NETTING IT OUT

Companies that are successful in today’s customer economy measure what matters to customers and take action to improve business processes in near real time. We urge you to use Customer Scenarios® to determine what matters most to each of your major groups of customers (e.g., customer segments and/or roles).

In this report, originally published in May 2001, we use a sample Customer Scenario—the emergency purchase of a replacement motor for a manufacturing operation—to discover that what matters to the purchaser in this particular Customer Scenario is the accuracy of the information available for rapid decision-making and the speed and reliability of delivery. We then drill down into the business processes that are required to satisfy the customer and examine the kinds of monitoring systems you would need to have in place to ensure that you were meeting customers’ expectations.

What happens when we look beyond the emergency spot purchase to other interactions and other customers? For each group of customers, you’ll find that there are a number of key Customer Scenarios they deem important. Once you’ve studied the key Customer Scenarios, you’ll know what you need to monitor and manage in order to deliver the Quality of Customer ExperienceSM (QCESM) that your customers need (or want) from you.

You may be accustomed to measuring the Quality of Experience (QoE) delivered by your Web site, call center, or stores. QCE is all about assessing and managing the customer’s total experience with your company and your brand, across all touchpoints and through all interactions.

Four types of metrics—navigation, performance, operations, and environment—form a framework for managing quality of customer experience. These four categories of metrics make up the Customer Flight Deck, including the key Customer Experience section of the Flight Deck. Using a Customer Flight Deck to manage your company by and for customer value is one of the most important discoveries presented in Patricia B. Seybold’s new book, The Customer Revolution.

MANAGING IN THE CUSTOMER ECONOMY

Manage by and for Customer Value

In today’s customer economy, companies’ results are increasingly judged by the depth and value of customer relationships. Customer relationships are built on trust, established through consistent, repeated good experiences. The quality of the customer’s experience determines the customer’s loyalty to a brand and to the company behind the brand...