Solutions

Fundamentals for Customer Experience

“In these times of upheaval and agitation, I agree with comfortable solutions which ask little of my time. A Senseo machine for a cup of coffee, a tent putting itself up in two seconds… Fantastic, isn’t it!? But, strangely, when I go shopping for a new bookcase or armchair, I find that the biggest and most popular furniture maker in the world… does not make furniture: I have to put them together myself! But, for a low price, good quality, and innovative furniture providing a solution to my every need, I don't mind, and many along with me...”

That’s why being close to the customer is the basis for a flexible organisation: only when we, as an organisation, fundamentally respond to the rapidly evolving expectations and desires, ‘flexibility” is an actual or relevant concept.

This requires two things: a fast and detailed grasp of customer expectations (are we alert?), and a flexible organisation to respond to them (are we agile?). And, most of the time, that's where the problem lies: numerous organisations don’t succeed in translating this objective into a value proposition for the customer.

Fundamentals for Customer Experience Design

Know your customer:

What is your client satisfied or not satisfied about? Which factors determine this and how’s your score? What does your client complain about? Why does he leave your company or why does he come to you? In case you let your customer down, did you put things right? These are various questions you need to ask yourself and stay focused on continuously. An impossible mission, so it seems: however, there are various techniques available, from customer satisfaction surveys, mystery investigations, to customer contact mining. For more information click here.

Think granular

Adding your customer’s expectation to the one big pile is deadly, treating them all separately, is invaluable… After all, Treacy and Wiersma define ‘being close to the customer’ as correctly segmenting our customers and focused response through custom offering satisfying every niche’s needs. ‘Correctly segmenting’ means finding the right granularity, understanding segment needs, and specifically responding to them or not, in an adequately granular way, but nothing more. In this case, “Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler” is also an appropriate starting point.

Create & tune your services

Understanding your customer is crucial, next is the action. After all, being alert is not enough. According to Jim Collins, the question that needs to be posed (the ‘Hedgehog’ concept): what are you passionate about, what powers your economic motor, what can you actually excel at? Eventually, agile and swift response to these facets creates the added value. Your Service Concept is the translation deep into the organisation of what you wish to convey to the customer, and what the related key elements are. And by communicating this clearly, the relationship with the customer will get even stronger.

Communicate & act consistently

Ikea tells its customers they can deliver acceptable furniture quality at low prices, providing the customer assembles the furniture himself. Or, in the Swedish restaurant, they ask you to clear the table yourself. Customers are willing to contribute to your service; your customer becomes a co-producer of your service. This way, customers sympathise when something goes wrong, but they expect you to put things right and keep them informed. Consistency throughout channels and the elements of the service is crucial to gain the customer's trust and to boost your brand. That’s the power of a transparent and distinctive Service Concept.

Best practice: Zara’s value proposition