Brands are becoming too obsessed with delivering an “awesome” customer experience and are losing sight of their own businesses and who their own customers are, according to a new report.
While acknowledging customer experience is critical in an age where customers are increasingly demanding, Forrester Research said too many firms are trying too hard to replicate the methods and experiences offered by other companies.
The race to become the best is flawed, senior analyst Amit Bhatia said in his recently published Forrester report titled “Should All Customer Experiences Be Awesome?”. He also advises that Customer Experiences Don’t Need To Be Incredible All Of The Time rather it’s better to Invest Wisely
The comments came in a report, should all customer experiences be awesome?, which questioned the approach of some companies.
“As digital experiences become commonplace, customers have elevated expectations of customer experience across industries,” Bhatia said in the report. “To meet and exceed such expectations companies aspire to become the best of the best. But this can often tempt them to blindly emulate the compelling or awesome experiences of CX leaders.”
The report said 57% of executives want their companies to be CX leaders in their industry with 16% striving to become the best overall.
But attempting to provide the “fanciest” experience in face of limited resources and organisational challenges “is a pitfall to avoid”, Bhatia said.
He warned brands not to lose sight of their own corporate strategy, value proposition, target market and business model which will be different from those companies they may be trying to emulate.
“The experience of McDonald’s, which stands for convenience and speed, is different from that of Starbucks which more represents thoughtfulness and care,” he said.
Customer expectations also differ from brand to brand and industry to industry, while the maturity of a company is also important to consider.
“Replace the notion of the best CX with the right CX,” Bhatia said. “Contextualise your CX with your corporate strategy, brand and CX maturity. Also, weave in the nature of your customers and the market in which you operate.
“Doing so gives you two advantages. You pitch your efforts just right, and you successfully differentiate your CX from the competition.”
