Welcome back to another edition of Salty’s Social Media Vocabulary. Instead of our regular list of vocab words, we’re going to discuss customer service design, a topic that’s near and dear to us (and most successful brands). We’ve talked about customer experience design before, and we’d like to expand on how CxD should be a central part of your marketing plan.
In many markets, products are essentially generic across the board: OS features aside, think of the minute hardware differences between flagship mobile phone (In fact we wouldn’t be surprised if you had trouble thinking of any differences). Beyond the product then is the battleground of customer experience, and many brands are making CX a primary focus of their product and brand strategy.
Your customer’s experience with your company is an extension of your brand—this includes everything from product unboxing and UE with your product, to after purchase support. As BMW CEO Steve Cannon put it, “Customer service is the new marketing.” Shipping aside, Amazon has grown to be a juggernaut in part due to its focus on customer experience.
Customers see all of your teams as essentially one in the same–all a part of your brand. Customers don’t care if your HQ is based in Taiwan and your US team is based out of Bellevue and your CS team is based out of Nova Scotia. Given the multitude of means through which customers can communicate with brands, tracking communications and unifying UE across all of these channels can be a challenge. That’s why it’s important to understand every contact point between your brand and your customers, and align all of those experiences with your business strategy to create a consistent and satisfying experience for your customers.
Just like customers will come to expect a certain level of quality from your product, so too will they expect a certain quality of experience when interacting with your brand. We help our clients understand and optimize their customer’s experience through customer journey mapping, which outlines not only all contact points between our clients and their customers, but also which team takes charge at each point. Doing so helps streamline company processes and lays the foundation to create a consistent experience across all customer interactions, thereby strengthening your brand.
If you’re interested in learning more about CxD and customer journey mapping, hit us up and let’s chat. Until next week!