There's a lot of talk out there about customer experience transformations stalling, or worse, failing. And there's a lot of speculation as to why that's happening. From my perspective, the root cause lies at the top of the organization.
As a coach who specializes in customer experience strategies, I've observed the biggest buzzword that customer experience professionals must endure today is "return on investment," or ROI. When I've polled these leaders at various meetings and events about what they need the most help with, ROI is cited most often. And yet, it's also the thing that is most nebulous and difficult to define. It's not like a marketing campaign, where you can count clicks and conversion rates. A customer experience improvement initiative often takes a long time to implement and to be experienced. There's also a lot that goes into any change (i.e., people, technology, processes, enterprise-wide adjustments, etc.).
But here's my question: Why must customer experience professionals show the ROI of initiatives that will improve the customer experience? Why must they prove the business case for not upsetting customers? Why aren't these improvements and changes considered as the price of doing business, or simply how you do business? These changes are not about adding more work to anyone's plate; they're about doing things better, more efficiently and in such a way that ensures customers will come back. To put it simply, these improvements are about your customers.
If you're in an industry in which customers have little choice or are locked into contracts for a long period of time, that's still no excuse to treat customers poorly or to gouge them for services without providing any real value. The moment they have an opportunity, such as their contract ending or if a disruptive startup in the same space offers a better experience, they'll likely move on.
Here's what I believe is an uncomfortable — yet indisputable — truth: You are in business to create and nurture your customers. Without customers — and especially without employees to create your products and to serve your customers — you have no business. Regardless of company size, region and industry, you are in business for the customer, because of the customer.
Each of those projects, initiatives and innovations happening in your organization should reflect your customers' voices. It's critical to consider the impact any changes could have on them. Otherwise, what's it all for?
Find a balance between acquisition and retention.
Gaining thousands of customers every month doesn't always mean you're delivering a great experience. When you focus on acquisition but not on retention, you create a leaky bucket situation that belies your truth. When you focus on moving the metric but not on improving the experience, the numbers lie.
Finding a balance between all of this really comes down to one thing: the customer. If you're focused on growth, invest more heavily in the customer experience during the acquisition stage — yes, the experience begins well before someone becomes a customer — but not to the detriment of existing customers. If you're focused on retention, place a disproportionate investment on improving the experience in order to retain customers. Ultimately, you cannot lose sight of the end-to-end experience.
Create products that fit your customers' needs.
I often receive questions along the lines of, "But if I focus on the customer, won't that take away from my focus on the product?" Here's my answer: If you don't focus on the customer, then for whom are you creating the product?
And similarly, stop trying to find a customer for your product. Find a product for your customer. I've heard this from several startups over the past few months: "We're still trying to figure out what problem we're solving for customers." If you're not solving problems for customers, you have a bigger problem. Take the time to listen to and understand your customers. What are their needs, pain points, problems to solve or jobs to be done? Only then can you find a product for your customer.
Build the customer experience into your company's DNA.
I like to refer to writer David Foster Wallace's famous "This Is Water" speech. In short, it goes like this:
"There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, 'Morning, boys, how's the water?' And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, 'What the [heck] is water?'"
This is a great analogy for what must happen with customers and the customer experience in your organization. They must become the "water." Your customers and their experiences should be so ingrained in your company’s DNA that they become your new normal and influence how you do business every day. Customer experience professionals no longer have to sell the concepts of customer experience and customer-centricity; they're no longer building the business case and proving ROI. They don't have to. It's just what you do. It's how you do business: for and because of the customer.
In order for your business to become customer-centric, you must deliberately commit to design the culture to put the customer at the center of all you do. What that means is that you (and your entire organization) make no decisions without asking: How will this impact our customers? How will this make them feel? Will this help them solve their problem?
I have news for you, and it's really the bottom line: It's all about the customer. It's all for the customer — everything you do and create, every process, every product and every service. Infuse the customer into your business and everything you do. When a great experience with your company becomes the customer's new normal, everyone, including your shareholders, will be happy.
If you need a little reality check, pause for a moment and imagine your business with no customers. I rest my case.
