Q&A?
Q. What is Customer Experience Management?
A. Customer Experience Management (CEM) is a business strategy that focuses and redefines the business from the customer view point. CEM assumes that products and services are no longer sufficient to satisfy the customer and elevate the value proposition to the level of an experience. At the core of the CEM strategy is an organizational experience that defines the value for both employees and customers. Through employees' experiences, CEM unleashes the best innovations and creates superior value and excellent customer experience. In addition, it promotes an equal relationship between customers and corporations and an ongoing dialogue that improves and strengthens the quality and length of relationships. Companies that have adapted CEM strategies have placed greater emphasis on their employees and customers as part of the experience creation and delivery.
Back to Top
Q. What is the efficiency relationship paradox?
A. The efficiency relationship paradox is a depiction of the catch 22 cycle that most organizations are in. They waste millions of dollars recruiting customers through expensive campaigns and then as the customer demonstrates both emotional and financial interest, they drop the level of service in the name of 'profit maximization'. In the process companies frustrate the customer and force him/her to defect. Over time this process increases the cost of new customer recruitment and decreases the revenues per customer. The source of this vicious cycle is the treatment of the customer as a one time acquisition and not as a long term journey/relationship. As such they try to form a relationship on the basis of an efficient operation. The problem is that efficiency and relationship are two conflicting strategies. Over time the cost of recruiting new customers grows due to the large number of frustrated customers who act as a counterforce to the company's marketing efforts.
Back to Top
Q. What are the core principles of CEM?
A. CEM requires a completely different view of the business and its true assets. The assets are not only the measurable factors but also the immeasurable, yet differentiating, factors. With the organizational experience at the core of the business, companies realize that the employee's best performance and creation of memorable customer experiences can only come from facilitating and nurturing employee experiences. CEM requires companies to plan for delivering their customer experiences. It consists of a Develop, Build, Deliver and Redefine process. This planning and execution process allows companies to define the desired customers' experiences and relationships and then build their organization accordingly to the delivery of those promised relationships to the desired target customers.
Back to Top
Q. In practical terms, what are the changes required to implement CEM?
A. CEM requires the rethinking of many basic aspects of the business starting with the definition of the core assets of the company and its organizational experience. Changes are reflected in a variety of aspects; from the kind of people companies hire, to the type of training it delivers, to the type of tools and authorities it provides employees to do their work. It also requires the rethinking of performance evaluation and compensation within the organization.
Back to Top
Q. What is the role of the web in CEM?
A. The web is just one touch point, in multiple touch points, that needs to consistently deliver the desired experiences. CEM is not just about optimizing the web site; it is a complete business strategy in which the web site experience is one component of many.
Back to Top
Q. How is CEM different from CRM?
A. CRM was born originally to maximize revenues and profits from already loyal customers. With CRM there were very few, if any, listening mechanisms or other aspects of mutual relationships. Most companies simply viewed it as a quick way to increase revenues from existing customers. CEM, on the other hand, is emphasizing the length of the relationship and the treatment of the customer as a journey and not as a destination. In addition, CEM places a greater emphasis on every interaction thus leading to the creation of experience.
Back to Top
Q. Does CEM replace CRM?
A. Both are customer initiatives. The key to both is a holistic view during the planning stage and through execution. CEM is a great complementary strategy to enhance the implementation of CRM. If a company implemented CRM correctly, which means with all the people and process issues adapted accordingly, then CEM will bring the customer initiative to the next level. This next level will be the focus of every interaction and create a memorable experience that will contribute to the overall loyalty bank account that both customers and corporations share.
Back to Top
Q. Who is responsible for CEM's success in the organization?
A. One of the key principles of CEM is the shift in responsibility from the headquarters to the branches and agents. If in the past companies determined their value proposition centrally and just instructed their staff to execute, today they must share the power and delegate responsibility to everyone who deals with customers. The days of placing helpless agents in front of the customer are over. Everyone is responsible.
Back to Top
Q. How is Strativity Group's approach different than other similar practices in the industry?
A. The CEM definition, according to Strativity Group, is applied to the organization as a whole and not only to customer service or marketing. Combining disciplines from HR practices, CRM, branding and TQM; Strativity Group's methodology delivers the first and only comprehensive approach that holds every part of the organization responsible for the customer experience.
Another critical difference is the linkage between employee experiences and customer experiences. According to Strativity Group's methodology, success in Customer Experience Management can only come from employee experiences; therefore the definition of the core of the business is the organizational-wide experience.
Customer Experience Management, according to Strativity Group, is not just an exercise in being nice to customers and employees. It is about increasing revenue per customer, reducing operational costs and identifying new business opportunities. The process of new business opportunity identification is an integral part of the CEM strategy.
The complete cycle; from definition, to hiring and training, to the on-going measurement and redefinition process, delivers a complete and practical approach to the customer experience enterprise.
In Summary:
- New business opportunity identification
- Measurable results and ROI
- Comprehensive approach
- Organizational-wide strategy
- From definition to measurement - on going cycle
- Multidiscipline methodology