DESIGN EFFECTIVENESS   |   POSTED ON 04.12.2015

While technology – social media platforms, websites and apps – is a large part of reaching and engaging today’s customers it’s the customer experience that must come first. CX first, technology second.

‘You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology – not the other way around.’ – Steve Jobs

As the Harvard Business Review found, brands that ‘skillfully manage the entire experience reap enormous rewards, enhanced customer satisfaction, reduced churn, increased revenue and greater employee satisfaction’.

Any brand can have a fully functional, beautifully designed website and any company can have an interactive app but it’s the organisations that truly deliver in terms of the customer experience that will succeed in the long term.

‘Customer experience is the next competitive battleground. It’s where businesses going to be won or lost.’ – Tom Knighton

Creating an awesome customer experience is time consuming but extremely valuable and it’s not that difficult if you are determined to get it right. Work through your customer journey from start to finish identifying the points at which you can make the experience better, more rewarding.

A customer journey is the chronological set of learnings, decisions and touchpoints as they get to know you, become a customer and then hopefully a repeat customer and brand ambassador and referrer. Their journey moves from need to interest, visit, learning, returning, buying and repeat. At the same time your business moves through a journey of tracking, capturing, nurturing, personalisation, thanking and recommendation.

‘Your customer doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.’ – Damon Richards

The best way to begin on creating an awesome customer experience is to become an immediate problem solver. Define the very first issue your customer faces on their journey for you and solve that problem. Is sign up necessary at the very beginning of their journey? Can the sign up process time be reduced or simplified? For each problem you solve for your potential customer the better the customer experience will be.

‘Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.’ – Bill Gates

Concentrate on the most important metrics relating to your customer experience and forget all those vanity metrics.

To fully understand your customers’ current journey with your brand you must put yourself in their shoes – literally. Start at the very beginning and navigate through the journey, every minute detail and make it better. If you find it difficult to gain perspective and objectivity then consider seeking third party help. The customer experience is too important to leave to chance.

‘Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.’ – Walt Disney

To find out more about creating an awesome customer experience contact the local branding specialist Liquid Creativity team.