Why Customer Experience projects fail
Learn how to avoid wasting money in the wrong approach to achieving a company-wide Customer Experience Culture
You might have witnessed this yourself.
Or maybe not.
But Customer Experience initiatives and projects can have a bad rate of success1, depending on how the organization faces the challenge.
From my experience and research, it depends a lot on where the initiative comes from.
Because that mandates where the organizational focus and control are placed during the project.
For example: let’s say a software vendor with a new and shiny Customer Experience software came to the organization and convinced the CEO to acquire it.
Most probably, the focus will be around the software implementation, the training of the people, integration with existing platforms, showing nice reports, etc.
Now, what if it is a consultant that comes with the latest and shiniest patented methodology for Customer Experience Management?
You can bet it will be all about Customer Journeys, Net Promoter Score reports, coaching for the executives, and some training for the ranks.
Don’t get me wrong: both approaches have merit on themselves and cover vital parts of what is needed to succeed in a Customer Experience initiative.
But they are lacking the most important element, in my opinion.
Managing the Organizational Change.
Customer Experience is probably the most encompassing of the modern functions existing in organizations today.
It permeates everything and everyone.
You can have the most advanced e-commerce site and web page, the best delivery and fulfillment partners, and the most committed Support Specialists.
But if, for some reason, a customer approaches any of your physical locations, and is treated like an intruder by untrained personnel, like an unaware clerk or assistant, then all of your effort went right into the trash.
Like Security, the weakest link in Customer Experience is the measure of the strength of the whole chain.
And, like Security, it is a mindset. An organizational-wide mindset that must permeate everyone’s actions and decisions.
So, when you decide to transform your organization into a Customer-centric one, and begin adopting Customer Experience strategies and techniques, the first thing is thinking about Organizational Change Management.
Your main objective becomes changing the whole Culture of the organization.
This means that everyone, on each role, from the clerks to the accountants, to the sales people, to fulfillment to support, everyone must have clear Customer Experience objectives and instructions.
Like a cashier in a supermarket empowered to provide remediation to customers up to certain amounts of money, without having to ask for approvals.
But, you might be thinking: “OK, Alfredo, but what happens in those situations where the unexpected happens and we don’t have a clear procedure?”
That’s where Policies come in. They are not strictly tied to a situation, and serve more like guardrails that help you decide under uncertainty.
And when Policies fail you, then you have the Organizational Values: your people understand what you stand for as an organization, and use that as a guide to decide what to do.
(that’s also why you must only have 2 or 3 strong Organizational Values, easy to remember, not 10 or 20 like some misguided managers love to plaster their walls with)
That’s Organizational Culture.
Once your Customer Experience strategies become ingrained to that level into your organization, you’ll be certain that everyone will know what to do, regardless the situation.
Everything else: software, dashboards, whiteboards with sticky notes, meetings, reports, documents, etc. is accessory.
Those are only tools.
Tools with the purpose of helping you to change your Organizational Culture into a Customer-centric one, and then manage and nurture it afterwards.
That’s why I usually say, in my courses and consulting projects, that the smaller the organization, the easiest it is to turn it into a Customer Experience powerhouse.
You don’t have to align thousands of minds to your new Culture.
You don’t have to deal with dozens of stores, with different middle and line managers, and petty politics.
Small and Medium Businesses have it easier.
And often they disregard this opportunity because they think it is expensive, difficult, or it isn’t worth the effort.
That’s why I created this publication.
That’s why I created my Customer Experience 101 course, and my free webinars.
To provide those initial insights a Small and Medium Business owner or leader needs to start its path towards a Customer Experience Culture in their organizations.
I hope this post shed some light on the strong asset that can be having a good Customer Experience Culture in your organization
And why starting a Customer Experience Initiative with the wrong objective usually ends in disaster and loss of money.
I’ve written a more in depth article previously on this topic. Check it here2.
Let me know what you think in the comments, and share this post with your friends and coworkers if it was useful to you.
See you soon!
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References
An Inconvenient Truth: 93% of Customer Experience Initiatives are Failing…
Transforming the Customer Experience
https://alfredozorrilla.substack.com/p/transforming-the-customer-experience