The Irish General Election provides a spin on Customer Experience The dust hasn’t totally settled yet on the Irish General Election 2020. But what’s clear is that a fundamental change in the landscape of Irish politics is afoot. A significant proportion of the country’s voters have expressed ‘strong dissatisfaction’ with their current ‘experience’. A substantial number are no longer happy with the status quo. They’ve quite literally voted with their feet and made the switch to an alternative ‘provider’. The combination of ‘Push’ factors (healthcare and housing) and the allure of a ‘new’ disruptor brand promising change (‘Pull’’ factor) has moved many hearts and minds.
We’ve been having some fun thinking about parallels for organisations seeking to build out their Customer Experience (CX) Programmes, build customer loyalty, advocacy and reduce churn. Imagine the organisation we work for had to put itself up for election every few years. If we imagine our customers could choose any provider ‘to vote for’ and switch seamlessly, sometimeswe might shiver to consider how confident we would be that existing customers would give us their number one vote. Or we might bristle with confidence…
At the heart of great customer experience is the ability to walk in the shoes of your customer. Having a real understanding of how customers feel is critical.
All too often as employees we are divorced from the true reality of our customer’s experiences. As employees we might employ ‘fast-track’ access to our own organisation’s products and services, maybe even at a preferential price. Little wonder that sometimes we don’t get to really ‘feel’ what it’s like to go through dealing with our own company.
When was the last time you fully experienced your own service offering as a customer would? Do you feel like you understand what that journey really looks and feels like?
Listen to the Good, the Bad, and especially the Ugly.
As CX measurement becomes embedded in more and more organisations and ownership for CX extends through organisations, we also need to be sure we are measuring the things that matter to customers. We all need to beware the CX measurement echo chamber and/or the sanitisation of harsh messages coming from customers.
We need to be willing to listen to and act on the messages delivered ‘on the doorsteps’, to prioritise those people currently putting us at the bottom of their ballot paper ...i.e. disgruntled ‘detractors’. They’re often the ones who are giving us the strongest clues on how to improve. We find it useful to remember for every detractor there’s another swathe of ‘customers’ right behind, also being tempted to vote with their feet and go elsewhere.