Gartner Reveals Three Customer Experience Myths

Gartner Reveals Three Customer Experience Myths
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The performance gap between customer experience leaders and runners-up is widening, with those on top being disproportionately rewarded, according to Gartner. The company says that organizations must ignore three myths in order to achieve a superior customer experience.

There are many factors that make customer experience leaders successful, and many are not in dispute. “Organizations with superior customer experiences tend to appoint a leader, their executives are committed to the initiative and have a small dedicated team with 12 direct reports on average,“ said Ed Thompson, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

“We also know that leaders in such position are patient, build trust and honor privacy with their customers,“ said Thompson. “They don’t invest and hope. They clearly focus on customer emotions and not just the numbers, and have a common sense of purpose. But that’s not enough to be the best in your industry.“

Above all, customer experience leaders need to beware of three common customer experience myths:

1. Delight the Customer

Gartner research shows that the return on investment of meeting customer expectations, and making their interactions effortless, is high. But, as organizations invest to exceed expectations to delight the customer, and therefore drive up customer loyalty and advocacy, the chances of gaining a positive ROI are far lower.

2. Focus on Innovation

With all the new possible technologies to use in the cause of a superior customer experience, many organizations strive to be unique before they have examined what is already working in their own industries, whether that be in their home country or in another country. Most innovation is just an imitation of an existing successful investment in a different geography or an adjacent industry.

3. Correlate Data

The explosion of customer data that has become available at low cost over the last 20 years means many organizations are collecting it and sifting through it to seek correlations from which they can make investment decisions. Gartner research also shows that adding numerous channels and options to make things better for customers has the opposite effect. It makes the customer experience worse. Leading organizations are looking more closely at what causes customers to make choices, and focusing on what jobs the customer is trying to get done.