Ask the Expert: The Unit

Here, Jim McCall, MD of Brighton-based digital agency The Unit provides you with the answers you need… 

What is ‘Customer Experience’?

Customer Experience (CX) can be defined as ‘the product of an interaction between an organisation and a customer over the duration of their relationship’.

Why does good Customer Experience matter?

Today’s customers have more choice and are more demanding (and less forgiving!) than ever. They’re typically less ‘brand loyal’, and competing for their time, attention and love is increasingly challenging. However, if managed well, a good customer experience can positively influence behaviour, from purchase decisions to retention and advocacy. It can be the key to setting a brand apart from its competitors and, crucially, it can deliver significant business results.

How to understand your customer’s ‘journey’

Firstly, listen to your customer and find out what they really think by asking these questions: how do they use your product? what are they trying to achieve? and are they successful? Armed with this information, on a timeline, map out your customer’s journey with your brand/company across channels, identifying where expectations are met and where interactions fall short of expectations.

Then interpret and action the information. Look at the low points identified – maybe the point where a claim is made for an insurance company, or where a call to your customer service team falls short of the customers’ expectations. These are the key areas to improve and therefore prioritise. Touch-points where expectations are already met can often be improved too to ‘delight’ customers, and exceed expectations, through innovation.

 

To find out how The Unit could help you increase business value through improved Customer Experience visit: http://www.theunit.co.uk/