You want to build a strong team in Customer Experience. How can you make sure everyone is on the same page?

Provide the destination, not the method of transport. CX team members have expertise in how, enable them to bring a vision to life. For a CX team they need clarity of the Northstar. This ensures the team is facing in the same direction. A CX vision should give the CX team a sense of the end destination, what isn't the endpoint, and flexibility on how to get there. Your CX team are experts in how to achieve the vision / get to the destination. Therefore, A CX vision should not specify how to get there. Continuing with the destination analogy, a vision would not determine the method of transport to the destination. Give the team the autonomy to determine plane, train or cycle.

In my experience, a compelling CX vision serves as the north star for the team, guiding all decisions and strategies. It's essential to articulate a clear, aspirational vision that reflects the ultimate experience you want to deliver to your customers. This vision should be customer-centric, aligning with their needs and expectations and should be communicated regularly to keep the team focused and motivated.

To ensure everyone is on the same page in building a strong customer experience team, establish clear communication channels, set shared goals and expectations, provide regular training, encourage open feedback, and foster a collaborative team culture. Regular team meetings and updates can also help maintain alignment.

Most companies have "superior" or "excellent customer experience" in their strategy, but this tells very little to the organisation on what kind of experience they are expected to deliver, or to the customers what to expect. CX vision should be as tangible as possible - let's say we want to be an easy partner to work with. Use your customer insight and employees in defining what easiness means in practice - throughout the processes and different stages of customer journey. In B2B this means also capturing different customer roles and their expectations - easiness means very different things for a C-level decision maker vs. a technical project manager. Key thing is to listen to your customers, and employees when defining your CX vision.

What is the desired change the team wants to or needs to bring in should be collectively agreed on. The clear differentiator must be identified. And a vision created accordingly.

Before deciding on the metrics like NPS or CSAT, a CX team needs to work together with the organisation and business in defining: - How do we listen to our customers as of today? - What should we aim to understand going forward / what kind of customer understanding would support our strategy and business development? - What do we aim to do with the data we collect? - Which business KPIs and data should we look in parallel with customer insight? - What kind of competence, resources and culture do we need in the organisation to succeed? Once we have answers to the above questions, we can proceed in defining CX metrics in strategic and operative levels (relationship KPIs vs. journey / touch point KPIs).

It is important to understand the customer journey at different stages of the customer life cycle which can help in identifying the key metrics for satisfaction, experience etc.

Measurement is key to understanding how well are you delivering on your CX vision. Defining specific, actionable metrics allows the team to track progress and identify areas of improvement. These metrics can include key indicators such as CSAT, NPS, CES, FCRs etc. It's important to ensure that these metrics are tied to the business outcomes to demonstrate the values of CX initiatives.

Identify key metrics that accurately measure the success of your CX initiatives, such as Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT), or Customer Effort Score (CES). Ensure these metrics are understood by all team members and regularly reviewed in team meetings, linking them directly to the CX vision. Implement a dashboard that visualizes these CX metrics in real-time, accessible to all team members. This constant visibility encourages a data-driven culture and keeps everyone aligned on the impact of their work on customer perceptions and experiences.

It is important to make the IT and digital team a part of the CX vision. They need to understand that customer interactions with any process or tool needs to be quick, efficient and smooth.

Before deciding on tools, make sure you have a governance model in place with clearly defined roles and responsibilities across organisation AND understanding how CX tools with with your overall technology architecture. You can start by e.g. these questions: - Who will be working with the CX tools and what is expected from them? - How do CX tools fit with the overall technology architecture? - What kind of skills and competence building is needed and who will train the organisation? - How much resources will these tools require in the set-up phase and in the continuous use and development? (not just from business point of view put also from IT point of view)

Equip your team with the latest CX tools and technologies, from customer feedback platforms to journey mapping software. Provide comprehensive training on these tools to ensure everyone can leverage them effectively, enhancing the team’s ability to understand and improve the customer journey. Create a 'toolkit day' where team members can share tips, tricks, and best practices for using CX tools most effectively. This peer-to-peer learning not only enhances tool proficiency but also fosters a culture of continuous improvement and knowledge sharing.

Equipping your team with the right tools is critical for delivering the perfect customer experience. This includes investing in CRM systems, feedback and survey tools and analytic platforms that provide insights into customer behavior and preferences. These tools should be integrated and user-friendly to enable the team to capture, analyze and act on customer data efficiently.

It is important to create visibility of actions taken to improve customer interactions and satisfaction. It is important to showcase customer testimonials to demonstrate success of the actions. Hence very important to work with the Comms team to create the right story that can be advertised to the whole organization.

Dentre os tópicos apresentados, entendo que o primeiro, definir a visão de CX e o quarto, promover a cultura de CX são fundamentais para se construir uma equipe forte. Só com visão é possível que as pessoas saibam para onde vão. Todos precisam estar alinhados e determinados a buscar a mesma coisa. E a cultura é o que vai fazer isso acontecer naturalmente. Essa junção é necessária e poderosa.

I personally believe that customer experience (CX) can be thought of as a symphony between chaos and order, aimed at building a strong CX culture. To achieve this, it is carried out in three crucial stages: 1. Assessment of the Established: - Definition of a vision and mission that guide CX. - Application of tools and processes designed to improve CX. 2. Adoption of Innovation: - Adaptability to changing market demands and customer expectations. - Testing and learning through methodological approaches. 3. Evolution towards Mastery: - Personalization of each point of contact with the customer. - Transforming customers into passionate brand ambassadors.

A customer-centric culture is the foundation of a strong CX team. This involves embedding customer empathy into the organization's values and behaviors. In my view, creating a culture where every team member feels responsible for customer experience and is empowered to make improvements is important. Couple this with regular training and reinforcements of the org vision along with open communication can help in setting the tone for culture drives.

Lead by example, demonstrating the behaviors and attitudes you expect from your team. Recognize and reward those who embody the CX vision in their work, creating heroes within your team who can inspire others. Implement regular CX storytelling sessions where team members can share successes, challenges, and lessons learned. These stories reinforce the CX culture, making the impact of your work tangible and personal to the team.

CX is a cross-functional effort and it's essential to engage stakeholders from across the organization. In my view, I've found that involving representatives from different teams who have a direct impact on customers can contribute to initiatives which ensures a holistic approach to user experience. Regular cross-functional meetings and shared CX goals can help align efforts and leverage diverse perspectives.

Stakeholders from all business units should be involved in CX, whether they are customer facing or not. The whole business should have CX as a priority in order to ensure the business continues to be successful and continues to grow. Involve the stakeholders, explain the reasons why they should be involved. Align everyone on goals, define objectives and ensure everyone is accountable for their own tasks. There should be regular update/feedback meetings where lessons learned and blockers are also discussed to ensure CX continues to foster within the business.

Involve stakeholders from across the organization in your CX initiatives, from product development to finance. This cross-functional engagement ensures that CX is woven into the fabric of the company, with everyone understanding their role in delivering exceptional customer experiences. Host cross-departmental CX workshops or 'lunch and learns' to share insights and collaborate on enhancing the customer experience. This not only aligns everyone on the CX vision but also surfaces innovative ideas and solutions from different parts of the organization.

Customer Experience progress monitoring often requires both "hard" and "soft" metrics that illustrate impact to business and organisational culture. Examples of hard metrics are: retention rate, hit rate, customer acquition costs, delivery times, NPS etc. Examples of soft metrics are: CX training participation rate, employee involvement in development projects, increase in positive customer sentiment and compliments etc. Both metrics are needed to show how customer experience improvement actions are generating ROI and building a desired culture at the same time.

Continuous improvement is a core principle of effective CX management. Review your CX metrics and gathering insights from customer feedback allows the team to understand the impact of their efforts and identify opportunities for enhancement. Set up a recurring reivew process where the team can reflect on performances and plan for future initiatives. This is vital for sustaining and improving CX over time.

Regularly review your CX metrics and feedback to assess the effectiveness of your initiatives. Use these reviews as learning opportunities, celebrating successes and analyzing areas for improvement. Make adjustments based on these insights to continually evolve your CX strategy. Conduct annual CX retreats focused on strategic review and planning. These retreats allow the team to step back from day-to-day operations, reflect on the broader impact of their work, and plan for the future with fresh insights and renewed energy.

As with building any other team, I think it's critical to think about two things: Spark and Skills. A CX vision doesn't necessarily spark the CX flame within people. What would they love about it? Why should they care? That's what I'd be looking to answer. And then tools and systems and processes are critical for enabling people to do a good job, but we shouldn't forget about the skills and knowledge. It's not the tools that do the job and starting with technology puts, in my view, the horse before the carriage. I'd identify the critical skills and knowledge and then create an ecosystem that supports the acquisition and sharing of those.

Embrace the concept of 'Role Reversal Retreats', where team members step into the shoes of their colleagues and, most critically, their customers. This immersive experience is more than just role-playing; it's about deeply understanding the nuances of each role within the team and the customer's journey. Combine this with 'Empathy Engineering' sessions, where the team collectively deconstructs feedback and experiences from a customer's perspective, not just to address them but to connect with the emotional journey of the customer.

Creating a strong Customer Experience (CX) team requires everyone to be "on the same page," working cohesively to deliver exceptional service. Define Your CX Vision: Establish a clear and concise vision that guides your team's efforts. Foster a Culture of Collaboration: Break down silos between departments, allowing CX representatives to collaborate with other teams like product development and marketing. Implement Shared Metrics: Track and measure key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant to all team members. Invest in Continuous Learning: Provide ongoing training and development opportunities for everyone on the team. Celebrate Victories and Acknowledge Challenges: Recognize and celebrate individual and team achievements.