By Dimitris Mallas
See the original here.
Digital technologies have greatly influenced the daily lives of people and businesses, and one of the areas where – in relation to the very distant past – changes are extremely drastic is the one related to customer experience and service.
And the changes are so great that businesses are called upon – according to experts – to fully adapt their strategy and way of thinking as they are otherwise likely to find extremely unpleasant surprises.
“Digital technologies have empowered the consumer,” notes Ian Golding, one of the CX “gurus” who recently visited Greece, and talked to CNN Greece.
The meeting took place as part of the CX Masterclass held for the second year in Athens in collaboration with Vivid Vibes and Krataion Consulting and in which Mr Golding was the central speaker. The purpose of the CX Masterclass is to show business executives that they need to change their approach to customer experience.
“A business should think first about what is best for the customer and what benefits him. But this has a negative impact on business profits, at least in the short term, ” Golding said, hastening to add that there is an “obsession” with profitability by many companies.
This is a mistake, in Mr Golding’s view. “Providing the right customer experience and a great customer experience will in the long run bring significantly greater profitability to a business,” the British expert said, hastening to add:
“Amazon is the best example of this practice.”
Remember that Amazon for many years suffered losses but sought to provide the best possible experience to its customers. The result; Amazon is now considered as one of the dominant players in the retail world with hundreds of millions of loyal customers.
So what should businesses do? “We start by saying that they need to change their thinking and do the right thing for the consumer. A business needs to understand what its purpose is, why it does what it does and what its purpose is. And its executives also need to understand what their customers are experiencing,” says Golding.
Of course, the goal of most companies should be profitability. “There has to be a balance between business strategy and customer experience strategy,” says the British expert.
“Even in digital channels this is true. Most important for the customer is the channel they use to be both functional and accessible, ”says Golding.
Change, of course, is not easy. “You have to have the courage to change because that can lead to a reduction in revenue at first. Many times you have to take a step back. And it is clear that management needs to answer to their shareholders and investors. But the latter also need to understand that such changes must be made because only then will there be growth in the long run. Because change is not an option. Change will come to everyone’s liking or not, ” says Golding.
