subject: The Rise Of The New Customer-centric Economy [print this page] Clearly, product quality and prices can be powerful differentiators in dictating customer preference. We have seen Apple build a loyal customer base on the power of its innovative and superior product line. We have also seen Wal-Mart advance in giant strides with its unparalleled pricing structure. However, these parameters, I believe, are not enough to keep your brand alive in the long run. The one way to set your brand apart in the current economy is by building a great customer experience.
Clearly, companies such as Apple and Zappos are examples of how an outstanding customer experience can sustain brand strength. While Apple involves its customers in its product design and enhancement through channels such as Twitter, Zappos creates unbelievable customer experiences with its responsiveness through all channels. Amazon is another leading brand known for its impeccable customer service, be it online experience, product shipping, or issue resolution.
The journey to the current customer-centric economy is interesting. In the 1980s, factors such as product quality, organizational processes, logistics, and operations, played a major role in determining the life of a brand. Customers were just sales statistics relegated to the backseat. The ensuing years witnessed dramatic business process reinvention, product quality enhancement, and a more efficient supply-chain management.
This widespread improvement in capabilities blurred the competitive differences, and suddenly consumers had unlimited choices. Consumers became more informed, more aware, and wanted more. They wanted better service or they could just move to competitors. It was the dawn of enlightenment with companies beginning to realize that it was customers who really mattered and what mattered more was managing customer relationships. Thus came the age of Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
CRM emerged as a new industry empowering businesses with technologies and processes to improve customer relationship with focus on methodologies to capture customer information. However; the complexity and the slow implementation process of CRM lessened its appeal. The CRM was followed by CEM (Customer Experience Management), which focused on the customer itself. The emergence of CEM highlights the change in the perspective of companies that the existence of a brand depended on customers. Focus shifted to customer experiences. Customer interactions provided new insights, which were used to gain competitive advantage.
With Internet and advancing technologies opening newer channels of communication, the CEM seemed a narrow approach as it focused only on customer-agent interactions. But, customers wanted to experience outstanding service each time, every time and through any channel. It was the time to include all existent channels of customer conversations to understand their expectations. It was the time of Contact Center Performance Management (CCPM) and the inclusion of all channels into CEM.
Customer Experience Analytics (CEA) is the latest in the continuing evolution of approaches to understand customers better. In CEA, the focus is on acquiring a complete understanding of customer experience by taking into account the before, during, and after of customer interactions. Every customer interaction at every touch point is taken into account, and analyzed to understand customer expectations. Insights acquired are infused into the organizational stream to create enhanced customer experiences.
