What is Customer Experience (CX) and why does it matter?

Brands today have a tough gig. Countless external factors are influencing customers, from inflation to climate change. 64% wish companies would respond faster to their constantly changing needs and priorities. But most businesses (88%) don’t think they can keep up. To top it off, customers have never had more choice – all while the cost of switching brands has never been lower.

ADMA instructor and founder of Liquid CX, Simone Blaker says to be successful in today’s complex marketplace, brands must take CX seriously.

“Ensuring that a customer can live, breathe and feel your brand values is a core part of how to create a differentiated and unique proposition in the marketplace,” she explains. “And that is what customer experience is all about.”

Defining customer experience

Rather than thinking about it as something an organisation does, brands need to flip the script and consider CX as the way customers perceive their interactions with the organisation. Anybody who receives goods, services, products, or ideas can be considered a customer.

It’s extremely important to understand the notion of perception. How a customer perceives a brand is the result of their sensory, emotional, and behavioral responses to that brand.

“Put simply, it’s their thoughts and feelings that matter,” Simone says. “And they are shaped by unconscious expectations driven by past experiences, relationships with other brands, and by the maturity of other products and services in your category.”

This means CX is not something you can control – but you can (and should) definitely influence it.

The power of CX

Forrester research echoes Simone’s point – the way an experience makes a customer feel “has a bigger influence on their loyalty to a brand than the ease or effectiveness of the experience.”

For example, the research shows that among Australian banking customers who feel valued, 90% plan to stay and 81% plan to spend more and advocate for the bank. But 76% of superannuation customers who feel disappointed will likely leave.

CX can also influence your bottom line. McKinsey research shows that simply improving customer experience has increased revenue by 2% to 7% and lifted profitability by up to 2%. Other research by IBM and Adobe showed that organisations that made CX a strategic business priority reported three times higher revenue growth in two years.

Simone says better customer experiences can also create operational efficiencies and help you scale personalised communications – creating cost savings and generating more revenue.

7 must-have skills for CX professionals

While elevating customer experience isn’t a quick and easy exercise, its value is evident. And it starts with learning more about your customers.

“Understanding how to meet your customers’ needs, fix their pain points in interacting with your business, and streamline the path towards achieving what they want or need will help you lift your CX,” Simone advises.

This requires a mix of different skills. Let’s explore some of the most important ones.

1. Curiosity and empathy

Walking in your customer’s shoes is very important when embarking on a CX project. Emotional connections are a significant part of customer experience, and being curious and empathetic will help you build them.

2. Collaboration

CX isn’t solely marketing’s responsibility. To be successful, it has to be driven and considered across all the different departments within your organisation. And that can often be challenging. That’s why collaboration skills are important. They allow you to dig deep and work together across teams, helping you gather critical insights that will influence the success of your project.

3. Customer lifecycle and journey mapping

Understanding your customer’s lifecycle and journey will allow you to unlock an always-on approach to relationships. It’s an important skill for all marketers, not just those interested in sharpening their CX skills.

4. Research

Meaningful insights come from meaningful research. It’s a key part of journey mapping, so it’s important to understand different research methodologies and tools available to you.

5. Data and analytics

Understanding different types of data, how to collect and store it with privacy in mind, and knowing how to use analytics to unlock insights should be a part of every marketer’s arsenal.

6. Omnichannel experiences

Another critical skill for CX is knowing how to design experiences that are consistent and personalised regardless of how and when they interact with your brand. You need to be able to take a 360-degree channel approach to communications, services, and sales to successfully lift experiences across the board.

7. Personalised content

“If data is the lifeblood and technology the body, content is surely the heart and soul of your experiences,” Simone says. “Without it, customers would be staring at a blank screen, listening to static or paging through an empty book.”

That’s why developing a thorough understanding of the types of content and their role in the customer journey is another vital skill to have.

Are you ready to kickstart your journey with CX?

Brands that invest in consistent, memorable customer experiences are clearly pulling ahead of the competition. They’re easier to deal with, faster, more seamless – and they’re setting customer expectations.

Arm yourself with the tools, knowledge, and skills to create exceptional customer experience programs to give your brand a clear competitive advantage, while lifting revenue and growth – with ADMA’s new Customer Experience Certificate.

From understanding CX and the customer journey to designing omnichannel experiences, measurement, and leadership, Simone will share first-hand insights and tips over 10 action-packed weeks. Register for our next course starting soon.

Enrol today