by Amy
Several years ago, I realized that in watching television and reading magazines, I often enjoyed the ads just as much as the content. As a psychology undergrad, I joined the “how” and “why” of people’s thoughts and behaviors to these advertisements, and began to think about who exactly was the target of a good or service. After working in hospitality, as an entrepreneur, and in marketing, I noted my fascination with how consumers experience different aspects of a business or brand. Additionally, I realized that some of my most loved brands were not necessarily delivering a consistent message through every channel. The magazine ads were well-designed and witty, while the website was confusing and boring. The Facebook page outlined a great conversation between customers and the brand, but it was impossible to get a human customer service rep on the phone. This led, during my business studies, to the question of how operational management influences the customer experience, and whether consistency can be achieved by changing the way a firm operates.
It seems to me that the way businesses operate is evolving. Gone are the days of unlimited resources and unnecessary head-counts. There is a move toward more cross-functional business structures, rather than purely siloed business units. Resources are shared across departments, and the notion of collaboration and communication is rising as a priority. In this continually globalized world, customers have a limitless number of competitors to chose from for any good or service. Firms are competing to differentiate themselves based on brand image and the level of service provided to customers. With the advent and maturing of social media and improvement of online capabilities, brands are no longer experienced singularly as a product or service, but through every outlet available. Consumers are able to laud or lambast a brand experience to a seemingly endless audience, shifting the power balance to the customer in the brand-customer relationship. Thus, the customer experience has become of the utmost importance in both retaining happy and acquiring new customers.
Aligning these business and customer experience trends flips the focus of business operations from an internal to an external perspective. The firm designs a best in class customer experience, and arranges operations and resources rather than determining an internally efficient use of resources and offering the resulting customer experience. Seemingly, it’s time for companies to buck the status quo. Are firms embracing this challenge?
There are different implications here for B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) firms, but those differentiations will have to be left to a later post, once we’ve explored existing trains of thought.
While I have a lot to learn on the subject – hey, that’s why we’re here! – I think that this Customer Experience movement will take hold. I see the potential, when executed well, for companies to provide a superior experience through all consumer touchpoints, while simultaneously reducing operating costs and positively impacting the bottom line. Hence, the Return On Customer Experience would be quantifiably and financially realized. My goal is to learn more about this, and hopefully share some best practices and success stories from companies on the Customer Experience frontier.
Return On Customer Experience 