Most of us are aware of the concept there are not more than 5 intermediaries between your self and one other individual on this planet. (Hello, Kevin Bacon). It’s fairly ironic, given there are 8 billion of us and but this unimaginable expanse of individuals has such proximity. The six levels of separation phenomenon performs out in different features of life and even enterprise.
I’m a software program man — form of. Better mentioned, I work in advertising and marketing for one of many largest software program corporations on the planet. And “customer experience” sits on the high of my precedence checklist — the way to create it, the way to make it higher, the way to make it stand out. It’s no simple process, as prospects’ wants and needs to maneuver rapidly. I’d argue these wants typically shift sooner than your corporation setting and context will permit. So, it begs the query of the way to be sure you’re setting your self as much as exceed buyer expectations? Or, possibly extra to the purpose, how do you do it nicely?
In at this time’s post-pandemic world, digital has exploded past the previous a long time of cumulative progress. Digital companies and knowledge are the fastest-growing segments of enterprise enterprise. And the companies getting digital proper are outperforming the remaining. Meanwhile, the middle-of-the-pack has misplaced floor and must rethink or reconfigure its digital technique to be aggressive. 
There are six levels of separation between your marketing strategy and your required outcomes. And if enhancing digital companies and knowledge orchestration are a precedence, then a world-class buyer expertise is among the largest connections between them. The reality is that each side of your corporation instantly impacts or cascades to buyer expertise. Knowing the levels of buyer expertise is important for driving connections between your corporation plans and desired outcomes. Not to say claiming and advancing your aggressive edge.
Try This on for Size
Creating a dynamite buyer expertise is just not a one-size-fits-all scenario. It’s extra like understanding how prospects work together along with your firm from begin to end. To put it otherwise, buyer expertise is about caring for folks. Without additional adieu, let’s take a look at the six levels of a stand-out buyer expertise.
1. Have a transparent strategic goal
Your firm values and goal largely dictate your buyer engagement technique. It was once {that a} seamless buyer expertise was sufficient to face out, however in at this time’s world, it counts extra to create experiences which might be goal or worth pushed. The clearer you could be concerning the strategic goal, the simpler it will likely be to perform the remaining 5 levels.
2. Align your tech investments
Your tech stack represents a major funding. And a part of being a very good investor, taking part within the Technology Economy, is evaluating your tech property based mostly on efficiency and affect on enterprise outcomes. When it involves buyer expertise, take inventory of how aligned your investments are along with your technique and goal. Are you leveraging the appropriate platforms for the appropriate workloads? This data will empower you to evaluate whether or not future tech investments are required or to not help buyer expertise outcomes.
3. Position digital integration on the core
The nature of at this time’s market and prospects requires companies to be agile and quick, customizable and complete, and steady and versatile. Digital integration is one of the best ways to attain all this, to maintain up with the market and your prospects. Since 2020 there was a major improve in consolation — if not choice — for digital channels. So, positioning digital integration on the core of your buyer expertise technique is a no brainer.
4. Distinguish your model with innovation
Innovation is a little bit of a buzzword, nevertheless it’s necessary for buyer expertise. If your technique is obvious, your tech is aligned, and you’ve got positioned digital integration on the core of buyer expertise, you should have the appropriate instruments in place to innovate. Innovation is a elaborate method of claiming you’ve got created an unique resolution to an issue. When utilized to buyer expertise, it will possibly assist distinguish your model. Customer expertise does not — and should not — look the identical throughout the business. So how can your group innovate in your prospects? Whatever makes you stand out to your prospects will make you stand out in opposition to the competitors.
5. Take benefit of each buyer contact level
With the 4 earlier levels in place, you may maximize the worth of each buyer contact level. From product search to success, and each second in between (and after) contact factors are alternatives to face out and positively affect your buyer. Consider every section of the client journey and the way tailor-made experiences can play a constructive position. Doing so means that you can ship extra worth to the client alongside the best way. Maybe it’s a textual content alert for uncommon exercise on their bank card, an automatic suggestion for a product they could like based mostly on latest buy historical past, or the choice so as to add journey insurance coverage when reserving a flight. Each interplay is a hyperlink within the chain of their whole expertise, so it’s important to make each contact level as sturdy and useful as potential.
6. Be pleasant
Another important side of delighting your prospects is delighting the workers who’re answerable for their expertise. Delighting your prospects boils all the way down to exceeding their expectations and creating a long-lasting impression. Delighting your staff means releasing up their time to deal with the larger initiatives, to allow them to rally behind and really feel like contributors to the bigger strategic goal. It all pertains to my simplified definition of buyer expertise — caring for folks.
Coming Full Circle
In the center of each buyer expertise are enterprise transactions carrying the very best worth for patrons. And given 7 of each 10 enterprise apps on the planet are processed on backend Mainframes, your buyer expertise is even nearer than our good friend Mr. Bacon would possibly assume.
Consider your corporation functions and knowledge, and your hybrid structure, with Mainframe as a essential aspect. What is accounted for within the buyer expertise with transactions within the combine, you would possibly ask. Well ask your self these questions: Transactional integrity? Check. Availability of companies? Check. Security from multitudes of threats? Check. Speed and response? Check.
Yes, it’s straight-forward how attributes of buyer expertise instantly tie to your digital and transactional relationship with the client. All it takes is one misstep and also you would possibly by no means see that buyer once more.
Take nothing without any consideration. Including the way you handle and function your Mainframe and enterprise platforms. Businesses that do it proper lead and win. Having the appropriate technique, know-how, and purposeful execution.
How are you utilizing the Mainframe to create higher buyer experiences? Don’t miss out on increasing the Mainframe’s capabilities. Get began right here.