined or documented ‘customer experience’ that the organization is committed to deliver. If there is a documented experience, has it been communicated to customers. If the desired/expected customer experience is on your website, then customers will base their expectations on this CX, mission or vision statement. If no such documentation exists then the customers will establish their own expectations…with or without your guidance. As a manager it is hard to hit a CX target when we don’t know what you are aiming for, so a documented statement can help everyone internally focus on what is intended and expected and externally you can provide the customers with expectations that the organization will strive to meet.

The Bottom Line: The Customer Experience is important to all call and contact centers. Their ability to manifest it and deliver on it will tend to vary with the level of maturity of the center and the investment budget established by senior management to support, track and validate its delivery.