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between purchasers and the company: from awareness (of a brand, product, or
service), to engagement, to purchase, to use (including customer service), to
advocacy (recommending the company to others). PwC’s 2019 Global Consumer
Insights Survey found that elements of customer experience, including store
design, salespeople’s knowledge, payment methods, and social media interactions,
are more effective than advertising in attracting retail customers. Another study
observed that respondents were willing to pay a premium for great experience
— varying from 7 percent (for car insurance) to 16 percent (for coffee). B2B
customers are also increasingly influenced by the quality of experience, especially
if it saves time and makes them more productive. In today’s digital world,
customer experience is multichannel, relationship-oriented, and under continual
scrutiny. Customers routinely base their decisions on reviews of the design and
quality of products and services, the responsiveness of their early interactions,
and the company’s reputation.
To craft great customer experience is to rethink the impact of each touch
point along the customer’s trajectory. The company is, in effect, telling a story
that affects the customer’s mental activity (and the brain functions associated
with it). The most skilled advertisers and marketers have always understood this;
they speak to people’s emotions and, as noted in our research on the social life
of brands, to four basic human drives: acquire, defend, bond, and learn. But
aspirational messages often come across as false; they are tinged with low ground
attitudes, expedience only pretending to be farsighted.
Great CX leads to long-term customer satisfaction. Great LX and EX lead
to great CX. When employees care about the impression they make on people,
and not just about getting a sale or fulfilling their formal job requirements, the
company becomes more customer-centric. Customer satisfaction feeds into EX
and LX as well; for example, it is the source of the metrics that leaders depend
on to know where to orient their next moves. And thus the initiative comes full
circle: LX to EX to CX and back to LX. The virtuous circle means the three
groups are more aware of one another. Employees are acting more like leaders
(and are more likely to be tapped as leaders). Customers feel more recognized.
And formal leaders are more in touch with the reasons they joined the enterprise
in the first place.fea
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