Feature
Espindola. Service organisations seeking to understand and
optimise the customer journey must “focus on what your
customers expect of their experience and modify your touch-points
and processes accordingly.”
3. Feedback comes in many forms
When mapping or seeking to optimise the customer journey “the
voice of the customer is probably the most important thing for any
organisation to look at” observed Espindola. That voice, she said,
can help companies to understand “what customers are saying
about your brand and use it to inform decisions about marketing,
servicing and channels, and take meaningful action” to shape the
customer experience. But, she points out that there are a variety of
ways to “hear” the Voice of the Customer - formal surveys to
gather feedback is one very important element, but there are more.
“You don’t always have to be pinging your customers, asking for
their feedback.”
Social media, including Facebook, Twitter and even Google, are
excellent sources of contextual information and feedback. Kolsky
pointed out that when seeking resolution to a problem most
customers start their journey on Google. Panelists also cited highprofile success stories of leading companies using online
communities (a relatively new social channel for companies to
explore) coupled with their feedback survey insights to engage
customers in the journey of other customers. Clearly, when
analysing the journey, social networks need to be considered as
another feedback - and service - channel.
However, Vellmure sounded a note of caution about the Voice of
the Customer as expressed on social channels, as research shows
that people are most likely to share either the positive or the
negative on social media. But as Kolsky highlighted, it’s not only
about what customers say on digital networks, but also what they
do online - or digital behavioural data. If your infrastructure is
capable of gathering and aggregating digital data in sufficient
volume, you will find, he said, the middle between the extremes, or
“the truth about what customers care about.” It is this broader, Big
Data-driven interpretation of Voice of the Customer that’s most
relevant to understanding the customer journey today.
4.Keep it easy and consistent
In building an infrastructure over which the customer journey will
play out, Espindola commented that it is important to minimise
customer effort. Moskovitch noted how research from NICE
Systems (NICE Customer Experience Survey, 2013) shows that
customers want to expend as little effort as possible during service
interactions, explaining that 96% percent of customers reward low
effort with greater loyalty. Additionally, in a survey conducted by
Forrester, nearly 80% of consumers say that valuing their time is
the most important thing a company can do to provide them with
good customer service (“Demand For Effortless Service Must
Influence Your Customer Strategy,” Forrester Research, Inc., June
10, 2014). Service organisations would do well to understand
what’s happening with customers along their journey and optimise
in a way that makes it seamless for them, Espindola concurred.
Furthermore, Espindola added, at every touchpoint, the experience
should be consistent. “Organisations must understand the holistic
customer journey - from marketing to customer service to
retention, and make a concerted effort across departments to be
able to provide an experience that is similar, no matter what
ISSUE SEVENTEEN • NOVEMBER 2014
channel an interaction occurs on.” Moskovitch agreed: “The
customer experience should be seamless and continuous,
consistent and cohesive for customers. They should not be
exposed to the ‘noise’ that’s created by organisational silos,
broken processes and other service clutter.”
5. Flexibility is not optional
However, as Kolsky pointed out, “channels are inherently
inconsistent.” What is more, customers don’t take the same path,
and they don’t think the same as companies do. And Vellmure
raised the spectre o