The empowerment that technology has afforded modern customers has caught many brands off guard. Access to information and vast communication networks instantly realized through Smartphones and social media have been a completely shifted the way customer engagement strategies work to attract and retain loyal customers.
Technology has fundamentally changed brand-to-consumer relationships. The good news is that many brands seem to be keenly aware of this shift. The bad new, however, is that most seem to me be doing little about it.
A new white paper published by the Digital Clarity Group, an innovative analyst and consulting agency that helps organizations deal with the new digital landscape, outlines a new way of thinking about how brands can measure satisfying customer experiences. The paper, Optimizing High Value Customer Journeys: The Case of Banking, encourages organizations, especially financial institutions, to focus on what it terms “customer journeys.”
This marks a break from the “customer lifecycle” approach, which has previously served as the dominant paradigm.
As a customer lifecycle incorporates thousands of transactions that span decades, it’s an impractical measure that negates effective planning or actionable results. Customer journeys, on the other hand, present a much more manageable way to create a satisfying customer experience.
Tim Walters, Ph.D., Principle DCG Analyst and author of the paper, explains, “High-value journeys — such as customer onboarding, field maintenance, and service upgrading — are just right: small enough to be manageable, yet comprehensive enough to have a significant impact on customer satisfaction and other key metrics.”
He cites six criteria for an effective customer journey.
A customer journey is common to more than half of all customer interactions across multiple channels.
They are limited, as only a few customer journeys generally account for most of the revenue for any given organization.
A customer journey is also manageable by having a defined beginning and ending.
They are also both cross-functional and mobilized. That is, they incorporate multiple touch points across numerous teams and departments within an organization, while also being accessible on hand held devices.
Finally, a customer journey is also impactful.
While this shift in focus from customer lifecycles to customer journeys may be universally helpful to most industries, the paper suggests that those in finical sectors may benefit the most.
“Companies across the globe, particularly those in the financial industry, can increase loyalty and drive costs down by shifting their views on customer satisfaction to focus on high-value ‘Customer Journeys,’” Walters said.
“This approach will enable a bank or credit union to build an omni-channel experience that limits customer effort and exceeds customer expectations.”