Customer Experience has become a recurring theme and a priority on the agenda of many organizations. Understanding customer needs, minimizing friction, and creating an excellent experience at all touchpoints have become key success factors for companies seeking to differentiate themselves.
Our CX research aimed to provide a current overview of the best Customer Experience practices in the market, identifying the main challenges and pain related to CX. Through a maturity frame, it was possible to position companies in relation to others in their sector and in relation to the market average, thus showing opportunities for evolution based on 5 pillars, as shown below.
The participants
The survey included the participation of 44 companies. Ten different segments and mostly companies with more than 500 employees were included.
CX Strategy
The CX Strategy pillar shows an overview of the company's topic and position in relation to Customer Experience. In this, reference companies carry out personalized marketing actions to attract and retain customers and, in addition, they focus on the customer as part of their mission or vision. They also measure their satisfaction, promoting actions to reduce friction that minimize detractors and enchantment actions that encourage promoters.
Focusing on the customer means understanding their needs and aligning them with the company's strategy in order to provide an excellent experience. In addition, CX must be a C-Level guideline, since the organization's commitment to move the gears determines the success or failure of the results.
One way to measure these results is through NPS (Net Promoter Score) research. Our research showed that the companies that measure the NPS still have actions that are mostly aimed at minimizing detractors, yet are not focused on encouraging promoters.
Customers who have a good perception of the brand are more inclined to convey a positive image of the company to close people, adding reliability to the market. An excellent strategy to improve customer perception is to invest in marketing and personalized services. This helps to improve the experience of current customers, as well as attract new audiences.
However, most companies were still adept at mass or segment marketing, thus representing a great opportunity for evolution in terms of maturity.
Processes and Governance
The Processes and Governance pillar evaluates internal processes, routines, and actions for monitoring and actions to improve the customer experience. In this, high maturity is characterized by the understanding and monitoring of the processes according to the customer's journey, placing the customer at the center of decisions. Existing projects and initiatives are a top priority for senior management and CX is included in the strategic goals and objectives of the entire leadership. In addition, in highly mature companies, there is a periodic routine of root cause investigation and definition of action plans, with an integrated view of all areas of the company.
Most companies work in “silos”, that is, they have departments with different objectives and structured in the company's vision, and are not directly linked to the customer's vision. To begin the transformation, the first step is the definition and knowledge of the customer journey, which encompasses all the customer's contact points with the organization. The structuring by days encourages a more collaborative interaction between the different departments of the company, always placing the customer at the center.
However, our research showed that, although mapping and knowledge of customer journeys is something practiced by most companies, many of them still have difficulty structuring internal processes following the customer's perspective.
When it comes to leadership, the topic of CX must have a person responsible for measuring the customer experience. He will also be the orchestrator of CX transformation governance through the definition of owners per journey and the formation of multidisciplinary groups, with the participation of all areas involved in each topic, to act to eliminate offensive motives and to redesign the ideal journey.
Research results show that most companies can still evolve CX through more effective leadership engagement, the definition of goals related to CX and with multidisciplinary groups focused on finding the root cause of problems and building the ideal customer journey.
Technology and Data
The Technology and Data pillar evaluates channels available to customers, data integration, and the use of AI. In this, high maturity is achieved by companies that have an omnichannel view of customer contacts. In addition, there is a high use of AI to automate customer interaction, generate data and insights, personalized offers, identify patterns and audience segmentation, among others.
The research showed that, despite a wide range of channels offered for interaction with customers, most companies do not have these channels integrated. In addition, AI is still not a reality for most respondents.
People and Management
The People and Management pillar assesses the organizational structure, training, goals, incentives, and management model for the transformation of internal culture. As a result, high maturity is achieved by companies whose managers are highly trained in the subject of Customer Experience. In addition, internally, employee satisfaction is monitored and there are goals and variable compensation as an incentive to encourage and promote employee attitudes in search of the best customer experience.
The transformation of a company's CX must involve all areas and levels of activity. It is extremely important that managers are trained and engaged to enable the proposed transformation. However, the research showed the low maturity in relation to the training of managers on the subject of CX, as well as in the alignment of the entire organization on the subject.
Promises to customers must be reflected within the organization in the form of promises to employees and, just as NPS is a commonly used measurement, eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) must follow the same path, in order to measure and evolve the employee's experience.
The measurement of employee satisfaction was a major concern among the respondents, that is, most companies already carry out such measurement and many already have goals and variable compensation linked to the customer experience as a practice.
Financial Impact and Investment in CX
This pillar assesses the measurement of the financial impact of CX actions and investment priorities. In it, high maturity is characterized by measuring the impact of the customer experience on P&L and by making decisions thinking both about the customer's vision and about financial results. In addition, in more mature companies there are priority investments focused on boosting the customer experience.
Many still wonder if investing in customer experience will bring financial results to the company. Measuring these results through the impact of improving the customer experience directly on P&L can make it evident and justifiable to have CX as a priority strategy and investment for the company.
The survey showed that most companies already measure financial results.
And in terms of priority investments, changes in processes and structure, digitalization, and investments in people and training, they rank in the Top 3.
In times of crisis, as we are currently experiencing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the topic of Customer Experience gains even more relevance. Customer needs change and this is reflected in their behaviors.
Listening to the customer's pain, being empathetic and acting quickly are therefore critical factors in this context to provide a great experience, thus increasing the likelihood of making that customer a fan of the company and leveraging its results.
Final Thoughts
In summary, the research shows that there is still a long way to go to achieve excellent Customer Experience. Understanding customer needs, minimizing friction, and creating a differentiated experience requires a complete transformation of organizations.
Structural transformations must be carried out in order to guarantee an organization of work according to the client's point of view, employees must be trained and senior leadership must be involved and engaged in the transformation.
In addition, customer satisfaction must be measured at all points of contact and the organization as a whole must work to resolve pain.
Although the transformation is hard work, it is notable that most companies are already prioritizing CX projects given the relevance and importance of the topic for companies seeking to differentiate themselves.
About the authors
The CX research was conducted by Visagio's team of market analysis specialists, Visagio Research & Intelligence, in partnership with Mario Esses, partner and founder of MGE Management and Transformation.
For more details visit: https://visagio.com/research-intelligence/
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