Today, many organisations are on a journey towards Digital Transformation; changing the way in which they approach and interact with their clients as they endeavour to improve their customer service and avoid being digitally disrupted by competitors.

This digital revolution is changing the way enterprises manage customer engagement. New systems promise ever-more precise and accurate customer insights and journey analytics, but to be truly effective, this data must be available and actionable across the entire organisation – sales, marketing, operations, the contact centre, and more. Enterprises that retain the legacy divide between customer care and the rest of the enterprise risk sub-par customer experience (CX) and lost revenue opportunities.

There are however barriers to improving customer experience and in some cases organisation might be tripping over their own feet.

Often the blame is laid on the situation, another department or – perish the thought – customers when something doesn’t go right in a customer experience. But, according to recent research by J.D. Power and Associates, J.D. Power, the global marketing information services company, the problem is more likely in the
process, not the people.

Three of the biggest internal barriers to great customer experiences and ways to overcome them are seen as being;

 

1. FIRSTLY, PLACING A TOTAL FOCUS ON FIXING THE IMMEDIATE CUSTOMER PROBLEM

but not addressing the root cause – the customer need, but by asking yourselves questions about your own value proposition the cause can often be found.

  • Why should customers do business with you instead of your competitors?
  • What sets you apart from the others?
  • What is your reason for doing business?
  • What pain points to do you address for customers better than competitors?

2. WHEN ORGANISATIONS DEFINE THEIR VALUE, THEY CAN TEST EVERY PROBLEM AGAINST IT TO FIND ROOT AND FIX IT

This process can however cause a second significant barrier to improving customer experience. Enterprises often put efforts to improve the root cause of poor customer experience on the back burner because on paper it looks like a huge investment that doesn’t carry much urgency. After all, the immediate problem has been fixed.

But researchers found that many companies don’t invest in customer experience improvements because they aren’t sure how to develop a solid business case with a quantifiable ROI. Instead, they take on the easy wins – not the bigger, lasting changes that provide the long-term benefits.

 

3. THIRDLY, AND THIS IS WHERE THE OLD ADAGE ‘YOU CAN’T MANAGE WHAT YOU DON’T MEASURE’ COMES IN TO PLAY

Almost every company today measures the customer experience with realtime and in-depth feedback, volumes of data and personal observation.

However, it doesn’t matter how expensive or sophisticated the systems to gather are or aren’t, most companies aren’t using them to learn and manage relationships better. In other words, they are not managing their measurements.

The smart money can be seen in those companies that design a measurement system with actions in mind then find where they can make the biggest impact on the customer experience.

LASTLY, IS IT ALL WORTH IT?

Well, companies that recognise these internal barriers to creating great customer experiences and overcome them can see serious results. Received wisdom suggests that companies that provide higher quality experiences than their competitors also:

  • Acquire customers at a faster rate
  • Obtain a greater share of wallet
  • Retain a larger portion of their customers
  • Command higher prices for their products and services, and
  • Reduce their costs to serve

As a service provider, Gamma can not only provide the systems for ever-more precise and accurate customer insights and journey analytics, but also recognises the barriers many organisation face in their effective implementation.