Translating customer experience jargon into sense: part one

By Jennifer Kirkby, consulting editor

This month we tackle a subject at the peak of its hype cycle. Yet when questioned, closely many people admit they still don’t really know what it is – and that includes management consultants! We are talking about customer experience management (CEM).

What is customer experience?

Customers experience an organisation at all of its ‘touchpoints’ – salespeople, call centre agents, advertising, events, debt collectors, product brochures, receptions and websites. You cannot avoid the customer having an experience: so both the employees who ‘man’ those touchpoints and the environment – from décor to technology - are key determinants of the end result.

A customer’s experience is gauged by all five senses and depends on:
• contextual mood at the time – are they anxious, happy , angry, interested?
• expectations of the organisation at the outset

People telephoning a call centre, for example, often expect poor service and are therefore in an anxious mood before they even dial the number.

A discount chain like TK Maxx can give as good an experience as a luxury store such as Harrods to the same person – as long as it lives up to expectations. In the case of Harrods, making you feel special with polished wooden floors, designer products and polite doormen; in the case of TK Maxx, making you feel pleased with your efforts to hunt out a bargain amongst all the dross. Different expectations, different experiences delivered, but both equally good.

To ensure a good experience is provided, organisations should firstly be empathetic towards the customer’s likely mood – which is why emotional intelligence is oft talked about in training and staff recruitment. Secondly, manage and live up to expectations – which is why branding, reputation and CRM are so important. The brand makes the promise; CEM is the parcel that gets delivered. And this is why Jan Carlzon of SAS Arirlines first christened touchpoint encounters ‘moments of truth’.

The measurement of truth

Experiences are individual, which is why complaints management, feedback, voice of the customer, satisfaction studies, wow awards and loyalty measures feature so prominently in the CEM lexicon. All of these are trying to understand what the customer is experiencing and how favorable that might be for the organisation.

The ultimate goal for CEM is to make people feel good about themselves and the supplier. Do it often enough and trust, loyalty and advocacy are likely to build as customers increasingly feel it’s worth their while investing time, emotions, money and - in the case of word of mouth - their reputation,

In recent years recommendations have become the ‘gold standard’ of CEM via the net promoter score, especially in a world of growing online social networking. But it is dangerous to think this can really get to the heart of what makes an experience tick (Net Promoter: can a magic number guide your business?)

Part two, the problem with being emotional, click here.