6 Keys to Providing a Better Customer Experience

By Martin Zwilling – Note: This article was filed by a paid contributor to Xerox Corporation.

Not so long ago, every business assumed that the keys to success were the highest quality product, the best value for the buck, and the best customer service. Now all we hear about is providing the best “customer experience.” Exactly what is that customer experience that every modern marketer is talking about, and how do you measure it?

A classic article in the Harvard Business Review “The Truth About Customer Experience” defines it as your customer’s end-to-end journey with you, not just the key touch points or critical moments when customers interact with your organization. Customer experience is the cumulative impact of multiple touch points over time, which result in a real relationship feeling, or lack of it.

The advent of social media and real-time interactive feedback via the internet allows every customer to build and expect a relationship with your business, rather than just touch points. Yet we are all still learning what that means, in terms of hard business practices.