Do you remember in the previous blog, that only 5-10% of companies are truly good at CX, even though 85% claim it has top priority?
Besides the NPS that is often unconsciously misused, there are other reasons why this percentage is more or less static.
In order to successfully move to a more customer and human-centric organization, a standalone CX (measuring) program simply will not suffice.
In this series of 5 blogs, I’ll therefore be taking you through the 5 types of experience and how I believe they must be seamlessly connected in order to actually achieve a transformation.
I will share their scope, the challenges, the relevant metrics (C-SAT, NPS or CES) and how they are interrelated.
Based on these blogs, you can review your own experience program and discover your potential for acceleration.
The 5 types of experience
Let me start by saying that this classification is not the only and absolute truth.
And many of you will certainly not agree with me on all parts.
I can live with that, for now anyway;-)
All I care about is what works in practice, where this classification has proven to be extremely valuable.
It makes it clear to everyone in the organization exactly what’s what and who plays which role in creating a top experience.
And creates a pragmatic translation of the sometimes somewhat hyped CX field…
Okay, let’s dive into the 5 types.
I distinguish between the following 5 types: brand experience, customer experience, employee experience, service experience and user experience.
In the first blog of this 5-part series, I start with brand experience, because the organization’s brand gives directions to all the other types.
After all, your brand expresses who you want to be and what you stand for.
If your brand promise is convenience, this requires a completely different focus than when your brand promise is innovation, for example.
Scope of brand experience
The purpose of brand experience is that customers opt for your organization out of all the possible suppliers.
That when products or services are offered, my first thoughts are for your organization.
All kinds of communication are used to position the brand in the market.
When looking at the end-to-and journey of an insurance company for example, you’ll see that brand experience is right at the start.
Challenges of brand experience
One of the most important challenges for brand experience is that there is too much focus on the brand promise and too little on delivering that promise.
Imagine that this insurance company’s promise is “We’re always there for you”.
What does this promise mean in each step of the customer journey?
How can they be there for me when I’m filling in the application form online?
How can they be there for me when I’m submitting a damage claim?
The detailed translation of the brand promise into each step of the journey is where it often goes wrong or is even completely lacking.
The credibility of the brand is then put at risk, as it makes the brand less reliable for me as a customer: I’m not experiencing what was promised in the communication.
The same actually applies equally so to government bodies.
Not that I have any choice, but the promise needs to be translated in all steps of my journey.
If the tax authorities promise“ It can’t be more fun, but it can be simpler”, this has considerable consequences for the way in which the services must be designed if this is to be achieved.
Realization of the promise is a crucial part of consistent brand experience, and you need to combine all types of experience to do so.
Metrics of brand experience
The most common metrics for brand experience concern the perception of the brand.
Think in terms of a survey whether consumers are aware of the brand, whether they are considering the brand, and what values are attributed to the brand (friendly, feminine, simple, etc.).
Such surveys are generally conducted by the marketing department, often annually or even twice a year.
If we look at the three main experience metrics, satisfaction (C-SAT), the net promoter score (NPS) and the customer effort score (CES), then NPS is the most effective for the brand.
Why?
Because the NPS says something about my willingness to recommend your organization.
And in order to recommend an organization, I include all kinds of elements in my considerations, both my past experience and my feelings for the brand.
In this context, the NPS does not need to be frequently monitored, it’s more of an annual temperature check to make sure you’re moving in the right direction.
You therefore only ask the NPS question and not the reasons why this score has been given (see my recent NPS blog with an explanation of why you need to be careful when asking open questions).
For brand experience therefore, you combine the metrics on the perception of the brand with the NPS measurement to arrive at a good set with steering information.
Connection to the other types
The crux of successful experience lies in connecting the 5 types of experience.
All too often, these 5 types are individual silos in the organization, that are also spread around the various departments.
The most obvious connection for brand experience is of course with customer experience.
As I described briefly above, you are looking to translate your brand promise into all aspects of your customers’ journeys.
A less obvious connection, or in any case one that is frequently missed, is the link with employee experience.
If your brand promise is innovation, have you organized super-innovative workstations for your employees as well? Is innovation interwoven throughout your recruitment process?
And when it comes to service experience, this focus on innovation means that your organization may need to be the first to answer customer questions via augmented or virtual reality.
In user experience, it’s most useful to translate your brand into design principles: if an insurer promises “No hassle”, it needs to be super-simple for me to use the app or the website.
To summarize
Brand experience is therefore actually the compass for the other types, which is why it is the starting point of the 5 types of experience.
By translating your brand promise into all other types of experience, it will not simply remain a promise, but you know for sure that you will comply with the promise, keeping your customers loyal to your brand and organization.
Another tip: take a good look internally in your organization at the practical translation of the brand promise, for example using qualitative surveys already conducted.
After all, you run the risk that the brand and its precise meaning is still too abstract to be able to translate it into what it means for the daily activities of employee, for example.
The next blog in the series will be all about type 2: customer experience!
