Customer Experience Management: The Second Wave

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Customer Experience Management is often seen as a marketing discipline emerging from the traditional customer service and customer relationship management niches to meet evolving needs that precede customer service and extend beyond the transactional focus of CRM.

What is missing from this picture is a perspective on CEM that links it to the sweeping changes ushered in by the adoption of the Internet for communications, commerce, and learning and the understanding of this field as an innovation in marketing practice that is the natural response to this wave of change.

Rather than flesh out an essay, I will leave this as an entree to discussion in which I pose a challenge and propose a solution (from the perspective of organizations that need to address the customer experience).

Challenge:

The disruptive technology of the Internet as a powerful informational and social medium has placed customers in empowered positions of non-negotiable expectations with organizations who provide products or services.

Solution:

In this radically changed marketing context, Customer Experience Management (CEM) skills are a reliable path to building and preserving positive brand and customer trust, loyalty, and advocacy. These skills require ongoing customer needs research, requirements, and design of customer experience that are in step with social networking and rely on customer collaboration.

A second wave of adoption and use of refined CEM practices can address customer experience in ways that keep in step with these changing expectations and the underlying technological and social change at its source.

Discussion:

How do you view these challenges and how do you see organizations addressing customer experience in this context?

Comments welcome,

Doc

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6 Responses to Customer Experience Management: The Second Wave

  1. Jennabeth Ross says:

    I do my share of on-line shopping and despite the fact that traditional negotiation is taken out of the equation, I feel we (customers) still have a lot of options. If the company is not actively engaging in adapting to meet consumers needs than there are countless others on the Internet that will be willing to oblige. So I feel the negotiation takes place in our ability to choose from so many companies. Like the article mentioned companies need to be in pursuit of what their customers need and want. One way to do that is with polling customers with short surveys, perhaps even short automated follow-up e-mails to determine customer satisfication and where improvements can be made.

  2. Doc says:

    Thanks Jennabeth, for your perspective on the need for proactive and continuing user needs research that can guide company policies in ways that provide a good customer experience. Online business has a lot in common with software providers in that the customer experience is in great part a user experience interacting with software (rather than with people). If the design of their software (Web site) is not user-centered resulting in a positive user experience, customers will quickly seek out other online providers or even brick and mortar companies where they can at least talk with someone and see products in person.

  3. Tara Li' says:

    Running an ebay business has brought this subject to the forefront often for me. You state the “medium has placed customers in empowered positions of non-negotiable expectations” and this has become a real issue for the online seller. As I believe customers should have an above expectation experience, I strive for this, but there are customers out there taking advantage of the system to benefit. A savvy online customer soon learns the power of online reputation and an immoral customer will use this as extortion tool. As a consumer, myself, I have very high standards for online sellers too. I find that you are also vulnerable to the same type con/confidence game as you are as a seller. These type of online predators are few, but smart manipulators and usually buy and sell in these forums. In my mind it is the same as a conman in real world. Interestingly, the best online cons I’ve ran into were on secondlife, where I have met people who are making a very good living in this manner. From another perspective, I do appreciate the same dynamics of the power of online reputations for customer service when it comes to large corporations. Companies like Dominos now make it part of your order to have feedback, where others make it almost impossible to file a complaint on the site. This does weigh in regards to my customer loyalty.

  4. Doc says:

    Thanks Tara Li’ for providing your dual perspectives as online business provider and online consumer on negative customer experience in the form of fraud and other abusive online behavior. When businesses cause or otherwise suffer the multiplying effect of negative comments, they often need to practice online reputation management which largely consists of disseminating positive brand messages until these newer messages essentially eclipse older negative ones. Thanks also for providing an example of a company that seeks and applies customer feedback and creates a positive customer experience and brand loyalty.

  5. Marie F. says:

    Customer Experience Management CEM, trying to meet the needs of customers with surveys that are simple and friendly and provide what the customer wants to keep them coming back again and again. The social networking is going so fast and companies are striving to acquire business for their company through this networking by making the customer number one through communication.

  6. Doc says:

    Thanks Marie, for highlighting the importance of gathering customer needs data and the use of social networking as a powerful means by which companies that obtain that data and the customer relationships that they can develop through an online social network and social media.

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