Being human-focused as a CXM strategy

Recently, I was trying to describe ‘being human-focused’ in CXM to a colleague, and I couldn’t quite articulate what I meant. In most people’s eyes, “of course customers are humans why are you stating such a stupidly obvious statement?”

But the problem is most companies actually don’t treat customers ‘like humans’, and here’s what I remembered…

Between the age of 18-22 I worked as a cashier in a bank to pay my way through university. On the frontline of customer service, I learnt so much about customer experience from the delivery side. A very clear memory of working for this bank was the joy* of being mystery shopped. One week we had a statement that we had to say to every customer who we served to help sell our new mortgage product. As part of the mystery shop, we HAD to say the statement to EVERY customer we served. Sounds ok, right? Well, the branch I worked at was a small local community one, and our customers would come in several times a week, some even daily. I knew most by name, and the family history of many! 

A typical conversation would progress:

Me: Hi Ted, how are you today. Can I just ask, do you have a mortgage Ted?

Ted: Liz, you asked me this on Monday, why are you asking again?

Me: I know, I just have to say this… have you considered having a review with one of our advisors?

Ted: As I said on Monday, no I’m fine.

Me: I can easily book one in for you now if needed…

Ted: Seriously?

Me: **Whispers sorry**

Ted: Thanks but no thanks, Liz.

Me: Ok thanks. How’s your daughter’s exam revision going? Good luck for next week!

Ted: Ah thanks Liz, she’s doing great, a bit nervous but I’m sure she’ll be fine. See you on Friday!

Stupid huh? And of the two topics I covered in my chat with Ted, which do you think led to a better customer experience and a more loyal customer, my chat about mortgages or my chat about his daughter? 

Now I understand why the bank had set this ‘protocol’ that every customer needed to be asked. Standards and protocols are an easy way to make sure consistent delivery across all branches. However, when banks (or any business) forget that their customers are humans and see them as just an entity which they want to increase the value of, they can forget what is really important in terms of delivering a great experience. And we know that ultimately, it’s great customer experience that can increase customer lifetime value.

Let’s re-imagine the above scenario, Ted’s daughter is now off to university and Ted is thinking of buying her an apartment in her university town. Through the relationship I built with Ted, I know all this information and can relevantly and timely say “well have you thought about sitting down with one of our mortgage advisors, we have some very competitive products that might help”.

Part of treating customers as humans is training and empowering your staff to build connections and have the right conversation at the right time.

Contact us today to hear how 4SiGHT CX can help build empathy and a ‘human focus’ into your CX strategy.

* Not actually a joy but more a severe pain