What Is A CX Solution?

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What is a CX Solution?

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A customer experience (CX) solution addresses issues related to the experiences customers have had, are having, or could have with a company. The most straightforward example is a CX Management Program. These programs are designed to tackle a company’s lack of consistently actionable information about customer experiences with its brand. By implementing such a solution, a company can make strategic enhancements that improve customer experiences, leading to increased loyalty, better retention, higher revenue, and an enhanced brand reputation.

As a CX solutions provider, our focus is on ensuring these outcomes through a well-orchestrated series of strategic pilot projects. The challenge, however, lies in the ambiguity of improving certain business processes, cross-marketing to existing or lapsed customers, and finding new ways to innovate. Within this uncertainty also lies the difficulty of developing a customer experience culture that is both willing and able to bring solutions to the front line.
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What is the Definition of Customer Experience?

‍Customer experience is the customer’s perception of their interactions with a company. It is the set of highly subjective experiences that lie in a customer’s memory or are experienced in the moment, that both influence and are influenced by logical and emotional drives that can lead to specific behaviors.
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Are You Missing the Best CX Solution?

If you haven’t explored how customers use or don’t use your offering, how they feel about your brand, how they act or behave with your services, or how they respond to or ignore your requests for feedback, then you’re missing the most important CX solution of all—an institutional obsession and curiosity about your customer.

Now, let’s take a step back. You might be wondering, “Why even ask such a question?” Our research shows that those who need this answer often struggle to find the right solutions to their business challenges. This is especially true in customer experience, where there’s an overwhelming amount of confusing and even misleading information.

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CX Challenges and Solutions

Here some of the most common business challenges and CX solutions designed to help solve each of them.

  • BUSINESS CHALLENGE: Unsure about how your company should approach customer experience.
  • BUSINESS CHALLENGE: Unsure about how to manage ongoing CX efforts across all offices.
  • BUSINESS CHALLENGE: Unsure how to measure the effects of our CX efforts

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What’s the Difference Between Customer Experience and Customer Service?

Service is one small part of the overall customer experience. Your customer’s experience is far larger than the customer service you provide to them. The customer experience completely envelops the service. Not everything I experience as a customer is service—conversely, every service you receive is part of your overall experience. We like this explanation about the differences.

When B2B executives claim they know all about CX because they've been delivering customer service for 85 years, it gives us pause. We're not doubting their service quality; rather, we're concerned that by conflating service with experience, they might believe they've been improving across all CX dimensions when they haven't. This misunderstanding can lead well-intentioned companies to struggle with customer churn, despite providing excellent service.

Sometimes, the service is satisfying, but the overall experience—the broader journey surrounding that service—falls short compared to competitors. For example, when I owned a Jeep, the dealership's service was excellent, but the overall experience, before and after the service, was awkward and uncomfortable. This led me to switch to Audi. Jeep was focused on measuring service quality but overlooked the broader customer experience, which ultimately cost them a customer. Let's call that a $45,000 lesson.

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What is an Ideal Customer Experience?

We get this question often, and it can be as difficult to answer as “Who is my soulmate?” The reason: every company’s ideal customer is different, and the experience you want them to have is the one that makes them the most successful, happy, confident, etc.

The good news is that there are well-defined steps we can take to help you arrive at the right answer. The bad news is, it’s more subjective than many B2B companies are comfortable with, and it requires a group of employees to spend a few weeks in intense collaboration to find the best possible answer for your organization.

But because we dislike “it depends…” types of answers as much as you do, we’re going to go out on a limb and offer a good starting point for you.

Your ideal customer is someone who shares enough of your values to develop an affinity for your offering. They choose you over others, even if you charge a premium. They like who you are, what you do, and how you do it more than your competitors. They also like who they are when they do business with you. They appreciate how you simplify their lives and solve their problems. Your offering makes them want to brag about you because they believe they are only aligned with the best. Even if they have to drive farther, pay more, wait longer, accept compromises, or work a little harder, they develop an affinity for you.

The ideal customer experience can therefore be summed up as: the experience a customer is willing to trade up to have with your brand because it exceeds the value they can get elsewhere and makes them feel better for having had the opportunity to experience it with your brand.

How do we help companies reach this state of nirvana? It starts with value planning using a Value Driver Framework (an exercise that helps leaders and executives know which aspects of CX programs are best for them), moves quickly into Ideal Customer Profiling (an exercise that helps cultivate ideal customer and experience profiles from a broad base of your company’s employees), and culminates in Outcome Oriented Journey Mapping, mapping your customers’ experiences along a linear timeline to reveal opportunities for innovation.

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How Do You Measure Customer Experience?

We could write a whole series of books on this topic, but there are already plenty out there. Instead, let's focus on measuring the aspects of CX that will drive your organization forward.

We advise our clients to move beyond just NPS and feedback as the ultimate measures of CX. While it’s important to track client feedback and how well you’re meeting their needs, it’s equally crucial to first establish your firm’s CX maturity. Then, work on advancing along the CX dimensions identified in your CX Value Planning.

Here’s what you should prioritize in terms of CX measurement:

  1. Start with a Leadership Value Driver Planning Workshop: This two-part workshop focuses on the inside-out dimensions of CX (how you deliver value to your customers) and the outside-in dimensions (how your clients perceive your firm and how you can enhance that).
  2. Assess and Establish CX Maturity: Determine your firm’s maturity along the key CX dimensions, then measure your progress every six months. If you need help with this, we specialize in it and can guide you through the process.
  3. Develop Your Customer Feedback Program: If you don’t already have one, establish a customer feedback or listening program. We partner with the top client feedback firm in professional services and can connect you if needed.
  4. Build a CX Measurement Strategy: Once you have these foundations in place, develop a comprehensive CX measurement strategy. This should include both subjective and objective measures and work towards embedding a customer experience mindset into your firm’s culture.

Does this sound overwhelming? Many CX leaders feel that way at first, but once they get started, they realize it’s simpler than they thought, and we're here to help you get started.
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The Value of Customer Experience Solutions

Your firm’s focus on customer or client experience is now mission-critical. You don’t have to take a CX solutions provider’s word for it, though. A quick search on CX will reveal hundreds of statistics about its explosive growth and how many firms in your industry are making it their top differentiator from competitors. As a leading customer experience solution provider for professional service firms, we see this trend every day. If your three closest competitors are already investing in CX solutions to set themselves apart, you’ll need to do the same or find another way to generate revenue.

Whether you’re just starting out with CX and unsure where to begin, or you’re involved in a long-running CX program that’s not delivering the expected returns, you’re not alone. A quick CX reset might be your best move. In any case, it’s crucial to place your bets wisely. The importance of CX is only going to increase in the coming years. When it comes to providing your clients with the experiences they deserve, it’s better to be at the forefront than lagging behind. We assure you there are smart CX solutions to help you achieve that.

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Transform Your Customer Experience

Are you ready to revolutionize your customer experience? It’s time to dive into the world of CX solutions and unlock the full potential of your business.

Whether you’re struggling to understand customer perceptions or looking to enhance loyalty and retention, a tailored CX management program is your key to success. Don’t let ambiguous processes and customer churn hold you back. Discover how strategic CX solutions can transform your business and create unparalleled value for your customers.

Join the ranks of industry leaders who are leveraging CX to differentiate themselves and drive growth. Take the first step towards a better customer experience today.

Transform your customer experience now!

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