An introduction to Customer Experience Management

Customer Experience Management, or CEM, is becoming a popular way for industries to capture customer loyalty. CEM puts the focus on the customer rather than the goals of the company, leading to better customer service and ultimately a higher number of loyal customers spreading word-of-mouth advertising to potential customers. Companies that use customer experience management practices strive to make the most out of every interaction with the customer; through advertising, sales, delivery, service and communications. This leads to the “customer-centric” approach that CEM stresses. The customer needs to have the experience that the customer desires and expects at every level of interaction.

Effective CEM plans start with data gathering and analysis and ends with a customer service focused start-to-finish strategy to increase customer loyalty in a financially optimal way for the company. The strategy must give your company an advantage over other industries that are currently implementing CEM programs as well. Probably the most important issue to watch is the involvement of top executives in the CEM program. Goals should be set including the involvement of all levels of personnel in the company. When programs are initiated but not followed through on, CEM cannot accomplish the purpose set forth. Staff from every department should be on board with the planning and implementing of the customer experience management program.

While the ultimate goal of CEM practices is to create an environment for high customer satisfaction, there are many ways to get from A to B. Customer-centric is the most popular at the moment, focusing on improving customer service training and targeting advertising to focus more on benefits than features of a service or product. Market-driven practices often run by the marketing department have run their course and been found to be too removed from the customer experience to have the best overall effect. Line-of business practices, which start at the sales department and improve the quality of customer interaction from beginning to end, as well as a quality-centric approach to customer experience management, have also been attempted with success at top industries. The important thing to remember is that CEM is all about the customer, not the company. By evaluating the gaps in your company or industry’s current customer satisfaction, it will be easier to determine which CEM practice to follow.

Many industries currently known for their high-quality
customer service have CEM practices to thank for their success. Amazon.com, NetFlix, and
Progressive are three companies that have all become synonymous with customer
satisfaction. The way they have done this is by consistently changing their
company to suit the needs of their customers as they currently stand. Amazon.com has an easy-to-navigate
website with customizable options, free shipping on orders over a certain
amount, and quick replies to customer service questions. NetFlix also has set
up a user-friendly web navigation, multiple search options for customers
looking for a certain film, actor or genre, and quick delivery directly to the
customers door.

Progressive maintains customer loyalty by offering comparisons
between their rates and other companies, thereby eliminating the need of the
customer to do their own shopping around. The agents at Progressive are quick
to respond to customer needs and to change the policy according to the requests
of the customers. All of these practices are indicative of effective customer
experience management programs. Companies that are successful with CEM
practices are always researching ways to bring more to their customers,
regardless of the immediate benefit to the company. At first glance, you may
see the customer programs set up at these companies to be detrimental to the
profitability of the company, yet they have soared to success by giving their
customers the helpful and friendly experience that they want and will return
to. That’s the driving force behind customer loyalty.

Industries are extremely interested in increasing the
company’s accessibility to the customer at this time. This is the hottest thing
in customer experience management practices at the moment. Corporate
blogs, online customer service ‘chats’, and company forums that are frequented
by employees trained to solve customer issues are just a few ways that
industries are reaching out to the customers and adding a “personal
touch” to their customer service practices. Additionally, many companies
are allowing customers to put reviews up on their websites letting other
customers know the good, bad and the ugly of the product or service. Naturally
CEM is focused on making as many of those reviews good as possible.

The interest in CEM has caused several companies to develop
and market solutions for industries looking for viable CEM practices. CEM
experts will consult with your company to set up a strategy that will work to
suit the needs of your present and future customers while also meeting the
goals set up for the company by the upper level of executives. Implementing a
CEM strategy is a time-consuming process for a company but should end up saving
money in terms of customer service calls and returns in the long run. Training
programs will likely be the first major undertaking towards the CEM program,
ensuring that all employees are on board with the customer service tactics that
will become the backbone of the industry’s brand.

Customer Experience Management has sometimes been confused
with Customer Relationship Management, or CRM. While both are designed to
increase company profitability, there are distinct differences between the ways
this is accomplished. CRM focuses more on serving the company by delivering
what the company wants (higher profits, more customers, etc,) while CEM is
concerned with the customer primarily and delivering what the customer desires
during all of the ‘touch-points’ between the customer and the industry.

Despite
the large amount of money industries invested in CRM programs, customers were
still leaving due to dissatisfaction. This phenomenon led the industries to
realize that a more customer-focused program was necessary for the success of
the company. CEM does not work against or opposite to CRM, instead it
compliments the practices found in customer relationship management. By using
CEM to meet the needs of the customer throughout the interaction, the company
will accomplish many if not all of the company-centric goals as well.

Tags: crm, customer relationship management