Know-How Exchange : Strategy

A major and often overlooked aspect of customer experience is team empowerment and autonomy.

The wheels fall off the brand experience train when call-center and front of house staff don't have either the authority or the autonomy to make things right for clients and customers when situations warrant the action.

Often, a positive customer experience outcome (such as through a return or a refund) is worth more in terms of long-range brand equity than denying the change because of some BS senior management rule that can't be worked around.

Giving customer-facing staff the permission and autonomy to make these decisions within specific thresholds in terms of the cost of goods and services can save money, time, and ill will.

Customer experience is about ease of communication, clear communication, validation, and fulfillment, it's NOT about the restriction of choice, nor is it about confusion, obfuscation, obstruction, or frustration. Cable TV companies, health insurance companies, and utility companies, in particular, need to get their respective acts together on these fronts.

Pay special attention to the pinch points of online checkout processes; cart abandonment ratios, and follow-up processes. Is there someone to shepherd the client through the transaction process at every step? What kinds of pre-and-post transactional offers and analysis will you employ or could you employ to increase sales by 20% or more?

Include user experience in your processes and methods as well: where do prospects leave the process before a transaction is complete and what measures can you put in place to reduce these numbers?

Is the process of searching, finding, deciding, buying, shipping, and delivering one that's seamless, simple, and straightforward? If it isn't, figure out where the weak points are and fix them, testing and refining as much as you need to.

I do know someone who has set up and run CX teams at very large/complex multi-national companies, and she has agreed to let me introduce you/her. She is currently employed full-time, though, so it's unlikely she will be able to spend as much time as a good response to your question(s) will require.

If you want to pursue this, let me know via email, using the contact information in my profile.