CX strategy 2021 - What it depends on to achieve impact

Developing a customer experience management strategy is not easy. Hardly any other discipline is so multi-faceted and combines so many different skills. In the last 20 years, I have had the opportunity to observe many CX teams and CX professionals, to exchange ideas with them, and to accompany some of them as a coach. In addition, I myself have been in CX roles in large companies for a long time and would have liked to have had some guidance on what makes a CX strategy complete. What do successful CX Teams do? Which elements need to be covered? When I collect all my observations and experiences, four pillars can be identified.

When I ask my mentees what their biggest problem is, the answer very often comes: "we don't have enough resources". It's understandable that you see all the things you would like to tackle if you had more resources. You are forward-looking and want to move the company forward as well. The bitter truth usually is: no resources are being freed up for this. Fortunately, this is not really necessary. Every CX Team can have a big impact, no matter how small. The choice of battles is crucial. Develop a strategy to increase your own "gravitational force".

My first initiative to build a CX was a one-woman-show. Within less than a year, most of the employees in the company CX had integrated goals into their annual targets. No experiences were redesigned, I just made sure that others developed the desire to get started. And no, not all NPS targets were given. Everyone has been given relevant targets along the performance chain. You can read why this is so important in my blog about the dangers of giving NPS goals to everyone. 

Was everything that the teams implemented perfectly? No, certainly not. But the cogs in the organization have started moving. Achieving this alone has a huge impact. This process becomes noticeable, for example, when colleagues ask "what can I do? - or teams who ask their internal customers "what do you need? - or the management which issues a budget to turn red lights into green lights. Precise resource calculation takes place.

Those who have been following me for some time might have realized that I have a strong opinion when it comes down to systematics. CX is more than just measurement, closed-loop feedback, and human-centered design. The horsepower has to come down to earth otherwise the CX team is rationalized away faster than the blink of an eye. This is only possible with a solid structure, clear frameworks, and ... systematics. It is of little use to be very far-reaching in one of the four pillars and to neglect the others because then the effect will suffer. 

If a CX Team measures extremely high but does not create any new experiences, the customer will hardly notice anything. If the CX Team re-designs many experiences but does not measure enough, resources may be put in the wrong place. If the CX Team focuses on measurement and design but neglects the anchoring, the changes will hardly be noticeable to the customer, because the leverage is way too small.  It's almost like trying to build a stable sand castle grain by grain.

What does this mean for you and your organization? Plan some time in the coming weeks to work out a CX strategy for 2021. The goal is to have a CX strategy by the end of the year that shows you exactly what you need to do to make 2021 a success.

You now know which areas you are strong in and where there might be a need to catch up. Now, these insights need to be translated into a strategy based on the corporate strategy and the CX objectives. For this purpose, I have developed a "CX Strategy Canvas". You can work directly with the picture below, or with your own Miro-Board, which I will gladly provide for you. Please send me a short mail at bjc@bjoerck.ch. The goal is to have your CX strategy for 2021 by the end of this year. No matter how small or big your team and organization is.