Delivering a first-class customer experience every time

Customer experience (CX) is seen as the new battleground for many businesses. Adding to this challenge is the new breed of always-on, 24/7 customer who is far more discerning, less loyal and who has the power of social media at their disposal to rate and review the products and services they buy and the companies which provide them.

Technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and data and analytics have a huge part to play in the shaping the customer journey. They enable businesses to get to know their customers like never before, gathering data and feedback and analysing their preferences and behaviour.

Despite all of this, customer satisfaction rates are not rising as they should and in some cases are remaining static. An increasing area of focus for Rialto, therefore, is to help organisations deliver an exceptional customer experience by putting customers at the core of the business.

Becoming customer-obsessed

Businesses have an opportunity to get closer to the customer than ever before and should exploit this opportunity. They should become customer-obsessed and take the time to understand their priorities and motivations. Rialto customer experience experts help organisations realise their ambitions of becoming customer-centric by:

• Prioritising what matters most when the customer is making their decision
• Mapping the entire customer journey and identifying and eliminating any pain points
• Building strong customer relationships that instil loyalty
• Learning how leaders in CX are driving success and staying ahead of their customers
• Implementing CX standards to ensure the experience is consistent
• Illustrating a fast-track to success without making costly mistakes.

Aligning capabilities and behaviours

A CX strategy is only as good as those who deliver it. An organisation may have the highest standards of customer service in a call centre but if a delivery driver upsets the customer all of the good work will be undone. Rialto also focuses on how to engage employees with the CX strategy by making them feel a valued part of the process. Rialto also stresses the importance of:

• Supporting the employees to develop the right skillset to deliver great customer service
• Ensuring the corporate culture and values support the CX strategy
• Ensuring all business functions, even non-customer facing ones, to adopt a customer-centric attitude
• Modelling the right behaviours to encourage great customer service
• Ensuring employees at all levels understand the importance of shifting and aligning behaviours with the CX strategy.

It is also important to factor in any third parties in the strategy as their capabilities and behaviours are as important as those of the organisation’s own employees.

Many organisations claim to be customer-centric but do not have the strategies to support this. Customer experience must become a priority at leadership level and be recognised as the big differentiator in increasingly competitive markets. It is about exploiting the use of new technologies and tools but also ensuring that the organisation has the necessary capability to deliver great customer service.

Rialto helps organisations deliver an exceptional customer experience by putting customers at the core of the business

Gaining customer insight in all segments

The so-called “switching economy” means that customers are far more likely to change to a different brand if they experience disappointment or dissatisfaction with a product or service. Gone are the days when even the most powerful brands can rely on unwavering loyalty from the consumer who is generally less loyal and more discerning than they’ve ever been.

Customer experience is cited as the new battleground when it comes to winning new business but it is also about getting maximum insight about the different groups of people that make up the customer base or who are on the company radar.

Understanding customer motivations and behaviours

Technology allows organisations to get closer to the customer than ever before. It helps them collect data on who’s buying, what they buy, where they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It allows organisations to take customer insight and segmentation to an entirely new level and, when combined with customer interaction activities, allows organisation to shape and tailor their approach far more effectively.

Rialto customer insight experts work with clients to deepen their knowledge of and relationship with their customers to better understand their motivations and behaviours when it comes to purchasing. Work includes:

• Breaking down the customer groups that exist by demographics such as age and geography
• Undertaking quantitative and qualitative research on the various groups
• Help them to run activities such as focus groups, face-to-face interviews and shop-alongs
• Help to build customer profiles and use data and analytics to model and predict behaviours

Making the customer central to business

As with customer experience, the aim is make the customer core to the business. Information gathered means that sales and marketing decisions and strategies are based on real behaviour, values and attitudes rather than perceived ones. It also means that rather than a one-size fits all approach, organisations can tailor their approach and strategies to the differing customer groups.