Katie Ferro
An article in Forbes Magazine this year described customer experience (CX) as the ‘new brand’. While the article went on to describe CX disasters and trends, one key theme related to the fact that customer experience management was probably the most important investment a brand can make today.
When working with organisations on CX projects CRNRSTONE has found that our clients can reap the rewards of our ongoing and multi-pronged approach to engaging and connecting with our 100,000+ community. As every CX professional knows, gaining insights and buy in relies on established levels of trust and authenticity, not just related to one off purchase but for the multiple touch points that are part of the ongoing CX journey.
While responsive management of brand reputation is a necessity, there sometimes appears to be little insight into of the role that market research can play in digging deeper into the reason behind customer decision making as well as exploring various components of the customer journey and brand engagement. In other words, a recognition that the point that the customer takes some kind of action is only the tip of the CX iceberg.
Gartner has shown that leading organisations are looking closely at what causes customers to make choices and recommends that rather than studying things like customer data, businesses need to examine the needs that arise during a customer’s life.
A quality panel or market research community is a key element for mapping or analysing the CX journey. But this community also needs to be coupled with the ability to successfully engage enough of the ‘right people’ through multiple touch points, including face to face, online, via social media, phone and more. At Stable Research we have built an engaged community over many years so that we can help our clients test ideas and theories before they are put into place because it makes more sense than rolling them out and then examining engagement and return on investment.
The CX stakes are high, and failure often occurs in a very public forum, therefore it makes sense to couple CX insights with market research to get a deeper understanding and to test the waters prior to implementation of planned strategies. A Forrester report notes that organisations that focus on superior CX “not only grow revenue faster, but they also drive higher brand preference and could charge more for their products.” But the report also notes that a “disconnect between brand promises and actual customer experience and unrealistic brand promises” can cause conflict between a brand and its customers.
The best way to avoid conflict and ensure that customers aren’t put off by false promises and failed expectations is to proactively dig deeper, into the thoughts behind the decision-making process, at the multiple touch points of the CX journey.
If you would like to speak to CRNRSTONE more about your CX needs, please contact Katie Ferro, our Managing Director: katief@crnrstone.com.au
