The success to a winning customer experience lies not in individual touchpoints but in the design of end-to-end customer journeys. Customer experience includes several elements, but it really simmers down to the perception customers have of your brand through their interaction with your business and its offerings. A positive customer experience is one that not only results in a satisfied customer but also creates brand ambassadors.

Today, customer experience is one of the cornerstones of a robust business strategy, and companies are constantly looking to keep their consumer experience relevant to their customers’ needs. A customer experience strategy addresses the sum of every interaction a customer has with a business, both pre- and post-sales and ensures policies and processes that deliver a positive, meaningful experience across the entire customer journey.

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A customer experience strategy addresses the sum of every interaction a customer has with a business, both pre- and post-sales and ensures policies and processes that deliver a positive, meaningful experience across the entire customer journey.

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‍‍A few considerations that help craft a good customer experience strategy:
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1. Define a vision that articulates how you want your customers to “feel”
   
   For designing a vision that is going to succeed, it is important to define the aspiration. Understanding the different customer personas, their wants and needs and agreeing on what an ideal customer experience looks like from their point of view is a logical first step. A compelling CX vision will also align with the company’s overall vision and mission and what affects its business. Once some of these vital decisions are made, the agreed values and principles should be communicated across the organization and guide all front line behaviour.
   
   
2. Identify customer journeys that need to be reinvented
   
   Take the time to reimagine what a world class customer experience would look like in your business and work backwards from there. Pick early winning strategies to keep motivation levels high but maintain a fine balance to ensure this doesn’t reduce the overall thinking to tactical changes rather than holistic ones. In order to be true to the process, companies need to be unafraid to ignore everything they currently have in place. This is also a very good time to make the process inclusive by speaking to your customers and listening to what works for them and understanding their pain points.
   
   
3. Define business and brand objectives
   
   Digital touchpoints like websites, apps and point of sale booths are a means to deliver customer experiences that drive top line business strategy and contribute to bottom line revenues. A digital customer experience strategy must include a clear, actionable definition of a brand’s essence. The definition must specify behavioural characteristics of digital touchpoints that will match the customer expectations of the brand. Prioritizing interaction touchpoints and simplifying journeys can help bring overall customer delight. Consider integration with legacy systems at this stage. Once business and brand direction is clear; this thinking should then form an important part of the customer experience design and development.
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4. Build an empowered customer experience culture
   
   A culture of delivering a delightful customer experience is everyone’s work. Ideally everyone in the organization serves the customer or they collaborate with someone who serves the customers. However organizations make it tricky for employees to understand and perceive what their customers face. Creating channels for open transparent communication and sharing success stories and failures across the board can help sensitise employees to customer experience as a value. Providing great CX doesn’t depend solely on a single cog in the wheel. It requires close co-operation and clear cross-functional accountability between the frontline staff and the back end support functions.
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5. Customer adoption is key
   
   Winning customer experiences are truly winning when they resonate with your customer. Ensure the experience design has provided the customer with ample opportunity to provide real time feedback and seek support at every stage of the journey. Drive adoption through marketing communication that targets your users and  speaks to the value proposition in a way that will make a connection.
   
   A compelling customer experience is no more a “nice to have” but has become a business imperative. Those that offer seamless experiences across the myriad touchpoints they have with their customers and those that listen and respond to feedback are the ones most likely to reap the rewards of long standing customer relationships and bottom line revenues.