Today’s leading organizations focus on delivering excellent customer experience (CX). For successful brands, perfecting CX is a key differentiator in a competitive landscape, since customers expect smooth experiences.
According to a Merkle study, 66% of consumers care more about experience than price when deciding between brands. Brands with a strong commitment to customer experience see higher levels of brand awareness and customer retention and satisfaction.
Generally speaking, customer experience is the relationship between a customer and the business, and it encompasses every touchpoint and interaction. The goal of human-centered customer experience design is excellent services and experiences that make using your business quick, simple, and seamless. Delivering high-quality customer experiences builds brand loyalty and safeguards your bottom line.
Applying design thinking principles is an effective way to improve customer experience. With human-centered design, you can solve business-impacting problems, focusing on what your customers want to identify better ways to serve and support. Here are the 5-steps to creating human-centered CX.
The first step of the customer experience design process is understanding your customers and identifying problems you can solve. Step into your customer’s shoes and consider:
When you’re familiar with your product, it can be difficult to break assumptions and view things from a beginner’s mindset. Empathy exercises like customer journey maps and voice-of-the-customer exercises like qualitative interviews with clients help you connect with customer pain points, challenges, and motivations. Making observations and analyzing data help you identify the root and context of problems.
“It’s about them and for them. The closer the end-users’ needs are analyzed and answered, the more successful the adoption or purchase of a solution. You iterate until you get it right from a customer perspective. This is the power of HCD.”
– Olivier Delarue, UNHCR
Take the information you gathered from your customer experience research to craft problem statements. Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART goals).
Brainstorm methods to reach your customer experience goals. For example, many businesses struggle with customer retention due to lack of segmentation. Other common pain points are inefficient processes like excessive transfers, or subpar products and services.
Being customer-centered means understanding your customer needs. Some customers may prefer chat, while other customers prefer to connect via phone. Identify and understand your customer needs better with analysis like surveys, interviews, focus groups, and social listening. Then, gather the right teams.
Prevent frustrations, protect against churn, and predict customer behavior to optimize customer experience at every touchpoint with the following points:
Design customer experience solutions that simplify complexity, reduce frustration, and encourage loyalty. Products and services can be prototyped with feedback for continuous improvement. Consider asking the following before prototyping:
Create an action plan to put your initiatives in motion. Make sure you have the right people, processes, and technology to get the ball rolling. This can include tools like customer relationship management (CRM) software, sales tracking, and quality assurance software.
Gather data and feedback loops to evaluate results. Learn from gaps and challenges to reiterate. Design thinking never stops. Continue to adapt as customer needs and expectations change.
It's our business to enhance your customers' interactions with your brand—growing your revenue, improving brand loyalty, and building a stronger business in the process. A best-in-class BPO like RUI has the expertise to identify impactful improvements and deliver a superior customer experience.
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