No matter how extraordinary the digital landscape or automation is, when it comes to customer experience (CX), longevity is determined by interactions that take place on a human level.
When customers engage digitally they are focused on a transactional process. When something goes wrong, a customer does not want to engage with a machine, they want to talk to a person, either via live chat, or face to face.
So says Eloise Boezak, head of customer experience at African Bank, who will be presenting on ’The link between employee experience and customer experience’, at the ITWeb CX Summit 2019, to be held on 15 October, at The Forum in Bryanston.
According to her, it is that person who has the potential to determine the customer’s future concept and perceived value of the brand, and potential future relationship with that brand.
“There is so little that differentiates one organisation from another, there is arguably only the customer experience (CX) space, which is why it deserves singular focus,” she adds.
This is why employee engagement is a fundamental component of customer experience. “Having an understanding and a sense of ownership, plus personal responsibility, equates to the magic element of discretionary effort – going the proverbial extra mile.”
She says when employees go out of their way to resolve queries, fix defects or quickly get systems back online, these actions make a huge difference to a customer’s experience when engaging with an organisation.
“Ultimately, CX is the sum of many different actions performed consistently over time, based on a foundation of intent, and this intent is defined by the business and CX officers.”
All instances of discretionary effort that impact a customer’s experience create powerful memories and will most likely keep them coming back, adds Boezak. “This builds brand loyalty and revised perceptions of that brand. It will be entrenched in your customer’s memory, last over time, withstand potential issues that might arise, and turn them into brand ambassadors.”
During her presentation, she will discuss the top 10 things that businesses can focus on today to develop a comprehensive and impactful EX to give them the CX edge.
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