Skyways – August 2019

An exceptional customer experience (CX) can’t be

delivered without improving the employee experience.

1

Decide: Executive and employee buy-in

and commitment

Introducing a customer-focused strategy requires

overhauling the policies, procedures and processes

throughout an organisation. It is imperative that every

person in the company is on board with these changes.

2

Discover: Situational analysis – where

are we now?

If we don’t know where we are now, we won’t get to

where we want to be. Do an analysis of the current

customer experience by gathering all the information

and customer feedback data you can, to clearly identify

how the current customer journey looks, feels and

is perceived by the customer. The same is true for the

employee experience.

3

Define: Gap analysis – where are the

opportunities for improvement?

Having gathered information and data on the current

experience, identify gaps that provide opportunities for

improvement.  This stage can often be overwhelming,

so as a starting point, make a list of all the current

pain points and challenges, knowing that they’ll all be

addressed in time, but initially only identify three quick

fixes that can be implemented immediately.

4

Design: Change management process

• how are we going to get there?
  Change is never easy, but it can be fun. Cultivating a
  customer-first culture requires that you focus on three
  key aspects:


• People: What do employees need to know and
  learn to deliver the ideal experience?


• Processes:  How can we improve or simplify
  processes that support employees to deliver the
  ideal experience?


• Technology: How does our current technology
  ‘enable’ employees to deliver the ideal experience?
  What technology do we need to design or procure
  that will deliver a seamless experience for our
  customers?

5

Develop: Ideal experience design – what

do we want to deliver in the future?

Once you’ve addressed the key pain points of the current

customer journey, take time out to ideate what the ideal

customer experience should look like. Begin with the end

in mind. Consider how your business, products or services

could add more value to your customer in the future.

6

Deliver: Launch a CX campaign

As with any objective, what isn’t documented

doesn’t get done. Design and deliver an internal

communications campaign for the whole business, that

continuously reinforces the company’s commitment to

delivering on its promises.

7

Deep dive data and deliverables: How

did we do, and where to from here?

This process will take a few months, but it will all be in

vain if management do not analyse the data to establish

if deliverables have been met.  In fact, understanding

customer and employee feedback should be a Key

Performance Indicator for select individuals, who are

tasked with continuously monitoring this feedback.

Text | Supplied Photography | Richardson Harry

For more information,

go to cxconnexion.

co.za.

32

business trade | industry

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Preparing

Seven steps to improving the

experience of your customers

for

patronage