regulatory environment is changing,
leadership and governance dynamics are
continuously changing and so the people
behind the strategy to deliver brand and
customer experience excellence, must
have the mindset for change, for it is duly
said that those who cannot change their
minds cannot change anything.
The customer expects their favorite
brands to quickly move with them in the
direction of their change. As their needs
change, and so must the supplier of these
needs change as well. Global influences
are shaping local trends, and the global
village that the world has become vide
online engagement, means that brands
need to be one step ahead of their
customers in looking out for and having
their antenna up to sense these changes
and adapt to them.
Research and development must take
on more importance in organizations,
and budgets must be allocated to
customer experience research as a matter
of importance. According to PwC’s
“Global Innovation 1000” report, total
R&D investment by the world’s biggest-
spending public companies grew by 35%
and reached a record high of $680 billion
in 2016.
And whereas not all organizations are
big budget organizations, a percentage
of the company budget whatever the size
may be, must be allotted to research and
development. This research needs to have
an ear for emerging trends and changes
that affect customer sentiment, need, and
action.
The need for this research to tap into
the epicenter of anticipated change
and to extend inward towards internal
customers within the organization, need
not be further underscored. Building a
customer-centric business model, that
should form a key agenda for corporate
attention during strategy review, needs to
be anchored on who the customer is now,
who the customer will be tomorrow and
where the customer will be going.
Raising
and
sustaining
customer
experience excellence in 2019 requires
that the brands are leading their customers
towards their anticipated change and
not the other way round. The very same
PWC report indicates that leading brands
with sustained growth have one thing in
Brands that take into account customer inclusion
will significantly stand out from the rest. Sensitiv-
ities to unique customer needs, that include cus-
tomers with disabilities, gender alignment, age
and regional attributes, will endear organizations
to customers that are increasingly celebrating di-
versity and looking out for who is looking out for
everyone else.
common – a deep understanding of end- customer.
users’ needs, forming strong connections
with customers, and innovating around Moving from strategy to action and from
their yet-to-be articulated desires.
planning to execution once these five
critical areas have been embedded into the
The current buzzword around innovation, 2019 plan of action for marketers, business
which appears on almost all organizations development and customer experience
value boards, in essence truly means teams, will be the true differentiator. Many
that change needs to be embedded in great plans are made, some of very elaborate
their value system. The evolving needs nature; but it is only the diligence to follow
of tomorrow’s customer needs to drive through the plan that makes for successful
today’s change and R&D is the driver outcomes.
of providing the organization sufficient
information to make useful decisions.
Implementing the five key pillars for
strategic customer experience: embracing
Customer feedback must be gathered to customer inclusion, delivering customer
determine what the customer is thinking, convenience, reviewing customer analytics,
and product and service innovation needs aligning with the customer of tomorrow
to be the outcome of listening to the and being cognizant of the consistency
voice of the customer, analyzing emerging of change, will be the transformation
trends, and incorporating these into next that brands require to have a successful,
customer centric 2019.
steps towards customer satisfaction.
If brands are ready to listen to customers,
and to track these changes, then these
customer voices are found in both in
person with or without proactive feedback
sourcing, scouring digital portals where
customers interact with brands and often
provide feedback about their experiences,
as well as from the internal customers
that also have feedback about the brand.
This coming year must see organizations,
spearheaded by the marketing and
customer experience teams, recognize that
change is inevitable, have a specific action
plan for change and how this will affect
the customer strategy, and to put in place
mechanisms company-wide to quickly
move with the change.
Making mid to long term strategies are
still encouraged though, for purposes
of planning and visioning. The change
element though, calls for shorter term
reviews to allow for strategy adjustment
to conform to the changing needs of the
Brand strategists and marketers need to
prepare customer communication material
to create awareness of these areas of focus,
and to build in messaging that provides
reassurance to the customer that they are
at the center of all thought, all operations
and all focus.
The brands that realize this sooner rather
than later will be ahead of the customer
disruption game, and will have a victorious
platform upon which to recreate when 2020
rolls around.
Carolyne Gathuru is the founder and
director of strategy at LifeSkills Consulting.
She has several years of experience in
customer experience strategy development
and training. You can commune with
her on this or related issues via mail at:
[email protected].