[{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/12\/01\/cx-customer-experience-business\/#Article","articleBody":"Customer experience \u2013 CX \u2013 isn\u2019t an area of a business, it IS business.\nThat\u2019s both my opening and my summary for those who like sound bites and are short on time.\u00a0\nIf you\u2019ve got a little more time, let\u2019s explore what CX is and how to look at business problems through the customer lens.\nBusiness is about buying things, selling things, and engaging with customers.\nThis is grossly oversimplifying things to make a point, but the point is very simple.\u00a0\nThe purpose of your business is to sell things or provide services to people who buy those things and get value from them. You want those people to either keep the product or service, buy it again, and\/or refer other people like them to your product or service.\nI hope the above statement reinforces my opening line \u2013 and I\u2019d love you to directly challenge this point of view if you disagree.\u00a0\n \nDiscover customer pain points \u2013 then fix them: CX will soar\n   Once a business uncovers customer pain points, immediate action must be taken to improve CX, thereby building loyal customer relationships.  \nB2B, B2C, D2C, B2B2C: No matter the model, you\u2019re in the business of selling things or providing a service to people\nYour customer might be a purchaser within a large multinational company, or a buyer for a fashion retail brand, or a consumer buying for themselves inside a fashion brands own retail store \u2013 but they\u2019re all people buying things.\u00a0\nIf you\u2019re a brand who manufactures a product, but you rely on your partners to sell that product to the end consumer or customer, you still have the same objective \u2013 you want people to buy your product and get value from your product.\nThere are different steps in this chain, and it\u2019s a different model than a similar brand who makes a similar product, but sells direct to the consumer via their owned and operated digital commerce offering. However, you have the same objectives\u00a0 \u2013 you both want to sell more product and you both want people who are buying your product to buy more product.\nAn astonishing 416% uplift in order volume. Welcome to #enterprisegradeCX. Go team @SAP, go team @SAP_CX!! And a big thank you to our CX customers for their trust in @sap. #cx #BlackFriday https:\/\/t.co\/c75ULZ3l6f\n\u2014 Sameer Patel (@SameerPatel) November 28, 2021\nThe search, the clicks, the ordering process, the delivery, the service: It\u2019s ALL CX\nWhether it\u2019s someone looking at an Instagram ad for your product, then buying directly from you, or buying from a retail partner, they\u2019re still initially engaging with your product and your brand. \nWhen they buy the product, they\u2019re engaging either with you directly or with your retail partners \u2013 and that impacts the experience with your brand and your product. \nWhether they get the product from a store or someone delivers it to their door \u2013 directly or indirectly \u2013 that\u2019s an engagement with you, your brand, and your product.\nHow often in your own business, with your own team are you looking at that experience\u202f\u202fbetween your customers, your product, your brand across those different channels \u2013 both owned and partner owned \u2013 at where there are points of friction and where you\u2019re not providing value or the experience your customer expects?\u202f\u00a0\u00a0\nAnnual customer journey map? Quarterly Voice of Customer? Weekly team meeting? Is it in one department or across teams? Which teams? And what\u2019s the output of this work?\u00a0\n \nIs it easy for consumers to buy from you? How customer identity management can help\n   Customer identity management matters because requiring customers to log in each time they visit an e-commerce site or interact with your brand can erode CX, reduce conversions, and push customers toward competitors with easier authentication processes.  \nCX matters: 3 questions to gauge if your customer experience meets the mark\nWhen it comes to genuinely evaluating your CX, there are three challenging questions required to facilitate an honest conversation:\u00a0\nAre you memorable?\u202f\nAre you engaging?\nAre you trying to be?\u00a0\u00a0\nYour company isn\u2019t a brand or a building \u2013 it\u2019s your people that interact with customers and how customers engage with your people and your brand.\nCustomers don\u2019t care about your org chart or corporate structure; they see the \u201cwhole\u201d experience of interacting with your brand as CX.\nInside of your business, who is helping connect those dots between teams and functions, while challenging processes and operating models to reduce friction for customers to add value to the organization?\nTechnology is in service of people. Both your employees as well as your customers and consumers. It\u2019s a tool \u2013 but it\u2019s not a strategy.\nImplementing solutions is about understanding the problem.\u00a0\nWhen looking at technology, are you clear on how the implementation will improve the way that your customers see your business and business problems? Are you clear on how it will improve the way your teams engage with customers and customers engage with your teams? How will you measure the impact \u2013 not just through a business lens \u2013 but through the lens of your customers?\nCX is about providing the experiences that make your customers want to engage with you, buy from you, get value, stay engaged, and buy again.\nIt\u2019s about how you generate value for the business in terms of growth \u2013 in customers, sales, revenues, profits. Because \u2013 remember \u2013 CX \u2013 isn\u2019t an area of a business, it IS business.\nBuild customer loyalty. Reap real dividends. We can help. Start HERE.","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/12\/01\/cx-customer-experience-business\/#Article_Person","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/12\/01\/cx-customer-experience-business\/#Article_Person_ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Alex-Timlin-150x150.jpeg"},"name":"Alex Timlin","sameAs":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/alextimlin\/","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/alex-timlin\/"},"dateModified":"2021-12-02T22:37:47+00:00","datePublished":"2021-12-01T06:15:05+00:00","description":"Business is about buying things, selling things, and engaging with customers. CX is about providing experiences that make people want to engage with you, buy from you, and buy again.","headline":"CX isn\u2019t an area of a business \u2013 it IS business","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/12\/01\/cx-customer-experience-business\/#Article_ImageObject","height":"630","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/CX-is-business_1200x375-1200x630.jpg","width":"1200"},"mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/12\/01\/cx-customer-experience-business\/","name":"CX isn\u2019t an area of a business \u2013 it IS business","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/","additionalType":"https:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/wiki\/Q1193236","description":"Relevant, timely information & analysis on commerce trends, both consumer-facing and B2B.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","height":"96","url":"https:\/\/23x6xj3o92m9361dbu2ij362-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com\/wp-content\/themes\/hybris_foc\/assets\/images\/layout\/logo-new-2x.png?_=1","width":"500"},"name":"The Future of Customer Engagement and Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/a-call-for-a-better-experience\/id1479742201","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FutureOfCEC","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/4844282","https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/feed\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/"},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/12\/01\/cx-customer-experience-business\/#Article"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2021","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"12","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/\/12\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"01","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/\/12\/\/01\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"CX isn\u2019t an area of a business \u2013 it IS business","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2021\/12\/01\/cx-customer-experience-business\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]