In the world of customer experience, it’s sometimes difficult to differentiate between fact and myth. The art form is evolving so fast that companies sometimes struggle to keep up. This makes it fertile ground for false notions, fads, and toxic myths.
It is important for companies to balance these myths with reality in order to serve customers effectively and also grow profitably.
To help ensure these false notions are not contributing detrimentally to our focus and delivery, this article is devoted to busting eight common customer experience myths.
Myth 1: Customer Experience = Customer Service1
This is a big myth. While customer service is an essential component of customer experience, it is not the whole concept. Customer service is the communication and help between a customer and a company. Customer experience, however, begins from the point of onboarding, point of sale or even pre-purchase. It also moves beyond the sale to stay with the customer throughout.
Myth 2: Once a customer is satisfied with the experience, they are loyal customers forever1
Customer experience is not constant. It keeps changing. Customer experience dictates how customers stay loyal. But one cannot guarantee that customers always get the same experience across the organization. Customers may have varying experiences with the same brand. A single bad move may disturb the flow of communication and reduce loyalty.
Myth 3: We know what our customers want (or don’t want)4
Perhaps the greatest inhibitor to go beyond “Have a nice day” service platitudes is the belief within a firm that its prior history and years of experience result in perfect knowledge of what customers want and do not want.
Virtually every firm at one time has felt it could skip the development of requirements via “customer visioning” and go straight to implementation of new processes and channels for customers. After all, our company has been in the business for almost 50 years and no one knows our customers better than we do.
Myth 4: Customers want to be amazed2
Customers want engagement with your company to be effortless, which isn’t the same as “amazing.” The way to wow customers with a great customer experience is to allow them to find answers, make decisions and work with our company in the easiest way possible. At ICW Group, easy is defined by our customers: injured workers, Policyholders and Agents with varying degrees of priority (see Myth 7).
Myth 5: So long as customer needs are met, we’ve done our job well3
Supplying the customer with what they asked for is one thing, but in reality, it’s only half of the service. To build a real customer experience, it is all about how you make the customer feel – from the moment they become acquainted with our company, to the last interaction we have with them.
This includes everything from our employees’ tone of voice, appealing facilities, system accuracy and uptimes, to availability, the speed of service and so on.
It is not enough to simply satisfy a customer’s primary request. The customer experience is made up of tons of micro-interactions that all influence how that person will see our brand. In short… it really is the little things that matter.
Myth 6: No innovations means no CX1
Many companies feel that no innovation means no customer experience. Simply innovating without adhering to the basics of customer experience will not deliver impact. Companies often chase ensuring their product is rich with all the trendy CX jargon like VR, AI, etc. However, the core of customer experience is to optimize current practices and improve communication, which doesn’t necessarily require trendy innovations.
Myth 7: Our customers and their needs are unique2
Another common misconception is that customer needs for a given company, industry, or geography are unique and quite different from those of other firms, industries, or geographies.
Virtually everyone needs responsive service, and easy, timely access to their B2B partners, irrespective of industry. Within an industry, customer segments will tend to have similar needs but different priorities, e.g., the customers of an accountant will more greatly demand precision than customers of a hair stylist, although it is a need shared by both.
Beyond the prioritization or importance weighting differences, only ~30% the actual customer needs are unique to a specific industry or customer set. The next time someone says, “but insurance is different” encourage the team, leader or co-worker to first identify the 70% common elements of great CX – then dig into the uniqueness versus the other way around.
Myth 8: Customer experience is linear1
Customer experience is human-driven. Humans are emotional and face different aspects in another manner altogether. Every customer reacts differently to the same website, for example. This makes the customer experience for each customer vastly different. One customer may love a simple website, one may hate the font, color, or more. Even the name of the product is something every potential customer may not like. You cannot slay CX, for all, with one rock.
Sources:
1. SmartKarrot–The 15 Biggest Myths of Customer Experience (CX) –Busted!
2. Forbes–Believing These Five Customer Experience Myths Could Stunt Your Company’s Growth
3. CMS Wire–Busted: 5 Common Myths Of Customer Service
4. Thompson book–What They Want: Ten Myths About Your Customers
