Editorial
The Gist
- Essential synergy. CX and EX integration drives employee engagement and customer satisfaction.
- Apple's example. The Apple store experience highlights the effectiveness of combining CX and EX.
- Measurement matters. Continuously monitoring CX and EX metrics leads to more agile engagement.
Delivering top-notch customer experiences (CX) requires a workforce having stellar employee experiences (EX). The two are intricately linked — engaged employees devote energy into satisfying customers. Astute marketers recognize this CX and EX synergy and incorporate it within their strategies.
Apple's CX and EX Synergy Success
Who's got a great program going? The burgeoning lines outside Apple stores whenever a new iPhone model is launched may seem baffling — after all, why stand in long queues when you can preorder online? The answer lies in the Apple store experience. Warmly welcomed in, you get to personally handle the new gadgets while store staff, brimming with knowledge, passionately walk you through features. You're caught up in the excitement and just have to walk out with the newest iPhone! This exemplifies how powerful experiences can be in enticing and retaining customers.
As a CMO striving to drive growth, I focus on curating positive experiences. Here are my top three tips on fostering CX and EX synergy within the marketing framework:
1. Anchor Marketing Around Real Customer Insights
Today's consumer is digitally savvy, seeking personalized engagement. Bombarding them with generic promotions backfires. Spend time understanding micro-segments, listening to them through online community interactions and social media, before conceptualizing targeted campaigns. Enable seamless omnichannel experiences. For instance, satisfied website visitors make loyal retail customers. Provide consistent messaging across channels to build familiarity and trust.
Related Article: Is It Time to Make CX and EX 'One Experience'?
2. Engage Employees Through Internal Branding
EX directly impacts CX — engaged employees deliver better customer experiences. Inspire staff by co-creating value propositions reflecting company purpose and vision. Make them brand ambassadors through training, feedback and incentives. Enable two-way communication via town halls and surveys. Build camaraderie via team activities. When employees feel valued, it gets mirrored in happier customers.
Related Article: CX and EX: Why Focusing Only on CX Is a Bad Idea
3. Prioritize Real-Time Measurement for Agile Engagement
Continuously measure CX metrics like NPS surveys and mystery shopping. Solicit employee feedback, too. Analyze data to identify friction points impacting CX and EX. Address these promptly through reviews of policies, processes and technologies. Share action taken to close the loop. Staying on top of CX and EX metrics fosters agility to keep optimizing engagement.
Also, sharing some additional ideas that could be explored, for CX-EX integration:
- Develop employee journey maps aligning with customer journey maps.
- Conduct joint CX-EX ideation workshops.
- Create cross-functional CX-EX councils (this can lead to a snowball effect for the better)
- Enable employees to directly interact with customers.
- Cascade customer feedback to frontline staff.
- Build executive-level CX and EX roles.
- Most importantly, celebrate internal and external customer service wins together.
The overarching goal should be nurturing a customer-centric and employee-centric culture. Initiatives like the above help bring it to life, embedding CX-EX thinking company-wide.
Related Article: The Holistic Equation: Why HX = CX + EX
Embracing CX-EX Synergy for Marketing Triumph
Marketing success hinges on prioritizing both customers and employees, continually crafting experiences that delight them. The future belongs to brands that sow and harvest this CX and EX synergy.
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As marketing undergoes a paradigm shift from one-way communications to two-way engagement, the brands focusing on people-centric experiences will reap loyalty.
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