Using Customer Experiences (CX) to Build Your- with CX Expert Dr William Huggins

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05Sep

Using Customer Experiences (CX) to Build Your- with CX Expert Dr William Huggins

By Business Development and Entrepreneurship, Business Strategy, Marketing, Customer Experience, Strategy: Formulation to Execution 0 Comments 0

Introduction

Nope…..Not at all!!!
One must never ever confuse Customer Service with Customer Experience. They are totally different.
Customer Service is focused on delivering a service at the point of interaction.
Customer Experience is a far more in-depth, strategic, Tactical, Customer-centric and employee-centric approach. It forces the business owner/strategist to analyse the output and outcome of the product or service with a specific focus on the customer.
It should be noted to all that customer satisfaction equals revenue and customer loyalty (after continuous satisfaction) equals continuous and increased revenue over time.

Enter Customer Experience (CX) Expert Dr William Huggins

Dr William Huggins, Customer Experience Expert

In discussing Customer Experience we at Winnow Consultants and Associates spoke to the  Customer Experience Expert Dr. William Huggins.

Dr Huggins explained that Customer Experience can be a central part of firm improvement and growth if used comprehensively.
He stated it can be used for the obvious satisfying customers but can also be used, to improve processes, provide Omni-channel services, measure the impact of process improvement, reduce wastage, improve employee satisfaction and even analyse the competitiveness of the firm globally.

Start with an in-depth comprehensive customer journey map

The Customer Journey Map- From Needs & Ideas to After-care and Ambassadorship
Dr. Huggins went on to state that all Customer Experience (or CX as he tends to call it) can begin with the definition of the customer journey. He says the customer journey must include all the steps that the customer must take to acquire the product or service from your firm and beyond.

1st -Map begins with Anticipating potential customers’ Needs & Thoughts

Customer Journey begins with the customer’s need, Desire or idea

The strategist mapping the journey must note that the journey begins far before the customer even makes contact with the firm. Huggins says the Customer Journey begins with the customer’s thought.

In response to the possible customer needs and consequential thoughts, the firm must place inviting information out there that will inform and channel the customer to the firm.
This will understandably lead to the development of a strategic information framework where the firm focuses on channels of information for both promotions and feedback. Information gathered here informs the firm of customer needs and most importantly helps to prepare the firm for further engagement.

2nd Stage – Map from first contact to Customer purchase

Beyond this, and using the information received from pursued interaction at the customer Needs and thought stage, the firm must develop innovative ways to receive and serve the customer.

Making a memorable impact and gathering the necessary information

This must be done in such a way that it is satisfying (different from satisfactory) and memorable to the customer.

The firm must at this point look at all its processes both in the front office (the people and systems that directly interact with the customer)and the back office (all supporting processes and people). I
Dr Huggins gave the example of a furniture store. He says the walk-in store and the online store are the front offices and thus must be efficient and effective as they deal directly with the customer. The front office will consist of:
  • employees who can be in-person, online or on the telephone
  • IT and Artificial Intelligence technological systems that support transactions and communications
  • Presentations of products, logo, story, ambience and organization colours

but the back office will have supporting systems such as

  • Finance departments
  • Maintenance
  • Human Resource Management
  • IT support
  • Procurement and Warehousing

As we can see the back and front offices function together to create the customer experience at this stage.

3rd – After-sales care and attention

So I then asked Dr. Huggins if the firm’s role is complete once the customer is satisfied with the experience after purchasing the product or service. In almost a shocked voice he said

“NO NO NOT AT ALL” 

He stated most firms underestimate the value of aftercare (beyond After Sales Services).

He said during the entire interaction from the customer having thoughts to sale of the product the firm should gather as much information from its customers as necessary.

After Sales Services providing Aftercare for customers

The information should include home district, email address, phone contact numbers etc (demographics and other personalized information where necessary).

The firm must make it its duty to contact the customer afterwards to ensure that the customer is happy with the product and/or service.

They must always attempt to be the first to know about their customer’s problems with the product and be dedicated to fixing them in a very timely manner.

He stated that the overall objective of CX is to ensure that customers become ambassadors of your firm. After an excellent customer experience, they should feel compelled to tell the world through Word Of Mouth (WOM)

The Impact of CX on the Firm

Dr. Huggins also stated that the impact of CX analyses and the subsequent corrective and developmental activities can be used to strategically position the firm in a very competitive position as it forces the firm to look internally and fix the problems that may hinder it from serving the customer excellently.

HR and CX

One area he particularly emphasized was Human Resources where he iterated that:

“Satisfied employees make satisfied customers who in turn increase revenue and enhance the firm’s competitiveness”
He said when looking internally we will also recognize that Excellent Customer Experience is directly related to satisfied employees. An employee’s dedication and focus on delivering excellent service usually comes from a place where he/she feels a sense of belongingness to the company and the company represents a place of value. A customer-focused employee usually sees the job as more than a paycheck and works assiduously for its continued and growing success.

Conclusion

In closing the CX spans the realms of Strategic planning, tactical/operational planning and processing, all front-office activities and all back-office activities that support the delivery at the front office including warehousing, IT, Human Resources, and finance.  CX is an All-enterprise developmental process that can not only enhance the development of the company in the customer’s eyes but also in the eyes of employees. CX improvement if done thoroughly and consistently shows marked improvements in profitability.

Want to review or improve your Customer Experience?  Feel free to contact us at Groupwinnow@gmail.com or talktous@winnow-group.com or call us @ 1-868-461-7201

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Author

CEO AND DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Lincoln Bobb leads WINNOW in two major capacities: He is both CEO and Director of Marketing of WINNOW Consultants and Associates. A Graduate of Management (BSc.) and Marketing (MSc.), Lincoln is also a Doctoral Candidate at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business and is currently completing a thesis that focuses on the internationalization and the development of innovation in firms within small island developing states within the Caribbean. As a former councillor (2013-2016) and an aspiring academic, he has represented Trinidad and Tobago at the colloquium of Commonwealth Local Government in Malta where he presented his paper entitled “A Derivative of The Triple Helix Way to stimulate innovation and efficiency in the operations of the Arima Borough Corporation.” In this paper Lincoln adapted the Triple Helix concept for use within the local government context within Trinidad and Tobago and showed how its introduction can lead to heightened efficiency and innovation. A consultant for over a decade, he has helped firms in the United Kingdom, Jamaica, Barbados and in his native country in the areas of Human Resource Management, Strategy, Marketing, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He is one of the founding members of Winnow Consultants and Associates Ltd. and an educator at the University of the West Indies Open Campus.

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