Starting Your Customer Experience Transformation Requires Executive Support
Posted by Nancy Porte on Tue, Aug 09, 2011
I had an outstanding time recently hosting an interactive workshop on customer experience with Andrew McInnes, an Analyst in Forrester Research’s Customer Experience Group. The presentation and workshop was presented to an audience interested in transforming their firm’s customer experience and increasing revenue through better customer experiences. Of course this topic is very near and dear to my heart so I was delighted when we had an enthusiastic and engaging dialog with the attendees. And, even though the attendees represented diverse industries, the session was packed with lots of great questions about building a customer experience that differentiates a business.
One thing we discussed as a challenge was obtaining executive support for customer experience initiatives and convincing executives of its importance. According to Forrester’s research almost 89% of businesses believe that customer experience is ‘very important’ or ‘critical’ to their business. Yet less than half of these organizations actually had a companywide program to improve customer experience across channels. And only 30% have a dedicated budget to fund their efforts.
There are some great examples of executives who not only believe in the power of a great customer experience but are driving the initiative. Yet many executives are still passive about the benefits of investing in the voice of the customer. They don’t object to customer experience programs publicly, but don’t take pr
oactive steps to change personal behavior or the way their organizations operate because they are skeptical about the business value of doing so. Some are willing and believe in the business value of a better customer experience, but don’t really understand what to do or what role to play in driving change and improvement. One of the greatest opportunities for customer experience professionals is gaining support by identifying and building champions in the executive suite.
To get started with a companywide program to improve customer experience, obtaining executive support is critical. Executives define the strategy and maintain momentum of the program. You can start attaining executive support by showing passive executives the business value of a better customer experience. Make sure they understand that measuring customer loyalty can directly impact top and bottom line revenues. Gains in customer loyalty can mean BIG return on investment in almost every industry, with total annual impact in the millions of dollars through additional purchases, reduction in churn and word of mouth promotion. Customers that are having a better experience are spending more money! Show willing but hesitant executives what to do to make the transformation happen and continually reinvigorate your executive’s support by showing quick wins and tracking your progress.
It may take some work but lining up executive support before starting your customer experience transformation is a valuable endeavor that is well worth the time and will give your organization the greatest chance of success!