IT’S CRITICAL TO UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT
OF HOW THE CUSTOMER WANTS TO INTERACT
WITH YOU, WHY THEY ARE INTERACTING WITH
YOU, AND WHAT THE CUSTOMER EXPECTS BASED ON
PROMISES MADE.”
— PRESTON HERRIN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, HCG INC.
milkshake 5
build a detailed customer journey map
and endeavor to measure outcomes at
each defined touchpoint. This informative
practice can help an organization establish
better context for customer interaction.
“I always emphasize the importance of
context in marketing tactics,” Herrin says.
“It’s critical to understand the context of
how the customer wants to interact with
you, why they are interacting with you,
and what the customer expects based on
promises made. Often, customer-facing
teams don’t establish the full context of
customer interaction, which can lead to a
poor CX outcome.”
Avoid clichéd marketing approaches
In the race to create the perfect customer
experience, being able to identify the
missteps is as important as finding that
magic bullet. Evan Wexler believes one
of the biggest barriers is putting as much
focus on the customer as the product itself.
While many believe in the “If you build
it, they will come” approach, sometimes
that strategy may be true for an initial
introduction or purchase from a brand, but
does not build loyalty.
Wexler has spent the past 20-plus
years working as a global supply chain
and operations executive, leading
operation strategies for both Fortune
500 companies and early stage start-ups.
From where he sits, measuring customer
experience should be a data exercise done
quantitatively as well as qualitatively.
“From a quantitative perspective, I
suggest looking at customer repeat rate
and change in average order values,”
Wexler says. “Customers vote with their
wallets, so understanding if they are
coming back and growing if they come
back are the two key indicators. From a
qualitative perspective, actively engage
your customers after purchase to ask the
net promoter score question, i.e., would
you recommend this company to family
and friends? Secondary questions would be
to understand why they bought from you
in the first place: price, availability, service,
etc. By reviewing both the quantitative
and qualitative data, you will have a good
understanding of the customer experience
you are providing.”
Wexler believes that there are two key
ingredients to a customer experience: Does
the customer connect with your brand?
And does the customer find it easy to do
business with you?
The first is brand connectivity. Even if
you sell a commodity, you have a brand. A
great example is your local grocery store.
Everyone sells the same basic products,
but you choose one over the other
because it is more of a fit for your lifestyle,
i.e., price, product quality, variety, ambience
of the store, employee helpfulness/
friendliness, etc. The key is to make sure
you understand your target customer and
ensure your brand has the unique features
that target customer is seeking.
The second is ease of doing business.
While customers may try your business
because of the brand, they will not be
repeat customers unless you make it easy
for them to do business. Depending on
your brand, ease has different definitions.
For commodity items, it may be how
easy and fast it is to find, pay and take
ownership of the items. For luxury, it may
be personalization, knowing you when you
walk in and having items ready for you.
“As a supply chain professional, I have
worked with some amazing marketers,”
Wexler says. “The most successful know
how to advertise the brand to their core
customer and push the product teams
to let the business sell itself by word of
mouth. You can always drive spikes in
demand with deals and discounts, but the
best marketing is customer retention due
to brand loyalty and experience and word
of mouth advertising. If you have to have
a large advertising budget to market your
product, you are doing something wrong.”
As the world continues to go digital,
the ability to connect with your customer
becomes a digital exercise, too. Remember
to make it convenient for them to get in
touch with you. If you are a brand built on
customer service, don’t lose that as you
go digital. Making your customers feel
connected is the only secret you need to
know.
September 2022