CMO: Are You In Charge Of The Customer Experience?

My experience of being your customer is a result of the journey you take me on. The question is: - Are you in charge?

As the CMO, you are not only the pilot on the customer journey. You are also the stewardess…and it is your responsibility to manage the customer experience.

Even though experience may be a soft word, it will be reflected in hard core, measurable KPI’s as customer satisfaction and the relation between growth and decrease in the customer base.

Studies [1] show that customer satisfaction achieved through a strategically managed customer experience is the most profitable area you could invest in.

Satisfied customers have a tendency to be loyal, they contribute to a positive word of mouth, resulting in an increased access to new customers. That is the result of delivering value!

That is what marketing really is about: To create, communicate and deliver value to the target group, at a profit |2].

So, in marketing we are dealing with three main disciplines:

1. Creating value, also called product management, is developing products, services and concepts.
2. Communicating value, also called branding, is working strategically with positioning and communication.
3. Delivering value, also called CRM, is all about managing your customer relationships, where customer service plays a huge role.

By working strategically with these three disciplines, we can influence the overall customer experience.

But where do you start?

In order to get in the right mindset, I will recommend that you dust off the marketing strategy, and go through it again. It is important that you establish who your target groups are, how the company is supposed to position itself, what services and/or products you are offering to the market, what message you wish to communicate, as well as how you should communicate and in which channels.

If you have no marketing strategy, this is where you start.

Then, find the biggest sheet of paper you can find and try to draw a map of the entire customer journey. The following example [3] shows how it can be done:

In the course of the customer’s lifespan, she may very well make this journey many, many times. It is our job then, to make sure that her experience, in all the phases of the journey, is consistent with our brand promise.

To make it even more easy to grasp, divide the journey into logical blocks. Then, identify every point of contact between the customer and your company, both physical and digital.

A contact point could for instance be when the customer visits your store, receives an invoice, browses your website, reads your brochure, or speaks with a customer service representative on the phone.

Be critical, and ask yourself and your colleagues: “How can we improve the customer experience at this particular contact point?”:

• Can something be done with the product and/or service?
• Should we communicate differently?
• Can we make this easier for the customer?

Working with the customer experience is a challenging, but very profitable exercise. Please share your opinions, experiences, questions or contributions to this article, and good luck as the pilot and stewardess on the customer journey you are in charge of.

Sources: [1] Tor. W Andreassen, BI [2] Philip Kotler [3] Delightability.com

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