Bite Size Customer Experience Management - Customer Experience Blueprint

Customer Experience Management seems to be such an enormous task, that many companies just ignore it because so many stake-holders own so many aspects of the customer experience. The last thing we need is another Chief Anything officer. That’s why I added the byline “don’t **** this up”: Instead of trying to manage the entire customer experience, try figuring out what just one or two things that your company should be “trusted” with. This is different for every company. Black smoke pouring out the back of a UPS truck is not going to undermine the brand as much as it did for Crystal Springs [water - see article].

Once you figure out the one or two things your company should be “trusted” for, map out the customer life-cycle and all their interactions, from being a prospect to being a repeat customer. For every point in that customer life-cycle, note what the customer is going to experience or interact with from the standpoint of product, communication, environment, and behavior, and at that point you need to make an evaluation: Is (the experience) supporting the key things we should be “trusted” with?

Some categories of things to look for when evaluating the customer experience are:

Product. Package Design, Placement, Logo (from a process standpoint: Finding It, Buying It, Opening It, Using It, Getting Support)

Communication - Instructions, Brochures, Uniforms, Signage, Packaging, Presentations, Sales Collateral, Interactive Tools, emails, Templates

Behavior. Phone Scripts, Interactive Tools (including IVR), Sales People, Delivery People, Vehicles

Environment.Signage, Space, Interaction (I really need an architect to help me out here)