What is customer experience?

- A few years ago, I ordered a grill for my husband for Father's Day. I wanted it to be there on time, so I paid extra for that on-time delivery, and I paid even more so that they would put it together for us. I had this vision of him walking out on Father's Day to our deck seeing this beautiful grill. Well, the day before Father's Day, I hadn't heard anything. So I went ahead and called the company. That's when they told me it was going to be delayed. Of course, I was disappointed. I had to give him a picture of the grill instead of the grill itself for his gift. Several days later, the truck pulled up, they came out and dropped a giant box on my front porch. Now, when I asked about this, and mentioned that I had paid for the assembly, they informed me they had no record of that. I had to call again and again. And then finally, they sent a team out to put it together for us. It looked great. My husband walked out that first night to use it and it didn't work at all. I had to call again and again, finally, they sent a service repair person out. He was very nice and fixed the grill. And while he was there, he mentioned that this happens all the time. Now, finally, we're able to use the grill and guess what? We love it, it works great. But when people ask us about it, or when we talk about this experience, what do you think we talk about? We talk about the service delays, and the frustration, and how we felt neglected. This is just one example of a customer journey gone wrong. There was nothing wrong with the sales or the product, and yet this company loses money on unnecessary service calls and customers like me, who won't be coming back again, because they aren't focused on the end-to-end experience for their customers. This is why customer experience is such a big topic, and why you probably hear so much about it. It's not about one interaction or expectation. It's about a lot of little things throughout the customer journey, and yet it's harder than we think it is. Businesses are all about the inside out perspective. How are those sales numbers? What's our revenue? Why are there delays in the product rollout? These are important to know. But just as important to know and understand, is the customer's experience. Most organizations claim they want to create great experiences for their customers. They might even proclaim to put customers first or be customer obsessed. Some others talk about customer experience in terms of listening to customers. We do surveys, we track feedback, and others might tell me their employees simply get it. None of those things on their own create better experiences for your customers. Customer experience is the total relationship your customer has with your organization through communication, interactions, and transactions. And most importantly, it's about how your customer feels about those experiences. Customer experience is a mindset, a strategy, and it takes discipline. It's about continuously evaluating, what's working and what's not for the customer, and having an appetite to do something about it.