Customer Experience isn’t a program

It’s really not all that new. Build quality products that customers want. Provide good customer service. And if you’re successful, profitability will follow. It’s been the formula for most companies for hundreds of years. 

In the past, companies could leverage their hard-earned market position to maximize profitability. Using their size and marketing might, they could bully customers into remaining loyal (and profitable!)

But that’s all changed. So much so, in fact, that companies who give off that customer manipulation vibe risk permanent alienation and market obsolescence. 

And extinction.

Customers expect more from companies – social and environmental responsibility. Sustainability.  They evaluate companies on how they treat their employees, both in their home countries and partners and suppliers abroad. 

Employees are intentional about who they choose to work for. Yes – choose. They select companies they work for based on culture and reputation. They’re looking for a place to grow and make a contribution; to be themselves and respected for it.

The world has become very small, and customers’ ability to communicate their dissatisfaction is at an all-time high, as is their inclination to act on their own experience and that of others.

Customer Experience (CX) has become a key focus for many organizations who realize that their very existence is dependent upon satisfied customers who choose to maintain their relationship with the company.

And that’s where it gets interesting, because #CX isn’t something you add to your processes, or relegate to customer-facing departments. 

With the untimely passing of Tony Hsieh, former Zappos CEO, we’re reminded of the radical lengths he’d go for customers. For him, its far more than a metric, dashboard or scorecard.

“Our culture is the platform that enables us to deliver the Zappos experience to our customers.”

– Tony Hsieh

Did you catch that? Culture is the key. And that doesn’t happen by accident. Digital Leaders recognize the critical need to engineer a culture that supports the company vision. 

Customer Experience must be engineered into the very fabric of everything the organization does. From technology to HR, facilities, office spaces, benefits, polices. Employee empowerment, trust, learning, innovation, personal and professional growth and development. The ability to contribute to something employees believe is fundamentally worthwhile and significant.

To be part of something excellent.

That requires DNA level commitment. The very essence of company leadership and the culture they relentlessly curate, starting first and foremost with themselves.

Digital Leadership is holistic and authentic.