It is no longer possible to achieve quick wins in customer experience (CX). That’s the message from an interesting event recently hosted by CMO. In many ways this view is correct because the customer journey has become more complex in recent years, data analytics are becoming more essential for success, and customer expectations are changing faster than many brands can keep up. There are some quick CX wins out there, but they are getting harder to find.

Social customer service is maturing. It’s about a decade now since social networks really started crossing from the early adopters to the mainstream. Once that happened, every brand had to suddenly expand the number of channels used for customer service.

Most brands have now explored how social trends have changed their multichannel connection to customers. How customers are now mobile, and other digital trends in general. Although some of these strategies are complex – and far from quick wins – it’s a fact that most brands have explored these areas. What’s left to explore?

The answer is, quite a lot, but it’s not as easy to define as a mobile marketing strategy. I believe that customer service leaders today will be defined more by the culture of the company than how many social channels they use. Think about these three areas as an example:

• Corporate culture; how clear is the purpose of your business? Does it even have a purpose other than returns to shareholders? This may not seem important or measurable, but I think that the next wave of exponential success will only come to those who really have a vision of what they want to achieve in their market.
• Employee Engagement; only engaged employees can create a great customer experience – fact. If your team is just coming back to the office each day for their pay and all they want to do is count the hours until they can leave then customers are going to notice.
• Innovation; companies today are being disintermediated and exposed to new competition faster than ever. Do you encourage ideas and experimentation inside your business? Can team test out ideas without fearing what will happen if they fail?

This culture certainly needs to come from the top. Defining culture is almost impossible to achieve as a box-ticking exercise, it’s about how the leaders behave – others in the company will follow their lead. When thinking about working with a company, or seeking a job in a company, take a look at how the leaders behave to get an indication of the culture inside that business.

I believe that this focus on culture is where we will see the next wave of CX differentiation. Companies with a clear vision will also be those prepared to experiment and invest in the future. These companies are also likely to employ the most engaged team members – because they know that their ideas can shape the future of the business.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think, or get in touch directly via my LinkedIn profile.

Photo by Dan licensed under Creative Commons.