Idit Aloni is Head of Product Marketing at Amdocs, and has over a decade’s experience consulting and leading Marketing and Customer Experience within large organisations globally.
Recently, I’ve been feeling like a child in a candy shop, as I had the pleasure and privilege to judge at the 2019 UK Customer Experience Awards, where I was able to learn about how some of Britain’s biggest brands are delivering exceptional CX.
The event saw a range of winners rewarded for their initiatives, and as a judge I was able to identify many of the common factors shared by the top performers
1. Doing CX for the sake of CX
True CX practice is for the customer’s benefit first and foremost. Business benefits, operational efficiency, and cost savings naturally follow, but organisations that do it right set aside their ROI calculators.
2. Keeping it real
In an era of smartbots, authenticity goes a long way in establishing customer trust, and there are very simple and clever ways of achieving that.
One of our telco finalists told us how they run regional routing, so that agents cater to customers from their area. This way, they are “in” on local slang, and can even be up to date on the performance of the local football team!
True authenticity creates much more personal customer interactions – ones that are truly genuine and not just guided by system logic.
3. Rocking the boat
Firms should not be afraid to challenge the status quo and traditional norms that no longer apply.
One of the UK’s top insurers did an exceptional job in measuring success solely against NPS performance, while removing metrics like AHT and schedule adherence from KPI dashboards. These may still be tracked for operational purposes, but are not used to measure agent performance. The same goes for simple changes in terminology to inspire thinking, engagement, and personal ownership.
Provide intent, not instructions; ‘conversation guides’, not scripts; and ‘activity frameworks’ rather than job descriptions.
4. Getting the basics done
Many effective CX initiatives are grounded in plain and simple process improvement. There’s no way around it and there are endless options to go for, ranging from Six Sigma to Design Thinking.
So, like the top performers at the UKCXAs, pick your poison and go for gold.
5. Making people meaningful
Whether they are employees or customers, people want to feel that they matter, and that what they do makes a difference.
Winning firms encourage an organisational ‘brag data’ mentality to motivate agents to create story-worthy experiences as part of their BAU.
6. Talking about Human Experience (HX)
To me, this key differentiator sets the winners apart from the rest.
It’s the notion of impacting Human Experience rather than just Customer or Employee Experience only.
One of the UK’s telcos showcased a game-changing strategy around this concept by setting up their entire service centre to support people with mental issues, offering a unique employment environment in their community.
They created a comprehensive, well thought-through call centre operation that includes agent coaching, mindfulness sessions, a ‘buddy system’ for performing daily tasks, and so on – all to support those service staff members grappling with depression, anxiety, and other mental issues.
To me, delivering a game changing HX/CX/EX is about creating a meaningful impact on people’s lives. It could be about making small moments easier and stress-free, and offering some sunshine on a rainy day, or it can be about making a true social impact.