COS

NEWS

Isn’t it intriguing?

We’ve never seen such eagerness, good intentions, or resolutions to improve customer experience! Never before have so many companies placed customer experience front and center. We’ve never seen so many Customer Experience departments, specialists, experience designers, and consultants—the list goes on. It’s something to celebrate!

But, on the other side (with customers), what’s happening? Are satisfaction, delight, and loyalty really there? Have NPS and other customer satisfaction indicators improved? Certainly… Some studies suggest they have, while others indicate they haven’t and express disappointment.

Let’s be honest: it’s likely that these efforts have yielded results (even if only a little)! But equally honestly: are the customer experiences really living up to the ambitions and efforts that companies have poured into customer experience, with that dreamed-of “Wow” effect? I doubt it.

Why? Because beyond the polished processes, customer journeys, and experience designs, there are… corporate cultures that are often not supportive of customer satisfaction, making it hard for the tools created by those driving customer experience internally to be truly effective.

• Corporate cultures, meaning entrenched values, beliefs, attitudes, and resistance to change, which daily hinder the best intentions of creating great customer experiences.
• Companies where the predominant professional culture (be it technical, hierarchical, commercial, risk-focused, cost-cutting…) doesn’t place customer satisfaction as the priority.

So yes, let’s applaud the Customer Experience teams who do everything to implement processes, practices, and rituals that promote positive customer experiences! But we’re just at the beginning of the journey! To achieve total success, it’s more crucial than ever to initiate deep cultural transformations within organizations and to instill a shift in mindset among teams.
This requires a broader view and a cultural focus.

Some companies understand this well and are already actively working on their customer culture daily… getting ahead of their competitors.

And you, what if you changed your perspective on this topic?
What if you widened the lens to address the root of the issue?”

Author: Gil Arban