With customer experiences becoming more important than ever and the idea of the customer journey gaining momentum as a way to create cohesive experiences, businesses must consider how they are actually seen by customers. For many organizations, developing technological solutions and customer-facing content is a process of figuring out what functionality needs to be delivered and making sure direct customer needs are met. According to McKinsey and Company, it isn't enough to just create solid touchpointsby meeting specific needs. Instead, organizations must observe everything about how customers interact with the business to create a cohesive journey.
Considering the importance of customer experiences
A touchpoint-focusedapproach may lead to positive initial outcomes for customers, but it neglects the sequential way in which consumers interact with businesses, leading to potential gaps in interactions. McKinsey found organizations that successfully create excellent customer experiencescan reduce costs by between 15 and 25 percent over the course of two to three years. They can also make employees happier, and the key is to consider interactions from the customer perspective, something that is especially important as users leverage technology to take more control over experiences.
"90% of CEOs consider customer experiencea top-three priority."
With customer experiences offering so much potential, companies have an opportunity to strive for excellence in new ways in order to gain a competitive edge. Aligning data and business processes across internal boundaries, for example, can lead to smoother customer journeys as users interact with different parts of your organization. A separate McKinsey study found that:
- 90 percent of CEOs consider customer experiencea top-three priority
- A 10 percent increase in customer satisfaction will usually lead to a 2 to 3 percent increase in revenue
Creating an excellent customer journey
Consumers are interacting with businesses in new ways by leveraging mobile devices alongside traditional tools to gain access to services whenever it is most convenient for them. Businesses that adapt to this shifting climate have an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. Business process management tools can help here by providing full visibility into everyday processes alongside data pertaining to how customers interact with your organization.
With this data built into relevant processes such as having a customer service representative get customer interaction histories once a consumer reaches out your teams will be equipped to look at each point in the customer journey from the consumers' eyes, providing a vital edge in an increasingly complex global marketplace.
How to Build Great Customer Journeys
Modern business process management software provides the end-to-end functionality you need to establish a seamless customer journey, giving you the app platform and process management tools needed to put customer interactions in context for your users. Learn how with The Appian Platformª
