CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE:
Love is in the Air by Marsha Lidskin
Across the globe, people want to feel the love. Instinctively, we crave the care and affection of family and friends. And on the business side of life where we buy, sell and spend our money, we yearn for that same personal connection in our interactions.
This is why exceptional customer experience( CX) is emerging as the number one growth strategy for business in 2025. In previous decades, corporate leaders often focused on modifying their products or providing good service. Customer service typically meant managing a single, reactive interaction between client and company. Satisfaction measured how well a product or service met expectations.
Both customer service and satisfaction are essential to success. But customer experience goes beyond both: it encompasses every touchpoint a customer has with your business. CX is a comprehensive, personal approach to business strategy— and the touchstone of this article.
Experts describe customer experience as a client’ s complete encounter with a business, from their first impression, through their product / service involvement, to their lasting loyalty. CX means wowing them with every aspect of a sale: understanding exactly what they want and need; keeping parts in stock; paying close attention to your employees’ politeness and authenticity during transactions; providing respectful, prompt replies. Exceptional Customer experience is not only what happens in a transaction – it ' s about how you make the customer feel loved.
Rethinking and prioritizing a company’ s customer experience involves a more individualized application to more personally relate to your customers. Ideas could include optimizing your website for easier navigation, paying close attention to what your customers are saying about you on social media or providing employee training and team-building exercises. Here are two local examples:
When City of Palm Coast staff members recognized that too many residents were confused about ongoing city projects, a CX-focused plan was conceived. Departments collaborated to assemble an online and social media dashboard entitled PC Progress, providing immediate transparency about road construction timelines and capital project construction for the fire department, public works or stormwater.
“ Residents can track in real time what they see happening across Palm Coast. PC Progress identifies each project and shows its progression from inception to completion,” said Brittany Kershaw, Communications and Marketing Director for the City of Palm Coast.“ We’ re also producing City Council Member videos to provide the community with this same information, delivering another more personable approach between our community and their elected officials. In the end, this city belongs to our
Brittany Kershaw
| 10 | EVOLVE MAGAZINE | Evolve-Success. com