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The Gist
- Centralized management. Centralize CX for a unified, data-driven approach to differentiating your CX program.
- Agile methodology. Foster an agile mindset for constant CX progress.
- Advanced CRM. Utilize modern CRM for streamlined workflows and business development.
In the world of seemingly identical customer experience (CX) programs, differentiation is the unsung hero that can set your company apart from the competition. Kantar asserts in its company blog that to land “difference” can mean slashing customer churn by up to 50 percent. That’s what differentiating your CX program can do.
These strategies range from centralizing management and adopting agile methodologies to leveraging advanced CRM technologies and identifying signals that truly resonate with consumers.
This article unravels various paths toward differentiating your CX program. Each of the organizations below offer unique approaches to ensure that their CX program is a beacon guiding their customers toward enhanced satisfaction and engagement.
Below are some expert-endorsed ways to differentiate your CX program to stand out.
Differentiate Your CX by Centralizing Your Approach to Customer Management
Tredence differentiates its customer experience program through a unique approach, centered on centralized management and decentralized action.
Surya Shanmuga Sundaram, Tredence Inc. head of customer experience management, explains, “While most companies manage CX in a decentralized manner, we believe that customers perceive their experiences as a single entity. Our centralized customer experience management team takes responsibility for measuring and evaluating customer experiences across all touchpoints. Through our CX control tower, we gather valuable insights from customer feedback and behavioral signals to better understand the end-to-end customer journey.”
By analyzing each CX issue’s financial and operational impact, Tredence prioritizes improvements based on its potential to enhance customer satisfaction and drive business outcomes, according to Sundaram. “Our CX control tower provides actionable insights to cross-functional teams, empowering them to address prioritized issues effectively. Additionally, our integration with the martech stack enables personalized customer interventions when necessary, ensuring a tailored experience for everyone.”
In essence, Tredence places emphasis on a coordinated, data-driven approach to customer experience management, striving to optimize its offerings by consistently prioritizing the potential for improved customer satisfaction and consequential business outcomes.
Agile Mindset: A Key to Differentiating Your CX Strategy
Baldwin & Obenauf, Inc. (BNO) stands out in the competitive landscape of CX through its commitment to agility, not just as a methodology, but as a mindset that permeates all aspects of the company’s operations, as explained by Trista Walker, the company’s president and CEO.
“We’ve adapted and deployed principles from agile software development in the delivery of our CX work,” said Walker.
“Though many teams use agile in the prototyping stage specifically, we have adapted it for end-to-end program management from research through implementation and every design thinking step in between,” Walker explained.” This applies both to our own business as well as the way we approach CX initiatives as a service provider.”
It’s worth noting that this is more than just a management methodology, Walker added. “Like CX itself, agile is also a mindset. To work effectively, we really immerse ourselves and our clients in this approach and once you’re in it, it’s an incredibly fun and exciting way to work that lights up your creative problem-solving skills.”
Working in sprints, interspersed with sprint planning and retrospectives, a key benefit and differentiator with agile is that we can create a state of constant progress, Walker said. “We maintain but also build momentum as the work progresses. We can minimize (or eliminate) wasted effort and pivot both our human and capital resources to higher value activities.”
Showing and proving ROI is among the trickiest and most hotly debated topics around the CX table, Walker added. “Applying agile, it’s not only possible but likely that early improvements can be realized. Early improvements can accelerate results and prove CX value, which in turn bolsters the business case for continued investment.”
Baldwin & Obenauf is an example of harnessing the power of agile methodology and fostering a culture of continual progress and creativity that drives valuable outcomes in customer experience.
Related Article: CIOs: Time to Sense Transformational Needs, Create Agility
Maximizing CX: Streamlined Workflows Through Advanced CRM
Leveraging modern CRM capabilities to streamline workflows and optimize business development efforts is central to Unanet’s approach to differentiating customer experience, according to Akshay Mahajan, the company’s executive vice president of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC).
“Modern CRM capabilities enable on-the-go and easy access to the data business development teams need to strategically leverage the power of their relationships, grow their business, and drive predictable revenue for their firm,” said Mahajan.
Integrating the latest technology into mobile or office-based workflow gives users the right information to pursue and win business, without interrupting their workflow and avoiding the need for multiple web page log-ins, according to Mahajan.
”Success depends on their business development teams’ ability to help draw predictable revenue streams, and stabilize accounts, he explained. “Relationships are at the core of business development teams. CRM platforms, especially ones that integrate with ERP systems, provide this level of pre-sales relationship and pipeline management functionality.”
Unanet’s focus on seamless integration of advanced CRM platforms underscores its commitment to fostering dynamic business relationships and maximizing revenue streams, highlighting the pivotal role of technology in shaping customer experience.
Related Article: Understanding Customer Relationship Management (CRM): The Basics and Beyond
Differentiating Customer Experiences Through Personalized Insights
In the quest to deliver unique, tailored experiences, understanding customer needs is paramount, a philosophy that Hero Digital emphasizes with its innovative CX Opportunity Index, explained Kyle Ackerman, the company’s senior manager of strategy.
“Crafting differentiated experiences requires businesses to understand the multitude of considerations consumers have at any given time,” said Ackerman. “Reconciling all, or most, of these considerations into one experience that serves varying needs, tastes, and interests is one of the most impactful challenges CX strategies can solve for.”
To address this, Hero Digital has created the CX Opportunity Index, a new way for businesses to identify opportunities in their CX programs by identifying the signals that matter most to consumers. The Index assigns value to individual signals to help companies prioritize CX initiatives and benchmarks performance against competitors. Understanding performance identifies priority initiatives for increased conversion and differentiation.
For example, the index showed that the healthcare industry performed at or above expectations for providing quality and convenient care, but was underperforming in providing personalized recommendations.
To address this, Hero Digital used index findings to find opportunities for personalizing the experience of connecting patients to the right providers, according to Ackerman. “This new experience approach considers not only traditional things like insurance coverage, but additional priority needs such as bedside manner preferences and desired level of information sharing.”
Ultimately, through tools like the CX Opportunity Index, Hero Digital is forging a path to more personalized customer experiences, enhancing not only the quality of care in sectors like healthcare but also acknowledging and responding to the nuanced preferences of the modern consumer.
Staying Ahead in CX: An Ongoing Journey of Differentiation
Differentiating your CX program is a continual endeavor, not a one-time achievement. It’s crucial to remember that any innovative strategy or tool you employ today to stand out will likely be imitated by competitors in the near future.
The landscape demands continual reinvention, persistent creativity, and a laser focus on understanding and meeting evolving customer needs.
So, commit to the journey of constantly reshaping and refining your CX program and remain ready to adapt and evolve in stride with your customers’ ever-changing needs.
