I loved the customer experience prank played by First Direct bank on an unsuspecting hipster crowd at London’s Spitalfields Market. The spoof burger van used typical customer experience (CX) techniques and thinking deployed by banks, but to sell burgers. The resulting customer experience went down like a lead balloon and highlighted that in financial services incumbents have a long way to go before they think and act ‘inside out’.

In another blog on BVEx, contributor Dave Aron, CEO of Leading Edge Forum, highlights the lack of creative thinking across all sectors. At a recent workshop with media professionals that Aron attended, he lamented the 20th century thinking and methods relied upon to fix 21st century ambitions and challenges, and mused, “Meanwhile, I wonder why I can’t yet watch Brad Pitt in a movie, click on his shoes, and buy a pair?”

Looking beyond the confines of banking to retailing and public services for a fresh vision of CX is a vital step in the right direction. The Flemish Government’s ‘Only ask once’ motto is a good baseline for banking and financial services. In FSI though, the principle of not asking customers for the same details across different channels isn’t just about not being a nuisance: a holistic view of customer interaction provides valuable insight and segues into new revenue opportunities.

Sarah Deane, BVEx contributor and founder of EffectUX, recently analysed the customer experience of dining out in California, and distilled this into CX measures that are transferable across other sectors. “All of these pointers taken from delivering a dining experience are easily translatable to any industry focused on CX. When thinking about your own CX focus, remember to look at the following aspects.”

She recommends the following points:

1. Are you operationally enabled to deliver the desired experience?
2. Are the people that interact with customers the right people, and are they enabled to uphold the desired experience?
3. Do you truly understand the factors that lead to an emotional connection with your brand?
4. Are your metrics and measures aligned to all of these components: operations, employee experience and customer experience?

Do you have other benchmarks for measuring the maturity of CX that you can share?

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