How culture and leadership can influence customer experience
Companies that provide an individualised experience that is quick, streamlined, and responsive can increase their revenues faster and develop a loyal customer base. Great customer experience (CX) not only delivers better business results, it is a key differentiator for today’s top brands.
In the digital age, as customers interact with organisations across numerous touchpoints and channels, companies must present a consistently seamless experience. Customer engagement can be significantly influenced by strong executive leadership and cross-functional alignment.
When customer-focused values and principles are ingrained in company processes, business leaders can increase profitability, retain employees, and drive revenue. Embedding customer insight across all levels of the organisation not only delivers business results but also enhances strategic decision-making, helping employees take actions based on actual knowledge.
Providing great customer experience becomes an instinctive part of not only the organisation’s culture but also the way employees work. Satisfied customers have considerably higher lifetime value to the organisation, as they will freely advocate on behalf of their favourite brands. Culture and leadership can significantly influence customer experience.
Consider these 4 key steps to improve your customer engagement:
-
Executive sponsorship
Company-wide commitment for a customer experience program begins at the top so it’s essential that senior leadership teams demonstrate responsibility for CX metrics, including frequent communication regarding customer program achievements and areas to improve. For an organisation to become a CX leader, the customer must be the number one priority.
-
Organisational alignment
CX programs are arguably most successful when various departments within one organisation share the same vision. The result drives a culture of joint responsibility through the company, with all departments aligned regarding common processes and practices.
Organisations should appoint a team to oversee the entire CX program. This team should be responsible for the program’s integrity, extensive goal-setting, and ongoing tracking. Support from senior management is critical for the successful implementation of the program.
-
Common customer metrics
To have a true indication of the program’s success, organisations must find consistent evaluation measures. Finding common metrics lets organisations compare data from month-on-month to year-on-year, which can let the organisation identify prevalent trends, track improvements made over time, and recognise areas for further improvement.
-
Publish customer values
When defining the values customers expect to encounter in their dealings with an organisation, business leaders should be specific, ensuring both priorities and actions are clearly expressed to employees. Once agreed upon, these values must be communicated to customers as a way of ensuring both the business and its employees stay accountable to deliver on the promises made.
CX programs must focus on delivering the best possible experience to their customers. To do this, companies need to be able to collect feedback from a broad range of channels, analyse the feedback to garner insights, and then ensure they act on those insights.
CX programs should be a priority for all businesses to assist in retaining customers, increasing their propensity to spend and grow the percentage of the customer base that is "willing to recommend" to others. Executive leadership is fundamental to ensure the success of CX programs and to drive a customer-centric culture across the organisation.