In our last piece, we established the importance of customer experience and shared some notable examples of companies excelling in this area. The logical next question is, “how do I apply these principles in our company?” In this article, you’ll learn the most important things you need to consider in your customer experience strategy.

1. Think less Customer Experience Strategy, more Customer-focused Company Strategy

Creating strategy silos is a common pitfall for many businesses. Treating your customer experience strategy as separate from your business strategy means it is more likely to have a narrower, tactical focus, be de-prioritised, and be marginalised to a small part of the business for execution and ownership. 

Your business strategy should be your customer experience strategy and vice versa. An effective customer experience strategy includes a robust way of bringing the voice of your customer into the boardroom, thus informing your company strategy. This allows confidence and focus in your decision-making, as you orient activity around the things that matter most to your customers.

2. Take a Holistic Approach to your Customer Experience Strategy

One of the most valuable things you can do when creating your customer experience strategy is to look at the entire picture of your customer journey. Think about your customer at every touchpoint across all areas of your business. These can include everything from noticing one of your adverts; to having a sales call, visiting your website, or going into a retail store; to experiencing your product, calling customer support, engaging with your social media, and so much more. 

These examples are opportunities for a good customer experience that you can use to great effect. The interactions you have across all these touchpoints determine how your customer feels about your company and, therefore how their behaviour toward you. In other words, when considered collectively, this is what determines whether a customer buys from, stays loyal to, and advocates for your company.

3. Value Customer Research Insight over Data

While we’re big believers in data-driven decisions, we are also strong proponents of quality over quantity. It’s not uncommon for executives to receive 150-page customer reports that, while well-intentioned, simply serve to blur focus and hinder progress. 

Instead, seek clarity. Articulate your big strategic questions or ‘known unknowns’, identify which customer group(s) are likely to have the desired insight, and design the appropriate research to engage them. Once defined, you can generate highly focused insights that enable you to focus on strategy with confidence, rather than sifting through data and wondering where to start.

4. Customer Experience Consistency is Key

Your customer experience should be seamless and congruent.,. This baseline of consistency is vital when building the desired perception of your company. Unfortunately, moments of incongruence can erode much of the hard work that preceded them. As Warren Buffet said, “it takes a lifetime to build a reputation and 5 minutes to destroy it”, 

Some important questions you can ask yourself during this process include:

• Who is our customer/whose perception matters most to us?

• What do we want to be known for?

• How do we want our customers to act towards us?

• What do we want our customers to say about us?

These questions, of course, also tie into your brand strategy. You can see how taking a holistic approach to strategy, brand, customer experience, and employee experience is critical.

5. Deliberately create distinctive moments in your customer experience strategy

We mentioned above the need to create a consistent customer experience baseline across all customer touchpoints. Once that is established, you can create distinct moments that distinguish you from the rest of the industry. Example of a distinctive Customer Experience touch-point: The Popsicle Hotline.

The Magic Castle Hotel (an unassuming operation that consistently ranks as one of the Top 5 Hotels in LA), noticed that many hotel guests enjoyed ordering a refreshing popsicle from the poolside menu. The very inclusion of such a popular item on a full-service pool menu was consistent with the overall customer experience of the Magic Castle, but management saw an opportunity to create a distinctive moment. 

They introduced the Popsicle Hotline as a way of providing an exceptional and unexpected level of customer service. Now, guests who desire a refreshing popsicle simply dial the Popsicle Hotline from their lounger, request their flavour of choice and watch with glee as a waiter brings it to them on a silver tray. The impact of this single moment continues to bring in new customers, loyal return guests, and rave reviews

But, would it undo an otherwise inconsistent experience? No. Can every moment be distinctive? No, the very nature of being distinctive means we have to carefully consider the moments to elevate. Would popsicles be well received at a 5-star city hotel? Unlikely, which brings us on to our last tip.

You can read more about these types of customer experiences in the book, The Power of Moments.

6. Above all, know your purpose when creating your customer experience strategy

The decisions you make around everything we’ve mentioned must be guided by your company purpose. The strategic questions you strive to answer, the customers you choose to engage, the type of consistent customer experience you build, and the distinctive moments you elevate should all be guided by your company’s shared belief of what’s important, its vision of what it aspires to do or be, the strategic mission guiding how it’s going to get there, and of course, the behavioural values that underpin the agreed way of being.

In Summary: Customer Experience Strategy Is a Core Pillar for Success

‍We all know that keeping customers top of mind is vital to any business. Still, how we do it – strategically, methodically, and mindfully – allows us to maximise our efforts. Knowing your customer, looking at the entire customer journey, creating consistency, choosing your ‘wow’ moments, and knowing how all of this aligns with your overall company purpose will make you stand out in your industry.