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Not Making CX Progress? Start Saying No

Jim Tincher Jim Tincher 08/14/2020

Too many customer experience (CX) programs get stuck. 

Stuck with no influence. No change. No leadership buy-in. 

We see it all the time. As a CX leader, you’re spread so thin, trying to juggle dozens of balls at once. You’re building a new measurement program while sharing your existing scores with anybody who will listen. You’re creating new training programs. You’re in meetings to support the new portal, the new customer campaign, the Customer Advisory Board, and the new loyalty program. 

You’re incredibly busy. You burn through your unused vacation time just trying to keep up. But when you get to the end of the year, the most important thing – customer loyalty – remains unchanged.  

A year filled with effort, but no actual change. 

That’s a problem. 

What’s a CX Leader to do?

As a CX leader, you desperately want to impact your business through the voice of your customer. So you do everything you can to make an impact, helping each project keep voice of the customer front and center. But all that juggling means that no single program gets the attention it deserves.  

It’s time to say no…so you can say yes to what really matters.  

Within each customer journey are Moments of Truth. These are the critical interactions that have a disproportionate impact on customer loyalty. They vary for each company, but tend to happen around transitions – a first purchase, an upgrade, onboarding, or implementation. If you’re not focusing most of your time on these key Moments of Truth, you’re sabotaging your own efforts.  

If you haven’t identified the Moments of Truth in the customer journey, then stop everything right now and figure that out. I’m obviously a fan of using customer journey maps to do this.

But only if they’re designed correctly, and that isn’t always the case.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew

I was recently asked to review a manufacturer’s journey map. The first thing I noticed was that they had nine – nine! – Moments of Truth. As if all nine had equal importance to the customer.  I can assure you they do not.

You can’t focus on nine things. Narrow the list down to three areas – four at the most – on which to focus. Few enough so that you can create genuine, measurable impact. 

Then say no to anything that doesn’t directly impact these specific interactions. Stop wasting time arguing whether NPS is the right metric; start arguing about the best way to dramatically improve your customers’ onboarding experience.  

Only by saying no can you truly say yes to what’s most important to your customers.  

 

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