Corporate culture and leadership are absolutely critical in creating superior brand CX, according to Erich Dietz, VP, Worldwide Strategic Accounts, InMoment.
During Tuesday’s Loyalty360 webinar titled, “CX: The Art of the Possible,” which was presented by InMoment, Dietz talked about five key areas companies need to stay focused on to elevate customer experience.
The first key area is Culture and Leadership.
“It goes beyond a CEO saying on an earnings call that we care about the customer,” Dietz explained. “I’m talking about true corporate leadership, investing to improve the CX and improving their business. I’ve heard senior leadership rhetoric that they want to be No. 1 in CX and they don’t invest a dime more in CX than they did five years ago.”
Dietz noted Comcast as a good example of a big brand that is committed to transforming it CX, evidenced by its high nine-digit investment in CX during the past two years.
“Thousands of people are being hired for the purpose of CX,” Dietz said. “They are going in this with the right mindset. They have stated this is a five-year journey. They’re doing a good job balancing a great CX with the financial performance of the business. Watch this brand. It’s on the right trajectory.”
Lisa Davis, VP of Communications at InMoment, said that CX and customer listening have evolved significantly in the past few years. Dietz concurred.
“There certainly has been a lot of change,” he said. “Brands and marketing teams used to work with basic measurement exercises. Back in the day, it was very rarely ever threaded together. It gave us a lot of benchmarks that we can put as buoys on the horizon for our clients. Today, you’re seeing companies evolve and understand the thread, how companies are coming at CX and customer listening, really steering the business and not just collecting data. You can now go from having a portfolio of operational metrics and move to a place where you can get ahead of business outcomes.”
The second key area is Focused.
“CX programs fail because they’re focused on the wrong things,” Dietz said. “Too often, they want to move NPS five points. But there’s so much more to be done. Brands that get it are focused on loyalty economics at a corporate level and at an interaction level. Broaden your scope where return and business value can be gained. Find where you lose money and where you make money and attack those areas. We sum it up at CX Optimization, where great experiences meet great business outcomes.”
Dietz discussed integrating financial data and CX data by looking at customer stories.
“Look at them in a more holistic way,” he said. “I think nothing in CX will last unless you tie it to a business value. Good CX leaders are good politicians, good analysts, and they’re smart business people. Internal selling is key for a good CX leader.”
The third area is Data-obsessed.
“It’s very important to get a baseline where you’re at relative to data,” Dietz said.
The fourth area is Connected.
“It’s required to achieve The Art of the Possible,” Dietz said. “There’s no easy button for this. It’s joined at the hip with that cultural commitment. Get a best buddy in data! Empower your front line employees to have a different relationship with customers, a more relevant conversation. Pull all this data to a single place.”
The fifth area is Relationship-oriented.
"It’s a journey-based approach, a value-based approach that involves listening the right ways,” Dietz said. “Too often, brands use transactional surveys, but don’t think of a comprehensive hierarchy of listening.”
Davis added: “Personalized interactions make a difference and have a benefit for the customer.”
Dietz deemed effective employee engagement as an area brands fail at too often.
“We advocate for clients to create an ongoing dialogue,” he said. “Voice of the Employee is crucial to CX as it holds the keys to the root cause. If you’re going to ask for that employee feedback, you better be ready to show them you’re willing to do something with it. Engage with employees at different moments (onboarding and at other points of their employee journeys), creating a constant stream of dialogue. Know your business inside and out. Know all economics of your business model and then seek out the quick wins. Having a best buddy in data is critical to your success. Qualitative data tells you the why. The root cause.”