The Covid-19 crisis took us all by surprise. As we dramatically changed our lifestyles, companies were forced to rapidly transform their operations to serve our new stay-at-home needs.
Initial emergency responses took the form of short-term decisions intended to drive operational resilience and solvency. And now, those urgent business responses have been replaced with longer-term plans to account for the new normal.
It is increasingly clear: “in the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity” (Albert Einstein).
Here are four key ways to remain customer focused and consequently reap the benefits:
1. Engage your customer with authenticity
The aftermath of a crisis is a good chance to show your customers that you are there for them. Keep them engaged with open and honest communications that show them you care and are staying true to your values even in the most difficult of times. Find simple ways of showing them that they can still rely on you. For instance, at the height of the pandemic, Telcos gave their customers unlimited data so they could stay connected with their friends and family. Grocery retailers offered at-risk customers special store timeslots and honoured their loyal customers with early booking slots. Show your customers that you deserve their loyalty, and are in it for the long haul.
2. Listen to your customers with empathy
It is evident now that consumer behaviours, habits, and needs have completely changed. So in order for your business to thrive – or even survive – the voice of the customer has never been more important. On the bright side, with the surge in online shopping and use of digital channels, there has never been so much insightful data available. A study from Pega estimates that CX leaders are investing in customer data platforms (53%) and real-time decision engines (45%) to take advantage of this. Beyond the data and analytics, follow these simple rules:
- Listen with empathy to really understand what your customers are going through and what this crisis has meant for them
- Be curious about what has changed for them, and how your products and services are still needed or are no longer adding value for them
- Be open to learning new insights and identifying new needs.
3. Adapt and transform your organisation with purpose
It is crucial to look to the future and make sure to put the customer’s needs at the heart of your business strategy. This is a great chance to apply design thinking methods to come up with innovative ways to adapt and transform your business in order to drive customer experience while being able to balance your costs. For example, some organisations are using customers’ shift to digital channels to improve their digital customer service by scaling their virtual contact centres and deploying new automated self-services like chatbots and interactive voice response (IVR) solutions. Retail organisations understood that their customers were missing the “in-shop experience” and quickly launched online personal assistant services or “virtual store experiences” to recreate the feeling customers have when browsing in-store, and are even exploring “virtual squad shopper technology” that allows you to shop online with your friends. Is this something that customers will want as we move away from the constraints of the last few years?
4. Follow Agile ways of working to deliver value with speed
As consumer sentiment and rules change, this is also a great time to adopt agile ways of working to deliver new projects and capture customer demand. Tesco, for example, quickly shifted its operating model to double the number of its delivery slots in less than 2 months after lockdown started. Focus on slicing your changes or enhancements to your current products and services, or the development of new ones by delivering minimum viable products (MVPs) that will allow you to test and get early feedback from your customers. This will enable you to improve your products and services as you develop them, whilst allowing you to pivot at any given point and react to changing customer needs. As a result, you will avoid wasting any money at a time where cash flow is constrained.
A relentless focus on staying close to your customers and understanding how your organisation needs to evolve to continue to meet their needs will be a key differentiator to place yourself ahead of the curve.
To learn more about our work in customer experience transformation, or how our sustainability consulting can help you, get in touch.
