Supercharged customer journeys | A quick guide to experience management

All companies say they put the customer at the heart of their business, but how many actually do? Customer experience is increasingly becoming a key differentiator for brands across all industries in the busy and competitive global marketplace. In reaction, many major companies are putting time and energy into customer experience management (CXM).

A CXM approach takes a holistic view of the customer journey – the various touchpoints customers make with a business along the path to purchase. This mindset seeks opportunities to improve the seamlessness and personalization of the entire end-to-end experience. To truly put customers at the heart of the business, and deliver supercharged customer journeys, a CXM approach is required.

As technology has advanced, so too have expectations of the customer journey.

The evolution of customer journeys

During the transition from traditional to digital customer journeys, forward-thinking brands have spotted opportunities to improve their customer service offering. After all, digitizing existing processes is rarely the solution to a successful transformation. A redesign of the customer journey is essential to provide the seamless service that people increasingly expect.

As technology has advanced, so too have expectations of the customer journey. For example, personalized interactions are now anticipated as standard by 71% of consumers. And 76% of those people get actively frustrated when personalization doesn’t happen.

In recognition, major companies from across all industries are putting their attention on seamless omnichannel experiences. A personalized and proactive customer journey has become a key point of competitive advantage.

What exactly IS a supercharged customer journey?

To supercharge the customer experience, businesses must link all touchpoints with seamless transitions to create a frictionless journey. A frictionless journey is now possible with advances in new technology, data strategy, and AI. Businesses can gather, clean, and analyze customer data on a large scale. This presents a reliable foundation to organize, segment, and, most importantly, action the data. Traditional problem areas, such as identity resolution, are being resolved by automation and AI-driven intelligence.

In all areas of the customer experience, AI and machine learning can provide personalized experiences at scale, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Your recipe for a supercharged customer journey

1. Interactive, personalized experiences

71% of people expect a personalized experience as standard. The foundation of the supercharged customer journey is to provide a brand experience tailored to each individual customer or prospect.

To achieve this, brands must build space for customers to provide feedback and interact. A two-way feedback loop helps organizations know what the customer wants, which in turn helps customers get to what they want faster.

2. Multi-channel engagement and seamless transitions

For a seamless end-to-end experience, companies must consider how touchpoints flow together, particularly across channels. Focus on positive customer goals at each touchpoint and ensure they get stitched together into a smooth experience.

And don’t forget that the first purchase is not the final destination but the beginning of a customer’s potential lifetime value.

3. Real-time analytics and feedback

To maintain and improve the effectiveness of supercharged customer journeys, continuous feedback and improvement are crucial. Set up real-time data analysis and you’ll receive detailed customer preference and behavioral data to boost process efficiency.

Track, measure, and review the impact of responses to customer signals and feed this back into systems and teams. This process will help brands deliver the right content at the right moment in the right place.

3. Proactive customer support and service

A business providing supercharged customer journeys doesn’t wait until the customer reaches out to them with a problem – they solve it before it’s ever an issue.

Take the hotel that recommends places to visit in the local area, for example. Or the airline that alerts your hotel if you’re going to be late for check-in. Don’t wait for the customer to come to you to add value.

Best practices for smart marketers

> Understand your customer’s needs and expectations

Supercharged customer experiences are only as good as the customer data allows them to be. Businesses must work towards constructing a 360 view of each customer.

Harness an data management platform or audience orchestration engine to cleanse data and connect individual customers across devices and channels. Having these reliable customer profiles will allow businesses to take advantage of audience segments and factor in behavioral and transactional trends.

> Keep your customer journey map up to date

Visualizing your customer journey is a key way to identify your customers’ needs, issues, and touchpoints with your brand. It’s a vital component of a CXM approach.

A comprehensive customer journey map will allow businesses to gain a better understanding of their customers. This can result in improving customer retention, identifying potential problem areas, and making better business decisions.

> Continuous improvement from customer feedback and data analytics

Businesses that achieve effective supercharged customer journeys see personalization and seamlessness as an organizational-wide opportunity.

Supercharged customer journeys require cross-functional teams that gather feedback, analyze, and improve customer segments or journeys. Structure your organization to bring together IT, marketing, product development, and HR, and you’ll be embracing long-term growth.

The round up: a reinvigorated focus on seamless personalization

There’s a growing trend of companies adopting a CXM approach and leveraging data analytics to craft more successful customer experiences. These supercharged customer journeys create seamless movement between touchpoints, providing proactive personalization at every moment. Customer experience is increasingly becoming a critical differentiator – it’s time to truly put the customers at the heart of the business.