A To-Do List for Executives To create a superior customer experience, companies should begin by benchmarking customer behaviors in each channel they occupy. Then, they need to answer these critical questions: Does the organization have channel transition plans for its various IT systems so they all can connect? Is the organization measuring customer satisfaction with the CX? For example, are voice and text analytics being used to assess levels of frustration or satisfaction? Once these questions are addressed, the The same capability and analysis can help business needs to turn to the talent part the credit card company create affiliate of the CX equation. Creating compelling marketing programs that offer coupons customer and user experiences requires the for restaurant chains that customers can services of a dialogue editor, who can write use at their discretion. The card issuer can scripts across all channels and work with analyze the ROI of this value-added service creative teams to make sure the messages and revise as needed in a continuous re- are in synch with each target audience. evalution of its offerings. This re-evalution is Communications must also match the critical as customer experiences are highly customer’s vernacular, not the company’s competitive. Today’s great idea quickly internal jargon. If businesses don’t, they becomes tomorrow’s table stakes. risk frustrating customers and finding themselves the target of negative social To keep their customer experiences fresh media sentiments. and competitive, companies should constantly strive to reduce the number of To make the most of design thinking, steps a customer must follow to conclude businesses should use it to personalize the a transaction. Using automation enabled customer experience as much as possible. through AI is becoming the norm for For instance, a credit card company can providing experiences at the speed know where a card holder is via their customers want. Equally important, the smartphone. By knowing that and seeing UX should be as simple and as intuitive as where purchases are being made, the possible. Amazon is the classic example; company can detect fraudulent activity and once a customer puts something in the notify the customer. This capability builds virtual shopping cart, it only takes one click the trust and confidence that drives loyalty. to make the purchase. Equally important, it gives the customer the sense that the company knows him or her. And that is the CX that wins. 11