🌟 The Future of Customer Experience: Understanding Experience Management 🌟
In today's business landscape, customer experience and experience management are among the most important topics. But what exactly is experience management, and where is the future of customer experience headed? In this article, we'll explore these questions and more with Alicia Tillman, the Chief Marketing Officer at SAP.
Table of Contents
- 🤔 What is Customer Experience?
- 📈 The Market Opportunity for Experience Management
- 🤝 The Relationship Between Technology, Process, and Culture
- 📊 The Importance of Data in Experience Management
- 🚀 The Role of Operations in Delivering Exceptional Customer Experiences
- 🎹 The Yamaha Example: Using Technology to Understand Customer Needs
- 🤝 The Blurring Lines Between B2B and B2C
- 💡 Advice for Companies Embarking on the Experience Management Journey
- 🌟 Highlights
- ❓ FAQ
🤔 What is Customer Experience?
According to Alicia Tillman, customer experience is the future. However, there is often a disconnect between what companies believe they are delivering in terms of experience and what consumers actually feel they are receiving. This creates an incredible market opportunity for companies to think about how they can solve the experience gap and ultimately win in the experience economy we are operating in today.
When companies measure customer experience, they typically look at annual Net Promoter Score (NPS) studies or quarterly customer satisfaction studies. However, the way a consumer judges a brand is based on each experience one at a time. They don't look at it over a 12-month period and make a decision as to whether or not they're going to stay with that brand. One poor experience that doesn't meet their expectations can cause them to move to another brand quite quickly.
📈 The Market Opportunity for Experience Management
The experience gap between what companies believe they are delivering and what consumers feel they are receiving has created a $40 billion addressable market. This market opportunity is significant, considering the amount of money it takes to build a brand and deliver an experience with a customer. The amount of money lost when customers turn away from a brand due to a poor customer experience is also significant.
🤝 The Relationship Between Technology, Process, and Culture
Customer experience is about all of the things that make up a brand, including technology, process, and culture. Consumers today don't buy products; they buy experiences and communities. They associate themselves with a company not because they have the best product, but for what that brand stands for and what it allows them to become a part of. All of these things need to work together to create a cohesive brand experience.
📊 The Importance of Data in Experience Management
Access to data is one of the fundamental differences in experience management today. There are many different methods in which companies can obtain customer feedback, including surveying technology and social sentiments. Companies now have the ability to look across all of these data sources to understand precisely how their customers are feeling about their brand.
🚀 The Role of Operations in Delivering Exceptional Customer Experiences
The operational aspects of a business are table stakes. Consumers expect to get on a plane and have it take off and land when it says it will. However, the true experiential aspects of a business are what make up a customer's experience. Companies need to get better in touch with the feelings of their customers with each and every experience they have with their brand. By understanding how customers feel about their brand, companies can anticipate precisely what they need and shape their experience in advance.
🎹 The Yamaha Example: Using Technology to Understand Customer Needs
Yamaha is a company that creates musical instruments. When they were about to introduce a new keyboard into the market, they couldn't decide internally where they wanted to place some of the knobs and sliders associated with the keyboard. They were unsure competitively, and they needed to get to market very fast. They sent out a survey to over a thousand customers, and in a matter of hours, they had nearly all responses back. This feedback helped them understand precisely where they wanted to develop the keyboard.
🤝 The Blurring Lines Between B2B and B2C
There shouldn't be a distinction between business-to-consumer and business-to-business when it comes to experience management. Regardless of the job title, customers want to be spoken to like human beings. They have feelings, emotions, wants, and needs. If marketing speaks to them in nothing but corporate jargon, it creates a trust issue with the brand.
💡 Advice for Companies Embarking on the Experience Management Journey
To embark on the experience management journey, companies need to learn the needs and desires of their customers upfront. They need to measure the effectiveness of the experience they are providing each and every time. Companies should deploy technology to understand what their customers are feeling and use that data to shape both how they market and how they develop the operations of their brand overall.
🌟 Highlights
- Customer experience is the future.
- The experience gap between what companies believe they are delivering and what consumers feel they are receiving has created a $40 billion addressable market.
- Customer experience is about all of the things that make up a brand, including technology, process, and culture.
- Access to data is one of the fundamental differences in experience management today.
- Companies need to get better in touch with the feelings of their customers with each and every experience they have with their brand.
- There shouldn't be a distinction between business-to-consumer and business-to-business when it comes to experience management.
❓ FAQ
Q: What is experience management?
A: Experience management is the process of understanding and improving the experiences that customers have with a brand.
Q: Why is customer experience important?
A: Customer experience is important because it can make or break a company. Consumers have an ability to move quickly, and in doing so, they can cause a company to lose customers and revenue.
Q: What is the relationship between technology, process, and culture in customer experience?
A: Technology, process, and culture all need to work together to create a cohesive brand experience. Consumers today don't buy products; they buy experiences and communities.
Q: How can companies use data to improve customer experience?
A: Companies can use data to understand precisely how their customers are feeling about their brand. By understanding how customers feel about their brand, companies can anticipate precisely what they need and shape their experience in advance.
Q: What advice do you have for companies embarking on the experience management journey?
A: Companies need to learn the needs and desires of their customers upfront. They need to measure the effectiveness of the experience they are providing each and every time. Companies should deploy technology to understand what their customers are feeling and use that data to shape both how they market and how they develop the operations of their brand overall.
In conclusion, experience management is the future of customer experience. Companies need to get better in touch with the feelings of their customers with each and every experience they have with their brand. By doing so, they can anticipate precisely what their customers need and shape their experience in advance. With the right technology, process, and culture, companies can deliver exceptional customer experiences and win in the experience economy.
