4 Reasons to have a Customer Experience Department

When it comes to your customers, are you as a business prepared to go that extra mile? Maybe you have a great Customer Service team and contact centre to help with the everyday questions or queries that may arise, but is that enough?  What if you find you’re still losing business, or getting sub-par reviews? What is the missing piece for your customers?

Here are 4 fantastic reasons you should have a Customer Experience department in your business.

Beyond Customer Service

A Customer Experience Department should not be confused with a Customer Service Department.  Though the two go hand in hand the Customer Experience Department is proactively responsible for a customer’s entire journey, not just reactively responding to their questions or frustrations. Analysing the experience from first contact, through multi or omni-channel touch points, to conclusion and, ideally, repeat custom.  Imagine being there from the start, getting the whole journey right and realising the possibilities that come from that approach.   

Getting the Best Out of What You’ve Got

With end-to-end responsibility for the customer’s journey, the Customer Experience team is perfectly placed to get the best out of everything you already do. They’re the glue binding together your service or product offering, marketing, sales, and technical and customer support. Their role is to understand the entire customer experience, identify the pain points and then work with that helicopter view, and your existing teams, to ease and improve the journey. Where there are gaps that you can’t currently fill, Customer Experience consultants and suppliers are available to provide content, advice and back-up.

Great First Impressions

We’ve all experienced positive and negative factors when shopping. Whether online or instore, one bad experience may be the end of not just one customer, but multiple. Too often it’s the first impression that prevents a customer from pursuing a service or product. As we’ve already seen, impacting your client’s journey from the first touch point is the lifeblood of the Customer Experience specialist.

Get ahead of your competition.

With so many pop-up brands, competitive prices and purchase solutions, it can be hard for companies to stand out.  Everyone wants a deal these days, and a value-added option can be a great place to start. Having a Customer Experience Department can put you ahead of the game by offering that full package, that better, joined-up journey and overall experience.  The Product-Service combination is not only important for brand development, it can make a massive difference to the consumer, making their decision to shop with you an easy one.

Customer Experience isn't just something that happens when you aren't looking - it's a whole skill set that can make the essential difference to your customers and to your business.