I often talk about customer experience lying at the intersection of communications, operations, technology, and employees.  Which really means it encompasses all aspects of your organization.  As Jan Carlzon, former CEO of Scandinavian airline SAS, once said, “If you’re not serving the customer, your job is to be serving someone who is.”

Every Team Owns Part of the Customer Experience

Marketing and Sales have to correctly position your products and services, and set proper expectations for how customers can use them and, more importantly, what benefit(s) they will derive.  Operations then has to deliver an experience that matches, or better yet, exceeds those expectations.  

All of these teams are supported by HR in terms of the people they hire and how they onboard and train them.  The org is also supported by IT and the technology platforms—such as apps and websites—that customers can use, as well as the internal systems that enable employees to deliver a great experience.  And of course, Customer Care is the safety net if something goes wrong along the way.  

Let’s Take a Closer Look at Revenue Management/ Pricing

As Mr. Carlzon suggested, there are also supporting functions that are in service to those who serve the customer. The one supporting function that I’d like to consider in terms of the role it can play in the overall customer experience is Revenue Management or Pricing.  

Recently, I was stuck in the middle of a prime example of how pricing can impact the customer experience when my family and I tried a new burger place in town.  The burgers, Cajun fries, and parmesan truffle fries that we ordered at the counter were outstanding.  But 4 burgers, fries, and drinks set me back $75 (and I don’t live in NYC, Los Angeles, or San Francisco).  It made me consider the role that price plays in my perception of value and more importantly, my overall experience.  We enjoyed the food, but at that price point, we are not likely to return, or at a minimum, it won’t be the regular Friday night meal after a long week.

CX Success Is One Motion

In my previous role leading customer experience for Hertz, I was also responsible for Voice of the Customer, CRM, and Loyalty.  This was intentional, as we wanted to closely tie together:

• Understanding customer needs, wants and expectations (VOC)
• Experience design to meet/exceed those expectations (CX)
• Delivering the right message to the right customer at the right time (CRM)
• Member acquisition, retention and frequency to drive business growth (Loyalty)

We also had a Customer Experience Council to engage the rest of the organization.  This governance component is critical to ensuring alignment and accountability in the organization around the customer experience.  Nearly all companies are organized around functional silos—sales, marketing, operations, pricing, finance, HR, IT, etc.  But the customer doesn’t care about your org structure, and managing the customer experience requires a shared understanding of customer expectations, and clean communications and executional handoffs between functions. 

At Pearl-Plaza, our Continuous Improvement Framework has 5 stages: 

1. Design
2. Listen
3. Understand
4. Transform
5. Realize 

Too many companies get stuck in the Listen and Understand phases because they are too focused on capturing and analyzing customer feedback and not focused enough (or organized properly) to take action on the data and then measure the ROI improvements from those actions. 

The organization component here is key. To make sure that you are facilitating transformational action across the org that will lead to tangible experience improvement, you must consider your internal communication methods and your organizational orientation and compare it to the customer experience.

Want to learn more about how you can put in place foundational tools that facilitate CX transformation? Check out Eric’s recent webinar “CX Transformation: The Key to a Truly Valuable CX Program” here and learn how to organize, action plan, and manage your portfolio for success!

That’s why we’re so happy to celebrate this year’s CX Day theme, “CX is a team sport.” In our decades of experience, we’ve been a part of countless CX programs, and the most successful ones go into their efforts with a team-centric mentality. And this doesn’t just include the team that is directly over the customer experience either. These CX rockstars build cross-functional CX teams that include stakeholders from across the company. They involve their frontline employees and make sure they have that CX team spirit. They make sure that every CX initiative is in line with the greater team’s (aka the business) goals. 

There are so many examples of how teamwork makes the dream work when it comes to customer experience, but it all really boils down to the fact that every person in the organization acknowledges that they have a part to play when it comes to providing memorable, positive, and impactful experiences for customers. 

As a part of our celebration this year, we’re sharing three stories of some incredible brands that have proved that “CX is a team sport.” We hope you enjoy them!

1. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
2. Primark
3. Foot Locker

Story #1: Harvard Pilgrim Health Care

In the midst of a company merger, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care came together as a CX team to take an honest look at their existing strategy, what they wanted to improve, and what their ideal program would look like. With the help of their success team at Pearl-Plaza, they were able to map out a path that guaranteed success both in the short and long term. 

Watch the video below to hear the full story from Harvard Pilgrim’s VoC Program and Strategy Lead, Tiffany DaSilva!

Story #2: Primark

With over 400 stores in thirteen countries across Europe and, most recently, America, the CX team at Primark has to have the latest insights to meet its goal of providing the best product for the best price—and creating the best customer experiences. 

Since partnering with Pearl-Plaza, Primark is able to understand what brings their customers back time and time again and also what improvements need to be made to encourage customers to shop more. 

Watch the video below to hear from Phil Clarke, Analytics and Reporting Manager at Primark, as he explains how Primark’s global team is able to quickly leverage feedback to understand their customers and take actions to improve future shopping experiences!

Story #3: Foot Locker

Foot Locker needs their entire team to know the CX playbook in order to deliver a seamless experience to their customers in store, on app, and online. That’s why they leverage Pearl-Plaza’s XI Platform to deliver the intelligence they need to the right people at the right time in order to give Sneakerheads the retail experience they crave—and keep them coming back.

In this video, you’ll hear from the Director of Customer Experience, Tyler Saxey, as he talks about his CX team and their goal of keeping the customer at the heart of everything they do!

We hope you and your CX team have had a wonderful CX Day! Here’s to many more inspiring, motivating, and memorable celebrations in the years to come. 

Want to hear more experience stories from our rockstar clients? Check out our customer stories page for success stories, videos, and more!