Disney’s ability to “wow” fans and captivate customers is legendary. Their return rate of first-time visitors, an impressive 70%. Walt’s secret to delivering a ‘magical’ experience was an obsession with processes. Viewing his park as an incomplete product which could always be improved.
As we ride headlong into 2018, how much thought have you put into your organization's processes? How do you plan to take your customer experience to another level this year? Unlike poor Walt–who roamed his park in disguise looking for areas of improvement–you have access to Customer Experience (CX) technology. Powerful systems capable of giving you a much deeper insight into the complete end-to-end customer experience than Walt ever had.
Take your customer experience to another level this year!
Still, and even with the technology, the problem most organizations encounter when trying to improve customer satisfaction, is that they think purely in terms of touchpoints. This siloed focus causes them to miss the bigger picture–the entire customer journey.
Walt believed that no team should operate in a bubble, and no process viewed in isolation. Putting a high degree of emphasis on cross-collaboration within Disney, spurring on numerous customer experience innovations.
To make a meaningful improvement to customer experience, examine a typical customer journey across all departments, all systems and all technology touch points.
What aspects of your customer experience need attention?
Here are 5 Customer Experience tips to get you started...
1. Create Seamless Omnichannel Experiences
As you introduce new service channels–online, mobile, social media, etc.–make sure customers enjoy a seamless (omnichannel) transition from one channel to the next. There is nothing more frustrating than reading one set of instructions online, only to discover a different scenario when you arrive at your local DMV or hospital. Organizations that focus on an effortless transition across all channels will rank higher for customer satisfaction.
2. Shorten Customer Journeys
Time is our most valuable commodity. If your organization isn’t looking for ways to save customers time, you risk losing them. Walt had an obsession with constant and never-ending optimization, but back then he lacked the technology to automate specific tasks. Customer Experience (CX) technologies automate mundane functions, and can even eliminate some tasks from a customer journey entirely. In 2018 invest in CX technologies to shorten customer journeys and save them time.
3. Discover Opportunities in Data
CX technologies collect vast amounts of data, the kind of information that when used correctly can give managers a deeper insight into patterns and customer behavior. For too long, organizations have relied on data that is “too little, too late”’. In 2018, we anticipate that data, and in particular, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will play a transformational role in improving customer experiences. So much so, that we recently invested in Analytikus, who specialize in AI and Machine Learning.
4. Personalize your Communications
Organizations must leverage structured, and unstructured data from across all channels to pre-emptively anticipate customer needs. Customer experience technologies help strengthen relationships with customers by facilitating personalized, accurate communication. Enabling organizations to deliver relevant information to customers throughout their journey–from personalized appointment reminders to delivering content helpful to their circumstances.
5. Customer Experience Cloud
The trend toward cloud-based systems continues to accelerate. The customer experience cloud brings together things like customer data, digital experience, and personalization to create an efficient way to monitor and interact with customers.
Instead of having customer data and interactions spread across multiple systems, the CX cloud creates a single 360-degree view of your customer experience. Also, organizations that take advantage of cloud technologies to deliver CX solutions across geographically dispersed locations can expect significant savings associated with deployment and management.
Start creating ‘magical’ customer experiences now. Schedule a consultation with the ACF team to talk about how you can leverage the latest CX trends to improve customer satisfaction in your organization.
