One of the many things that COVID-19 has demonstrated in a forceful way is that the only constant is change. So we need to start feeling comfortable coping with uncertainty. 2020 has been a year full of challenges where businesses, individuals, had no other option but to adapt. When the uncertainty levels increase, need for trust arises. Customer Experience’s role seems to be critical in this process for brands to build meaningful lasting connections with their customers. 

Every year on the first Tuesday of October, the CX community celebrates the professionals and companies that make great customer experiences happen. This CX day, we decided as a team to share and promote the different views from 8 renowned customer experience professionals from 7 different countries. We thank them for their valuable insights. 

Why should companies invest in CX in times when they are struggling on being profitable?

If you are struggling with being profitable, then simplify your customer and employee processes, and remove waste and pain points.  Simplify your price lists, your marketing offerings, your sales channels. Cut everything back and ask very clearly and intentionally, what is MOST important to your customers. Then invest here. Wow them. Customers who love your brands will stay, and they’ll buy. Remember that without customers, you don’t have a business. – Sharon Boyd, Chief Customer Officer, MKL Innovation

Focusing on your client experience is the only way to achieve differentiating business success. Clients should be at the core of everything you do, which in turn will not only set you apart from competition but is proven to bring in significantly higher profits. – Milda Nair, Co-Founder ROQ CX, Enterprise Director @ Meltwater

CX is one of the best ways to optimise profitability. Reduce inefficiencies, reduce complaint costs, reduce the cost of bad reviews. Generate happy retained customers with a healthy Customer Lifetime Value” – Katie Stabler – CULTIVATE Customer Experience by Design

How can you advocate internally the need for CX when the rest of the management focuses on short term profit and survival?

A short term focus on profit, is likely to result in doing things that will result in customers remembering their experiences for the wrong reason. If that is the case, not only will you lose their business, you may well lose the business of many others. – Ian Golding, Customer Experience Consultancy Ltd

This is where you need to benchmark and draw on case studies of what good is like from outside in. You need to engage the C-Suite and Finance director to demo the long term and sustainable benefits. Borrowed authority from a CX agency can be a powerful asset to draw on.  – ROHILLA NASREEN (CCXP) LV – UK

What are the biggest challenges for a business in putting CX into practice these days? 

Siloed ways of working,  risk aversion in businesses and current KPIs for success – Olga Potaptseva, European Customer Consultancy

There are many challenges, but the biggest one right now is TIME. Too many businesses are so focused on getting things done, they are failing to give their people TIME to think, which means they are less likely to empathise – with each other and with customers –  Ian Golding, Customer Experience Consultancy Ltd

What should CX practitioners keep on their radar to avoid pitfalls while working on CX in their companies

CX practitioners should be enablers for customer centric transformation. It is not a business of few people, or it is not an initiative.  CX is a mind-set change and a business transformation. They should be working with all organizational units within a well structured framework and a sound road map. – Betül Yılmaz – Elephant İstanbul 

The honest commitment of the leadership team to want to change things towards a customer-centric culture. This can be proven only by their decisions and actions, not their words and CX Practitioners should guide them through this approach. – Vivie Chorianopoulou, Head of Customer Experience in VividVibes

Please share examples of brands who used COVID-19 as an opportunity to increase customer loyalty

Zoom gave schools in COVID-19 affected countries its video-conferencing tools free of charge As Covid-19 led to quarantined cities and shutting-down schools. It emerged as one of the leading tools to keep businesses up and running and students learning. They developed new features for security and privacy. Allowing the world to remain connected in a convenient work-from-home lifestyle and supporting the learning institutions to connect with their students through their online platform. – ROHILLA NASREEN (CCXP) LV – UK

Netflix Party Lets Users Watch Movies With Friends—Digitally: Even if people can’t be together in person, during Covid-19, they still want to interact with their friends. Companies are finding creative ways to make it happen digitally. Netflix Party is a free Chrome extension that syncs people’s screens so they can watch Netflix remotely with friends and family and chat about the show. It’s the next best thing to actually being in the same room to watch a movie together. Wow! Vivie Chorianopoulou, Head of Customer Experience in VividVibes

 

Customer experience is not a “nice to have”, it is the most important differentiator for a brand nowadays. In times of uncertainty not just customers but people in general look for meaningful connections and CX is the way for a brand to build these sustainable genuine relationships with its environment. Happy CX day!