Customer Experience

The value that a business creates lies in the customer experience. When their experience meets or even exceeds their expectations in their Value Learning Cycle, customers become initial buyers and then repeat buyers and loyal buyers. Revenues flow to the business directly from the customer’s experience as a result. Businesses must empathize with their anticipated experience, actual experience, and their post-evaluation.

Orientation

Think of customer experience as the creation of value. If the customer has a bad experience, no value is created. Conversely, the value of a positive experience that meets or exceeds expectations flows into the firm in the form of positive feedback, as well as revenue and cash flow. The customer experience is everything, and so merits careful design, monitoring, measurement, and continuous adjustment.

Value is subjective and difficult to measure. However, there are analytics that can be monitored and productively analyzed.

Certain elements of operations contribute directly to the customer experience. A help desk is an example. Ensure that operations are designed from a customer experience perspective.

Even though the firm can’t participate in the customer experience, much of the customer’s value learning cycle can be monitored and observed, and customers are often eager to share information. The measurement of value generation is satisfaction, as evaluated by the customer. This subjective value resists quantification, but various measures and monitors can be helpful.

A customer’s assessment of value potential includes alternative providers and the relative value of alternative choices. Be sure to know and understand competitor value propositions, and the customer’s opportunity costs from their perspective.

In the value network, the performance of partners is an integral part of your firm’s reputation. Productive collaboration generates customer value. Contracting, agreements and monitoring should reflect and enhance collaboration.

Purchases, subscriptions and exchange are indicators of declared preferences. These preferences can change, and tracking and trending should be in place for early warning. If preference changes among the firm’s customer base are substantial, they could presage a market shift, requiring adjustment and adaptation.

The subjective value experience includes the evaluation of firms and brands as reputable and trustworthy. It is possible to design processes and communications to earn these assessments.