So little confidence do consumers have in these electronic surrogates that a few weeks after the Web site showed how to reach a live person quickly at ten major consumer sites, instructions for more than 400 additional companies had poured in.Īn excess of features, baited rebates, and a paucity of the personal touch are all evidence of indifference to what should be a company’s first concern: the quality of customers’ experiences. And then there are automated telephone systems, in which harried consumers navigate a mazelike menu in search of a real-life human being. Many, too, have fallen for a rebate offer only to discover that the form they must fill out rivals a home mortgage application in its detail. With such a system, companies can discover which customers are prospects for growth and which require immediate intervention.Īnyone who has signed up recently for cell phone service has faced a stern test in trying to figure out the cost of carry-forward minutes versus free calls within a network and how it compares with the cost of such services as push-to-talk, roaming, and messaging. The authors go on to illustrate how a cross-functional CEM system is created. Companies need to involve every function in the effort, not just a single customer-facing group. Data are collected at or about touch points through such methods as surveys, interviews, focus groups, and online forums. The authors describe a customer experience management (CEM) process that involves three kinds of monitoring: past patterns (evaluating completed transactions), present patterns (tracking current relationships), and potential patterns (conducting inquiries in the hope of unveiling future opportunities). For instance, the majority of the companies in a recent survey believed they have been providing “superior” experiences to customers, but most customers disagreed. But many don’t appreciate how those activities differ from CRM or just how illuminating the data can be. Few CEOs would argue against the significance of customer experience or against measuring and analyzing it. Customer experience is shaped by customers’ expectations, which largely reflect previous experiences. It encompasses every aspect of an offering: customer care, advertising, packaging, features, ease of use, reliability. Anyone who has signed up for cell phone service, attempted to claim a rebate, or navigated a call center has probably suffered from a company’s apparent indifference to what should be its first concern: the customer experiences that culminate in either satisfaction or disappointment and defection.Ĭustomer experience is the subjective response customers have to direct or indirect contact with a company.
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