This will be my fifth blog post for Symplify and I wanted to take this opportunity to delve into my academic journey and shed some light on the principles of CX (customer experience). 

So let’s go back in time for a bit. I started my academic “career” with earning my bachelors degree within Business Administration at Stockholm University. Which is quite a general programme that gives you a great overview of the world of business. As I graduated right in the middle of the pandemic, I was really unsure of how I would manage to get a job in the midst of it all, the prospects were not looking any good. But fate has its ways and I got to try out the corporate world and stepped into it as an audit associate at one of the big four firms. 

Fast forward a year and I stumbled upon the world of CX through a new programme at IHM Business School. In life in general I believe that you should do what makes you happy and capture the opportunities that are thrown at you, especially in one’s career, so I decided to go back to school once again. I’m glad that I did. 

Now let’s take a moment to discuss some more CX.

Let’s just get one thing out of the way. CX It is not just customer service. Mark my words on that one. The notion that CX equals customer service is a common misconception. Customer service is a pivotal touchpoint within the customer journey, but it is not THE customer experience, just a piece of the puzzle. CX encompasses the total experience, spanning every touchpoint where the customer interacts with the company, and that includes things such as the in-store experience, digital user experience, marketing, buying experience, social media communication, copy…the list goes on and on. 

As our teacher used to say: “Nobody puts CX in a corner”, and that is very true, some say that in today’s competitive landscape the customer experience is one of the very few ways to truly differentiate yourself from the crowd. When we think of it, the same product or service can be bought at a number of places, and what truly sets them apart in those cases is probably the customer experience. 

CX means putting the customer in front and centre, in all you do. It means that you build your business based on actual proven customer needs, drives and pain points to create that seamless experience. To deliver a stellar customer experience, organisations must systematically work towards excellence at every touchpoint. That also means that each and every department and employee are aware of its or their contribution in creating value for the customer. How are we supposed to achieve this? It starts with a clear CX strategy. 

There are even proven correlations between the employee experience and the customer experience. I might address that one in a future blog post.

When looking at the benefits of delivering a great customer experience, it is difficult to understand why not customer experience is at the top of the agenda within all companies. I will mention a few down below:

• A happy customer turned ambassador: We live in an era of sharing. When someone you know shares their recommendations for a brand, product or service, we usually listen and trust that person, more than any sales person, random review or a loud marketing campaign.
• A happy customer earns you (more) money: A happy customer will probably be more likely to stay loyal to your brand and hopefully continuously buy more. 
• A happy customer saves you money: That happy customer is also less likely to contact customer service due to reduced amounts of complaints and returns. Saves time, saves money. 

So that is a brief introduction to what I have been studying for the last two years in school. CX, even though it is not in any way a new concept, has some great potential to evolve any organisation to retain customers by keeping them happy and stay loyal. 

Two final points for this post: 

• Be a CX ambassador.
• It is said that it costs five times more to earn a new customer than to retain the ones you already have. 

See you in the next one.