Good Customer Experience Requires More Than a Quick Fix

Posted on March 15, 2017 by amberlcleveland

Is this what you reach for when you have a business problem? Are you sure?

If someone were listing costly items for businesses, band-aids would probably not appear on the list. However, after reading a recent article by Sarah Dean, “Are you Band-Aiding your Design or Customer Experience (CX)?” I believe that band-aids may be the most costly item for any business. She astutely identifies the ramifications of “band-aiding” customer experience. I’ve observed businesses not only band-aiding the customer experience, but also band-aiding many business processes. If consideration is given to many of the glitches businesses suffer through, it is easy to identify that many of them are as a direct result of a band-aid.

So let’s consider how to pull the proverbial band-aids off! Sarah Dean shares some easy steps to solve some of the issues, which I have rephrased into some of the questions for the March 15th #SMChat. As we discuss customer service and customer experience during our monthly #SMChat feature, we will approach it from a holistic perspective. Identifying what the band-aids are and which should be replaced with a solution that maximizes outcomes. (Many times I have heard customer service professionals recommend holistic/maximum impact solutions only to be pushed to use the band-aid approach to meet short-term goals.) During the chat, let’s consider how we can set-up and support those holistic solutions for our organizations. Join us at 1p.m. ET, March 15th for a lively and engaging chat.

Q1. What is the ultimate purpose of what you are planning or improving?

Q2. Has your organization identified your target customer group? Are they segmented into sub-groups?

Q3. What are the goals of your audience in relation to their interactions with your business?

Q4. What does success mean for your customer?

Q5. How does customer success translate to success for your organization?

Q6. Consider the current state of business between your organization and your customers, evaluate the difference between that and what success looks like, how can the gaps be eliminated?

Q7. How can you best support others in an effort to eliminate the gaps?

Q8. How can you best determine if you are maximizing the chance of success and impact?