At first glance, innovation is the servant of customer experience; hasn’t the digital revolution made it easier for us to interact with and understand our customers?
Unfortunately, in some cases the proliferation of channels and touchpoints has simply obscured what we can do to stay customer-focused. And yet, most businesses firmly believe that “our customers come first”.
So, we should all ask ourselves if our vision matches reality. Why? Well, consider these eye-opening statistics from the 2022 PwC Customer Loyalty Survey:
55% of consumers will change brands after several bad experiences.
32% of people who left a brand indicated it was because of a bad customer experience.
32% will leave a brand because of inconsistent CX.
8% will stop doing business with a brand after one customer experience fail.
As you can see, there’s not a lot of room for error in the current market. But just where does innovation fit into all this?
When it comes to innovation, we get pressure from all sides. We want to keep up with our industry and our competitors. We may be excited about the new possibilities ourselves. And our customers may be clamoring for various improvements.
Before we innovate, we need to be sure we really understand 1) what our customers want; 2) what they need; and 3) how innovation will impact their experience.
In short, we need to avoid impulsive reactions and stay human-focused. Instead of asking “Where can we use this shiny new technology?” ask “Will this innovation help solve a problem for our customers?”. Even if you’re innovating in an area that doesn’t directly impact the customer experience (e.g. a sales enablement platform or a CRM tool), it’s good to stop and think about the potential impact – good or bad – on your CX.
Finding the balance between innovating and serving our customer’s interests can admittedly be hard. This is where design thinking and human-centered processes can really help us understand the situation. If you need some expert assistance in these areas, give us a call and we'll set up a free consultation.
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